PAY IT FORWARD FLIGHT

 

I wanted to share my 36 hour adventure I had while trying to get to my 4 day site visit in Monte Carlo.  It was Wednesday and I was supposed to leave Kansas City late that afternoon.  The original flight on Swissair was from Chicago and I was meeting that flight from Kansas City  on American Airlines.  Well Crazy Storm Walda had other plans for Chicago as American cancelled my afternoon flight and "forgot" to call me and let me know it was cancelled. Luckily I just happened to call to check on the status at 9am, found out an hour later that the flight had indeed been cancelled.  

 

I quickly moved to Plan B and figured I would try to outfly the storm which was currently in the Midwest.  I would still try to get to Newark and fly out on the Swissair flight.  I rebooked myself on the United to Newark flight which left two hours earlier than American flight that I was originally booked on so I quickly got myself ready and headed to the airport for my flight.  My new flight that was supposed to depart at 2:00pm got delayed to 3:30pm due to the storm which was now already affecting the east coast.  I didn’t worry much about it at this point because I originally had a 4hour layover so technically I still had 2 hours and felt I had plenty of time.  We finally departed and were heading east.  The pilot had told us we were close to the Washington DC area and according to my watch we should be close to our landing time.  After about 40 minutes and constantly looking at my watch, it didn’t feel like we had started our descent and the pilot confirmed – WE WERE CIRCLING!  He also told us that the New York City airspace was now closed due to the storms.  It’s now 7:30pm, but the Swissair flight didn’t leave NYC until 10:00pm so I still felt like my timing was fine.  Just as I was sitting back in my chair trying to relax – the pilot announced that since we were on a small RCJ jet we would have to land in Philadelphia to refuel and try to make the small hop over to Newark from there.  Hmm I’m starting to think, this trip probably is not meant to be….but still hopeful for a good outcome.

 

So we're now in Philly and wait an hour to get the okay to refuel.  We get refueled by 9:00pmish but can't depart now as the Newark storms are now over Philly.  The pilot takes us to the jetway and they allow us  to at least get off the plane for about 45minutes.  I plug my phone in to re-charge it.  I talk to Swissair and they tell me they are still on schedule to depart at 10pm.  I ask myself the question – “SO why is it that international flights can land/take off in bad storms but domestic flights can't???”   I figure at this point I won't be flying to Monte Carlo tonight.  I re-evaluated my trip since it would be a 3 night site versus a 4 night and that was  if I did get out the next day.  I decided I would just cancel the trip and try to get home from Philly.  In the meantime, I called my husband who was trying to find me a hotel room in Newark and Philly in case I was stranded in either city.  While he was looking for a hotel room I was  searching high and low for a United agent to help me rearrange my flight so I could get back home.  BUT as I quickly found there were not any United agents at the Philly terminal we were in since we were there just refueling and they weren’t expecting us to be there.  Most of the people on my flight were trying to catch international flights out of Newark as well and since we were a Newark based flight not a Philly based flight – they wouldn’t allow us to get our bags off the fight.  This day was now getting very frustrating. 

 

At 9:45pm we got back on the small jet as they informed us we  were going to try to get to Newark in between the numerous storms that were coming.  Sitting on the tarmac the fierce winds/rain/lightening came in and we sat there on the tarmac for another hour & half.   My husband and I were in constant contact and he had told me there weren’t any hotel rooms around the hotel in Newark or Philly due to the storms and the flight delays/cancellations.  He finally found two rooms at the Hampton Inn in Philly about 15 miles from the airport and since he didn’t know where I would end up he just booked the two rooms for me – one for me and one for the lady sitting on the plane next to me. 

 

Finally at 11:00pm I asked the flight attendant about the Passenger Bill of Rights – we were fast approaching sitting on the tarmac for  three hours and I told her that my husband had been checking hotel rooms for me and that even if we get to Newark there are no hotel rooms to be had.

 

The flight attendant talked to the captain to remind him of the three hour deadline and the hotel situation (the crew has been great and very apologetic the entire time and I felt bad for them).  Finally at 11:30pm the pilot informed us that our flight was officially cancelled.  We pulled back to the jetway and when I got off the plane I headed back over to see a gate agent and waited over 30minutes as no personnel were there since it was 11:30pm.  I finally found an agent and got rebooked on a flight out the next morning back to Kansas City.

 

On the plane with us was a young couple with a 4month old son who were heading to Dublin to see her mom who lives there.  They were taking their young son to see his Irish grandparents for the first time.  They were not able to find a room even after calling the Hampton just 2 minutes after my husband did.  SO I asked the lady who I booked the 2nd room for that since both rooms had two beds, if she would share with me and we would give the 2nd room for the couple & their baby.  She readily agreed.  It felt really  good to help the couple and their young baby.

 

We finally got to the hotel at 1am and feel asleep around 2am for a few hours.   I finally got home the next day – Thursday. It was a long 36 hours but it wasn’t boring that’s for sure.  Made me think of one of our core values at ADI:

 

Adventure Delivered through Inspiration(ADI)- Creating Life Experiences, Delivering the Dream.

-       All travel is adventure, whether it is a driving trip across country, a business meeting in Phoenix, or an incentive trip to Tahiti

-       Adventure creates opportunity

-       A Positive attitude breeds happiness and inspiration

-       Life is an adventure, live it to the fullest