Travel Woes...

[Deep C]

Well dog gone it... Got up at O dark thirty and took Mrs. and Mini Deep to the airport... I was supposed to go along but delays in the yard and so much yet to do to get boat right for Bahamas had me cancell out. Instead since my seat is bought and paid for I sent a friend of Mini in my place.
Anyway... Their destination is Capetown, South Africa... Heading over for my father in laws 90th birthday! The trip itself used to be easy. At one point Miami to Capetown direct was available. Airlines in their wisdom know how to screw things up. South African Airways changes U.S. "partners" like under wear. When they were locked in with American it was Miami, Delta it was Atlanta which was bad but still tolerable. Now for some reason they hooked up with United. They can't reach Chicago so they fly from Washington or New York.
New York flight leaves too early in morn to make a connection from south Florida. So we are left with a Washington night mare as the alternative.... Stay with me cause I even get confused.
From Washington they don't fly direct. First she has to cross town by bus from Reagan to Dules Then sit for several hours... Then they fly to Dakar, Senegal then to Johannesburg, South Africa then finally to Capetown. Bottom line is that trip door to door is about 36 hours...
Now that is brutal enough but then ol mama nature tosses in a wrench in the form of a blizzard in Washington... Well lucky them... They closed Washington while in mid air... Oh boy! They're now stuck in good ol Philly...
Where this gets painful is all the connections.... Now with Washington closed for all traffic. That means the next flight is delayed too. Lets say they do get to Washington in time to make that delayed flight. They show up on the other side of the puddle to late to make connections there...
Part of me is glad I missed the trip but I love those girls with all my heart. They have been looking forward to this for so long. Now its gonna be a all nighter trying to get them redirected... Anybody know a good hotel in Dakar or Johannesburg...

[clt_capt]

The airlines seriously don't get it. The big ones hub in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta - All Horrible for delays and weather related issues... No wonder they are bankrupt

[Deep C]

Well this saga is getting worse... Mind you they are dressed for Florida and South African weather... They made it to Washington with hours tospare. Then got on a shuttle bus with no heat and got hung out to dry in traffic. Half way froze to death.
Got to proper airport. Flight is delayed for long time still... International security reasons though they had to be there long before scheduled time. Plane is there, they are there and they can't board!!!!
Now they may have to fly to New York (JFK) and take tomorrows flight out. Again they have no cold weather clothes... I'm so pissed at the regs that I can't see straight... They have no way to contact. South Africa to let People on that end know whats cooking. For that matter they don't know either...

[Deep C]

Aw crap... Plane still there... They're looking out the window at it and are stuck for a night in the airport... They were crying...

Damnit... I wish I was there. I might have been able to "Communicate" with the gate agent who wouldn't let them board. Wasn't security people. A friggin gate agent. Give em a uniform and it goes to their head. It might have cost me a topsider and a little cell time but for me, worth it!

[Deep C]

Well another update... They could get nowhere there so they checked into a hotel. (The best my credit card could buy...). Plane is still sitting at the gate with doors closed for over two hours now.
I tried to contact South African Airways and they close their offices world wide at 4:PM. No help there. I called and wanted to cuss out US Airways for them screwing the pooch yet again. (There were lots of connecting flights out of Philly that could have got them to South Africa) Then I called the "partner" United...
Figures. Five minutes after they got to the hotel, the airline called me. Three first class upgrades right out of Washington... London, then Frankfurt (Germany), straight into Capetown...

[luv2fish67]

I kinda know what it's like. I just got back from the keys last night, after 2 days of travelling. Left Miami thursday afternoon. A 1 hour stop in Dallas and on to Vancouver, but that's not what happened. Was supposed to be a two hour and 45 min. flight to dallas, but dallas airport closed due to weather, so we landed in houston, got fuel, and took aff again. Flew around in holding pattern 200 miles west of dallas for 2 and a half hours, and finally landed. Total time 6 hrs. Dallas airport was chaos, due to all the screwed up flights. Agent gave me a voucher for local hotel at a discount rate, and booked me on a morning flight. Told me what shuttle to take to the hotel, but it was the wrong one, so grabbed a cab. Pretty sure the cabby ripped me off.....charging $35 for a 15 minute ride. Got to the hotel which was a brand new Holiday Inn, about a year old, so that was nice. However I was supposed to be at a hotel in Vancouver, so had to call and cancel that room. Then had to call my other air carrier for my flight home from Vancouver, and change that from 12:30 to 4:30. Got outta dallas in the morning, asked for an upgrade due to all the inconveince, but was told I would have to pay extra. I explained that it had already cost me hundreds of dollars due to the delays, but all they could say was sorry. Anyway, I managed to use my charm to get a few free drinks on the flight. Got to Vancouver, and then had a 4 hr. wait to catch my next flight. Made it home, but what a friggin trip. Air travel can be so much fun.!!!

[Deep C]

At least you had somebody to help you out with a voucher. They saw three gals and didn't lift a gfinger to help. I'm more pissed now that I was during the day. Came to find out there was no less than a dozen connections that could have got them to Capetown from either Philly or Washington... Most through Europe and many of them direct right to Capetown cutting out a hellish wait in Johannesburg...

I have no sense of humor when "professionals" refuse to help. After the one call to United who was only a "partner airline" wasn't even the carrier and they were so willing to help I dug deeper. So many possibilities. They weren't full or they weren't available. Nobody went on their on line system to find an alternative...
They screwed up Mini's europe trip last summer by not looking and when I got done with em there was a gate agent on the unemployment line as well as a check in gal. That and a few hundred back in vouchers softened the blow but didn't touch what they lost (London broadway show) (First class passage on the "Chunnel" Bullet train) Not just stuff we paid a lot for, but experiences they will never have a shot at again.
I'm absolutely steamed at SAA. Not one rep in the airport after over two hours before the flight was scheduled to leave!!! As it turned out, the flight was delayed four hours! I got some inside intel... They let the ground crew go early cause it was snowing. They had to get home to their loved ones. Well what about my family and the others left behind???
I'm planning on busting an ear drum or two in the morning and let them know just how much Afrikanse swearing I have mastered over the last 24 years... Fut Sec!

[luv2fish67]

Well, Give em both barrels.....likely won't get any satisfaction, but will make you feel better. I sent a few emails of complaint yesterday, and I feel better.

[Deep C]

All morning on line and phone with powers that be! Not one answer. No guarantee that they will get on flight today. One SAA reservation agent in whole country on duty. No CS, or any other personell here or in South Africa. Their answering machine is pretty well smoking at this point and their email box pretty well resembles one of my rants over in the "secret place".

[Deep C]

They finally got off the ground late yesterday. No thanks to SAA. In Fact it was the outsider, United who screamed at US Airways to get it right. They personally escorted my loved ones not only to the check in but to the plane.
Though its raining I went to the bopat and gave her a good solid cleaning for a few hours today.
Got home and checked email. Got the canned bullcrap answer from US Airways today. Not responsible for weather. I fired back a "re direct" rebuttal... Pointed out that I don't want money or vouchers I want to see it done right and in the future.
Finally found a person at SAA by phone. I had left several messages and no replies. I could hear they guy squeak when I said my name. He tried to tell me the check in desk was manned all the way til the flight time. I answered how do you explain me calling your own voice message two hours before flight time asking where the agents were? He tried to feed me some bullshit "They swear they were there". I told him to answer my question again. He couldn't , nor the call twenty minutes later, an hour later or the four others since. The defensive posture on his part got me pissed. Tried to tell me that flight left gate on time. I gave him the real time of 3 hours four minutes later. I gave him the 28 minutes extra for de-icing. He knew at that point he was talking to somebody who had done their homework. He' started to back off at that point.
I then ripped into him about his airlines 100% lack of reachability for over 24 hours for anyone and in my case closer to 48 hours. "Fix the f-ing problem " was my last comment and hung up as he started to spew appologies. I'll let him stew...

Anyway. This started Saturday morn and right this minute (Late Monday afternoon) they are finally taxiing up to the terminal in Capetown. I hope they have a wonderful trip from here out cause they certainly deserve it.