day 2
in day 2 of a not so fun trip. was supposed to be a quick 24 hour trip to boston and back. the weather had other plans.
got to logan at 9:30 am yesterday. was high enough on the standby list to get on the 10:30 flight (was booked on the 4:30). sweet. they board us after 2 hours of delay and de-icing. when a plane is de-iced, you have 25 minutes to take off before it you can no longer be assured that ice has not built up again. the implication here is that from the moment the plane is cleared, the clock is ticking.
delta ends up canceling the flight because the flight crew could not get boarding door closed within the 25 minute window. everyone is on board, but the crew doesn't know who is and is not on the plane. for security reasons, they can't close the boarding door until every passenger is confirmed. the flight attendants are literally running up and down the aisle calling out last names. they run out of time and the show is over. they announce that the flight is canceled for weather reasons, but that's only partially true, a flight attendant confides in me.
this theme of disorganization continues. i play the gate game, running from gate to gate trying to get a plane, any plane. i get a different answer from each new agent to whom i talk. the gate agents say to call the 800 number. the phone reps on the 800 number say that this close to take off time, only the gate agents can do anything.
the next plan was to get on a nashville flight and then drive to atlanta (about 3 hours--totally doable), leaving at 6:30. i could be in atlanta by midnight. the first gate agent says she can't do anything, because nashville is further than 100 miles from my original destination, even though there are seats on the plane. i even offer to buy a walk up ticket. she shakes her head. so i call the phone rep. she says the flight is full. at this point, i have a hard time believing anything.
i suck it up. get myself into a zen state. i pride myself on my ability to keep it together on getting on any flight that i want. and as a gold medallion, i'm usually at the top of the list.
get back in line with the gate agent. get a different agent (this time, next to the one who told me no). she books me on the flight. the agent next to her (who said last time that it could not be done) actually helps her do it! i'm hoping that she doesn't remember me.
i am set. i think that i'll actually get to atlanta tonight.
an hour later, the plane is de-iced and ready to go, but they can't find the crew! what? how can you not find the crew?
we miss the window and they close the airport. that's it.
it's now 9:00 pm.
in booking me on the nashville flight, they have someone lost my original reservation to atlanta. strangely, my co-worker who has been on the same itinerary does not suffer the same result. so he has a confirmed seat for the next day, but i don't. there is so much of a back log that delta cannot confirm me for anything until saturday. i'm supposed to fly from atlanta to south florida on friday. shit.
so we get a room at the hilton across the street. get up at 4:30 this morning, armed with seat request cards for the 5:55 am flight. i'm number 3 on the standby list (which is 67 people long). no luck.
so now i sit at the gate for the 7:30 flight. it's full.
it's entirely possible that i won't get on any flights today.
the news is playing the story of a jet blue flight that sat on the tarmac in ny for eight hours yesterday. the employees did not know what to do and offered no information to the passengers.
what's evident is not that the weather wreaks havoc with air travel, but that air line employees are not well equipped to handle these situations. all of the employees were polite and obviously trying their best in very, very difficult situations. however, that is not good enough. these situations call for improvisation in the light of limited information. what employees need is transparency to information systems. the most difficult part for travelers is not the delays, it's the complete lack of consistency in answers. at times, it seems as if the agents are making it up as they go along. for the past 24 hours, i've had the unique opportunity test this system, as i'm traveling with a co-worker on the same itinerary but separate set of reservations. at times, we've stood in line, talked to different agents at the same gate and gotten different answers.
got to logan at 9:30 am yesterday. was high enough on the standby list to get on the 10:30 flight (was booked on the 4:30). sweet. they board us after 2 hours of delay and de-icing. when a plane is de-iced, you have 25 minutes to take off before it you can no longer be assured that ice has not built up again. the implication here is that from the moment the plane is cleared, the clock is ticking.
delta ends up canceling the flight because the flight crew could not get boarding door closed within the 25 minute window. everyone is on board, but the crew doesn't know who is and is not on the plane. for security reasons, they can't close the boarding door until every passenger is confirmed. the flight attendants are literally running up and down the aisle calling out last names. they run out of time and the show is over. they announce that the flight is canceled for weather reasons, but that's only partially true, a flight attendant confides in me.
this theme of disorganization continues. i play the gate game, running from gate to gate trying to get a plane, any plane. i get a different answer from each new agent to whom i talk. the gate agents say to call the 800 number. the phone reps on the 800 number say that this close to take off time, only the gate agents can do anything.
the next plan was to get on a nashville flight and then drive to atlanta (about 3 hours--totally doable), leaving at 6:30. i could be in atlanta by midnight. the first gate agent says she can't do anything, because nashville is further than 100 miles from my original destination, even though there are seats on the plane. i even offer to buy a walk up ticket. she shakes her head. so i call the phone rep. she says the flight is full. at this point, i have a hard time believing anything.
i suck it up. get myself into a zen state. i pride myself on my ability to keep it together on getting on any flight that i want. and as a gold medallion, i'm usually at the top of the list.
get back in line with the gate agent. get a different agent (this time, next to the one who told me no). she books me on the flight. the agent next to her (who said last time that it could not be done) actually helps her do it! i'm hoping that she doesn't remember me.
i am set. i think that i'll actually get to atlanta tonight.
an hour later, the plane is de-iced and ready to go, but they can't find the crew! what? how can you not find the crew?
we miss the window and they close the airport. that's it.
it's now 9:00 pm.
in booking me on the nashville flight, they have someone lost my original reservation to atlanta. strangely, my co-worker who has been on the same itinerary does not suffer the same result. so he has a confirmed seat for the next day, but i don't. there is so much of a back log that delta cannot confirm me for anything until saturday. i'm supposed to fly from atlanta to south florida on friday. shit.
so we get a room at the hilton across the street. get up at 4:30 this morning, armed with seat request cards for the 5:55 am flight. i'm number 3 on the standby list (which is 67 people long). no luck.
so now i sit at the gate for the 7:30 flight. it's full.
it's entirely possible that i won't get on any flights today.
the news is playing the story of a jet blue flight that sat on the tarmac in ny for eight hours yesterday. the employees did not know what to do and offered no information to the passengers.
what's evident is not that the weather wreaks havoc with air travel, but that air line employees are not well equipped to handle these situations. all of the employees were polite and obviously trying their best in very, very difficult situations. however, that is not good enough. these situations call for improvisation in the light of limited information. what employees need is transparency to information systems. the most difficult part for travelers is not the delays, it's the complete lack of consistency in answers. at times, it seems as if the agents are making it up as they go along. for the past 24 hours, i've had the unique opportunity test this system, as i'm traveling with a co-worker on the same itinerary but separate set of reservations. at times, we've stood in line, talked to different agents at the same gate and gotten different answers.
posted by Wintermute at 6:10 AM
1 Comments:
i once was flying from fll to jfk. last flight of the night and the weather in nyc was shite so i was sure we were going to get focked. At the gate next to us, there is a flight, scheduled to leave 2 hours before my flight, which is going to lga. Announcement comes over the loud speaker that we are indefinitely delayed.
Thinking that the lga flight might have the better chance of getting out sooner, i started walking over to their gate.
On comes the loudspeaker again - it's the captain of our flight.
He informs us that he has just arranged for us to leave on time, but we will need to board the entire plane and pushback within 25 minutes. He said the risk was that if we board, and don't pushback in time, we'll be out on the tarmac for up to 2 hours.
People start running and i've never seen a plane board as efficiently as that.
Not sure how the captain worked it out, or if he was just being a blowhard, but the LGA flight ended up geting cancelled after the people sat there for another 2 hours.
a rare story of airline efficiency.
Post a Comment
<< Home