{This post is dedicated to the Brilliant and
Beautiful Alex Lohman who saved me in an hour (well many hours) of need.}
Now I am going to be doing something completely original
and a first for the internet: complaining about the problems of the American
air transport system as they apply to me in s form which will never bring about
a positive change! I have been fortunate
to have never suffered many significant setbacks in my travels, and when they
do occur it is often just a flight that is a little late, no harm done. However in my attempt to come home from
Middlebury, I have encountered more issues traveling than in the combined
history of this blog.
I left Middlebury at 2:30pm for a one hour drive to
Burlington Airport and a simple 5:30 flight to Chicago with a connector to
LAX. If all went right, I would have
been home at the reasonable hour of 10pm.
However my luck did not hold.
When I arrived at the ticket counter I was informed that the plane was 2
hours late, and that I would need to be booked on a new connector in
Chicago. Normal enough. 5 hours later I was still in Vermont, my new connector
was canceled and the next flight home leaving at 9:45am local time. So I was stuck in Chicago for 12 hours. Counting the time I was rebooked initially
back in July, this trip had 5 different sets of flights.
Out of the depths of my frustration, a simmering light
appeared. My friend, Model United
Nations Comrade in Arms and future General Counsel of my consulting group, Alex
Loham offered me a place to sleep in Chicago.
Not only that, but she came to get me at the airport, made sure I had
dinner and even escorted me back to the airport. I have always been blessed with good friends,
and I wish that I could fully and more often appreciate this fact outside of
crisis situations.
Now for my cynical, frustrated,
wanting-to-go-home-and-be-home-now observations:
Airline Employees: I know
they have a hard job and constantly have to deal with grumpy people, but really
now? When I was trying to find a new
flight home, I had to tell the woman working at the registration desk the
airport codes for Long Beach and John Wayne.
I don’t normally expect a lot from people (to avoid disappointment) but
if you are a gate agent at an airport where 90% of the people have connecting
flights, you should know the airport codes.
This reminds me of the time I was told by a bank teller that I could not
order “Italian Money” at the bank, but could get Euros… Airline tickets are expensive, I am paying to
be there, we deserve better.
Communication with
passengers: I understand it is hard
to deal with flight delays, but at any given minute I was given three different
arrival/departure times for my flight (on the board, online and the gate agent). This means that at least two, if not three
were false, misleading and confusing.
Moreover, I found out my connecting flight to LA was canceled via email
to my phone, never by the gate agents whose job it is to get me to my
destination. There is no excuse for a
lack of communication that is accurate and consistent in this day and age. I don’t care how bad it is, give me the
truth. And if they don’t have this
information, it means they have lost track of an airplane… and that is an
issue.
Silver linings:
1. I got to see Alex! (for however short it was)
2. I got to “visit” Chicago for the first time in 4 years!
3. The (tens of?) thousands of dollars my parents have
invested in me to become a traveler seem to pay dividends in difficult
situations.
4. I have awesome friends!
5. I start grad school in 3 days!
So now I have less than two days in SoCal to pack up and
head north, but I can, and will do it while still having as much fun with
people here as possible.
~ Matt
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