Almost home:
Ian sitting in the row ahead of me on the plane:
Note to self: Don't fly Delta.
I attempted to check-in online 24 hours before our flight was due to take off, and I got an error message: "We're sorry. Your request cannot be processed. Please see a gate agent." The reason my request could not be processed was because, all of a sudden, for the tickets that I purchased and seats I chose on April 9, 2007, we had no seat assignments. As Mike would say, "WTF?"
I called Delta and spoke with a woman whose native language was not English. She assigned seats for us, but they were not together. I said this was unacceptable - my son is 6! She said yes, she understood my son is 6, but there is nothing they can do. And she topped it off with, "Have a GREAT day!"
We received more condolences at the check-in (Sorry, but there isn't anything we can do.), so I waited for the gate keeper (yes, like in Ghostbusters) and again pointed out that seating my 6 year old multiple rows away from me for a 4 1/2 hour flight was unacceptable. He 'made an executive decision' and booted someone out of their seat that had already checked in. Got this smirk and said, "I'm sure he won't mind." So that was that, and Ian and I sat together to Cincinnatti.
In Cincinnatti, the flight was overbooked. Even though our e-tickets were confirmed, we didn't really have seats. Since there were no more flights to Buffalo departing the same day, they wanted us to fly to Rochester and they would pay for the cab to take us to Buffalo. I kept saying, "Unacceptable." (I felt like the main character in "The Terminal".) They had two people give up their seats, they 'compensated' them with 200 sky miles (yeah-like they're going to rush to fly Delta again), Ian ended up sitting in the row in front of me, and we got home okay.
Travel is stressful enough without your friendly airlines adding to the burden!
Something else Delta did when they changed my itinerary (multiple times between April 9th and July 28th): I originally booked our flights so we would have an hour layover. Traveling with a child requires a bit more time to get through an airport, especially if a detour to the potty is required. Delta shortened my layover in Cincinnatti between flights to 25 minutes, and the flights arrived and departed in such a way that we arrived in one terminal and departed from another. Jeff reassured me that this was doable, and he was totally right - the Cincinnatti airport was great. As it was, we had time to spare because the first leg of the trip was faster than expected. God bless tail winds!
Oh - and the latest "zero tolerance/zero thinking" rule from Homeland Security. Sometime between the time we left Buffalo and the time we left Seattle, new security procedures were put in place. Applesauce and fruit cups are now not permitted in the carryon. Dangerous materials that they are, they made me throw them out in the garbage can near the walk-through metal detectors before letting us through. (I wonder if I am the only one that sees a potential problem with that. If they really are some type of explosive materials, why are we disposing of them at the security checkpoints?) And "all large electronic devices like DVD or CD players and Gameboys" must be removed from the carryons and put in separate bins in addition to your laptop. I didn't think you could use the words "Gameboy" and "large" in the same sentence, but there you have it!
We had a great time, and Ian is already asking when he can go back. Jeff is going to sleep for a week!
Dorinda said...
Welcome home, Kelly. Looks like you had a great time.
Serena said... We did! I wish we could do it more often. The cost of the airline tickets alone is prohibitive. Jeff is coming back home for a wedding in May, and Mike may tag along if he can get away. We'll have to see!
