I know y’all love my travel stories, right? I am here to entertain and today’s installment of Traveling with Chris and Beth Ann is just one of many.
While it is fresh in my mind I thought i would start your week off right and share the latest in our escapades.
Saturday morning we got up at 4 am to make our early flight out of Asheville to Ohio. The week will be filled with family time (both sides) and sales calls for Chris. Combining some work and pleasure is always a good thing.
We got up and showered and as we were getting ready to leave received texts alerting us to the fact our flight was delayed an hour. Rats! We could have slept another hour. We hung around the house a little bit longer and got to the airport, checked in, got through security and then grabbed breakfast and boarded our flight to Atlanta knowing we had probably blown our chances for our connection. Delta already had put us on the later flight to Columbus so we had a plan.
As we were in the air the flight attendant came around and told us we would have 16 minutes to make it from B concourse to A concourse but it was possible . Of course there was not crew to bring us in when we landed and then we had to wait on the jet bridge so more minutes ticked off the clock. We made it off the plane, to the train and the minutes were ticking away. We did not run full speed but we were hustling through the terminal to the last gate (of course) and saw that there were still people there so we thought we were okay.
Actually the flight was delayed although no one had told us that. No crew. The whole storm issue earlier in the week still had Delta out of whack trying to catch up and trust me when I say that there were a lot of unhappy people milling around.
The captain told Chris that he was trying to get a crew but if nothing else there would be a crew there by 3 (this was at 9:15 am) and that was all he could tell us. They were trying to get an earlier crew but it may not work. So off to the Sky Club we went.
I will shorten the whole story a bit because I want you to still be my readers after this post and if I tell it all you may fall asleep. Suffice it to say information was not coming through the pipeline very well and while we thought we were going to be boarding and going several times it was not to be. Two more trips to the gate ensued. And more trips back to the SkyClub to wait. It was not pretty.
We made friends in the SkyClub who were on the same flight. We promised to keep track of each other.
Finally we got a notice that our luggage was being loaded. We went to the gate. We got on the plane. We sat and got ready to go.
The captain came on the intercom and said that there was a fan that was not working correctly and maintenance had come to look at it. It had to work for the plane to go. It was going to take 3 1/2 hours to fix it.
A collective groan went up.
He announced they were getting us another plane and we were to deplane and they would get us on our way on a new plane.
So…..we went back to the SkyClub knowing that they had to transfer all the luggage and I suspected there would be a gate change.
About 20 minutes later we got notification of the gate change so we headed out and got there as the plane was being boarded. One of our “buddies” from the SkyClub was worried about us since we hadn’t boarded yet and was making sure we got there. See, people do still care.
Finally we thought we were ready to go. But a passenger who had been our earlier flight from Asheville had been “over served” and was puking in the back of the plane. Another delay. Flight attendants were scurrying with garbage bags and paper towels, etc.
Pretty soon a flight attendant holding a backpack came by encouraging the man to come on out of the plane even though he said he was fine. I suspect if she had not gotten him off there would have been plenty of others on the plane who would have stepped up to make sure it happened.
We finally got up in the air and on our way and the rest of the trip was easy. Luggage arrived with us and we were on our way to visit family. We got to Ada at 8:30 pm and collapsed.
I always say that traveling either by car or plane is never predictable and you have to be flexible. What was good with our day was that we were together and I had plenty of reading material. We did not have a particular time frame that we had to be someplace so that was good. While it was inconvenient it was manageable. We were safe and in far better shape than that gentleman who spent his delay drinking in the bar.
So what do you do when travel plans go awry? Do you overreact or do you go with the flow? Tell me your worst travel experience in the comments and I will pick a winner of the “Worst Travel Experience Ever”.
But always remember to pack extra underwear in your carry on. You never know when you might need them due to travel snafus.
17 Comments
Leave a commentOh my, quite an experience. Our flight was delayed by 24 hours when we moved to Span with 6 large checked bags. Then there were no luggage carts at the train station and our car was not waiting for us at the car rental, even though we let them know we would be 24 hours late. Paul had a horrible cold. It just went on and on. I wondered if someone was telling us not to go. Of course now we laugh when we tell the story.
Oh my goodness.. That tops it all! That is a horrible story but the good news is you made it and you are so happy there now! And you have a sweet puppy ! 🙂 Don’t you just wonder how you get through things like that? But once on the other side it seems sooooo much better!
So true!!
No horrible travel stories since my travel is limited.
I’m sorry you had to go through such an ordeal.
Oh we made it through fine and dandy but it was getting a little bit ridiculous. Looking at the news I think we are very fortunate to have made it judging from how messed up everything was. We definitely could have driven in less time . But its all good. 🙂
Worst travel experience? Fortunately those have been few and far between. #1 on my list is drinking bad orange juice and throwing it up on a plane. #2 has to be the long delay in Lima, Peru; no one explained in English, and I’m still not sure what caused the 3+ hour delay. Best prevention against difficult travel is a good attitude, reading material, and (these days) a power cord & outlet.
Oh goodness. Throwing up on a plane has to be THE worst ever. I can’t imagine. I totally agree with your prevention methods—absolutely have to have a good attitude ! It can turn the tide! And never without a book. Ever.
I have a few travel ‘horror’ stories too. One involved me flying cross country from visiting family in PA back to our home in the Pacific Northwest with my three little children who all had carry-on bags in tow. We had to change planes in Atlanta when the Olympics were there. Not only was it nuts, but I was running like a wild woman trying to herd my three all together on the trams (scared of losing one of them in the massive crowds) because our departure gate kept changing, not once, but four times! I was a frazzled and exhausted basket case by the time we finally boarded. And when we got home, I realized that I had thrown my back out and was in terrible pain for days afterwards. Talk about stress. Hubby endured a 37-hour trip from the USA to Korea with numerous changes, layovers, and breakdowns. 37 hours without a shower or a shave and little sleep was not fun for him. And of course, his luggage was ‘misplaced’ for a day or two. But another one a few years ago seriously made me not like flying any more. It was such an ordeal, I had to write it in two parts on my blog!
https://mamasemptynest.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/no-flight-plan-part-1/
https://mamasemptynest.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/no-flight-plan-part-2/
If you had started driving at 4 a.m. when you got up you probably would have got to Ada sooner than you did flying. 🙂 That was a horrible day you had, one of the worst I’ve read about or experienced. Though I’ve had some doozies too. The only thing I question is…if they spent 6 hours getting a crew together, couldn’t they have checked out the plane before they loaded you all up and found the faulty fan and got it fixed in the time you were waiting for crew?
Oh goodness, what a day! Glad you made it safe and sound though! Enjoy your time with familY!
Like everyone here is saying I’ve experienced those never ending travel days, too. Love it when they announce that the plane is finally repaired but there will be a wait for a new crew. Ok! It’s still the same old tired passengers. The best thing to do is stay happy and have chargers and cords, etc. Just read about a man who was forcibly removed from his overbooked United flight last night. They needed “volunteers”. He should win your award!
I find that, since I’ve been with my Motor Man, I’ve learned to “go with the flow” as much as possible. Getting upset doesn’t help matters at all. We’ve never had a bad experience traveling: one time we had to wait for a tire on the plane to be changed, one time our luggage didn’t make it to the same place we did. All in all, not bad!
What is going on with air travel this week? Maybe the smaller airlines go smoother? We had two good flights with Sun Country. Always pack extra underwear is the best travel advice ever. What a crazy experience that Chicago trip was.
Exactly why I don’t fly. Seriously that would have driven me nuts and you shouldn’t have to pay for poor service like that. I wonder how any of the crew or the peeps from the airline industry would have felt had they been treated like that. And what am I talking about? I may have to fly to Arizona later this month… 😀
We tried to take it in stride but the airline industry is not doing itself any favors the pat couple of weeks, that is for sure.
Tom won’t fly, and after your adventure, the recent United issue, and other horror stories, I don’t think we will be getting on another airplane.
United definitely did not do much for their image this week. Poor Delta just had so much trouble recovering from the thunderstorms this past week and it was a huge mess. I don’t usually get too upset–stuff happens j just like when you drive , but they really had a lot of folks upset.