You’ve probably heard many horror stories of airline travel this summer. Our Europe trip was relatively stress-free, with the exception of the Bordeaux airport. In contrast, our trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan last week was a hot mess. Here’s our tale of woe:
We’re in the Midwest to retrieve our new kitten and visit family and friends. The flight to O’Hare was uneventful. When we looked at the departures monitor upon landing, we learned that our 3 pm flight to Grand Rapids was canceled due to weather. We looked out the window: nothing but blue skies. We went to the customer service desk. The rep put us on the standby list for the 6 pm flight and got us seats for the 9 pm flight. We walked around the airport, then settled in at the gate for the 6 pm flight. The plane’s capacity was 50 passengers, with 37 folks on standby. We didn’t make that flight, so we walked around some more and ate dinner at an overpriced Italian restaurant. We went to the gate and waited. The skies were clouding up and getting very dark. First the flight was postponed, then canceled until 7 am the next day. The passengers went ballistic. The gate personnel were overwhelmed. A supervisor was at the gate and attempted to mollify the crowd. Her comment about the airline management: “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing.” I made a hotel reservation so we wouldn’t have to sleep in O’Hare overnight. (I was stuck sleeping there 16 years ago and didn’t want to repeat the experience.) At least half of the passengers left the airport for hotels. NOT FIVE MINUTES after I made the reservation, the gate personnel announced that the flight would go at 11:30 with a different crew. We got on the flight and landed in Grand Rapids after 1 am.
In retrospect, it’s best that this mess occurred en route to the Midwest. Fingers crossed that we don’t run into more woes on the flight from Cleveland to Seattle with a hungry, squeaky kitten.
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