So ABC has had the travel day worthy of a John Candy movie. I was supposed to pick her up at the airport this morning at 11 am, but got a frantic phone call she had overslept and missed her plane, but she had rescheduled and would be in at 3:30. No big deal, I dealt with the hvac guy and worked and did other things.
At about oneish, I got a text that she had to reschedule and would be leaving at 6:30. No problem, I would get some Chico Fiesta (my favorite Mexican place) and be there to pick her up.
And then the fun started. Her plane was delayed an hour, and when they finally boarded, got 500 feet from the gate and had to turn around for some tests because something was wrong with the engine. That took about an hour, and they determined that the plane was tits up and they unboarded them and poured them all back into the airport bar/lounge. I had to turn around and go home because I had been grocery shopping on the way to the airport, and Chico Fiesta had a wedding rehearsal dinner and was packed and I could not eat.
At this point I realized how smart it was for them to put them all back in the bar (where she had basically been since 1 o’clock), because if I had been there I would have already been starring in a viral video on the internet of things. At any rate, the hits kept on coming with multiple new departure times that were all scratched, and she finally is airborne at 11:30 with a 1:15 landing time.
Wheeee.
amk
Waiting is the thrilling part of any courtship, dood.
trollhattan
Once again, where are our hovercrafts? Hrrumph!
This will ultimately resolve itself but the underlying truth remains: travel sucks.Why can’t we have nice things?
Major Major Major Major
Coming soon to Kellyanne Conway’s microwave!
Whatever happened to her?
SWMBO
I hope she isn’t flying United. Or Delta. Or American. Hell it’s taking long enough, she probably could have driven. Or taken Amtrak. First world problems.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@trollhattan: Speaking of travel…
khead
Was she returning from the Fyre Festival?
I have wasted too much time following that Twitter hashtag. Because I like to laugh.
RedDirtGirl
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve been wondering when she’ll resurface.
Mnemosyne
Okay, I knew this thing was getting serious when you met her kids, but picking her up at the airport? Are you sure you’re ready for this step?
One of my single coworkers was a little surprised to hear that G picks me up at the airport and I was like, Uh, yeah, it’s kind of a requirement when you’re married.
Ruckus
JC
I once had a 1 1/2 hr flight made into a 13 hr day. I was telling a coworker about it and he told me about a 2 hr flight that took 20 hrs.
Moral? There is always a worse story out there about airline travel. And that’s without getting your teeth knocked out and a concussion.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
My ex never picked me up at the airport. She did have a 5 yr old to look after though so it was understandable.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: this was on my Gude-a-day calendar the other day btw, been meaning to show you.
ruemara
Now I have the song stuck in my head
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
This may help explain why she’s your ex. Though, yes, have small children to care for does tend to change the dynamic.
@Major Major Major Major:
Okay, that’s creepy and disturbing, so pretty much what I’d expect from the character.
Yarrow
Oh, the fun of long distance relationships. All that time and travel.
At least she wasn’t delayed so much the flight crew wasn’t allowed to fly anymore. Or maybe they had to pull in an alternate flight crew.
efgoldman
When our daughter was 12 or 13, she traveled, alone, from Boston to Dayton OH for a two week Girl Scout thing. The airlines (still Allegheny, I think) took care – or were supposed to – of kids traveling alone.
Trip out was fine; they got her onto the connecting flight at Pittsburgh, no problem; the host family met her at Dayton airport. She had a good time.
But the trip back! Oy. Early 1990s – no cell phones, no text messages. Her flight out of Dayton was delayed, so she missed her flight at Pittsburgh. She was able to call us from the airport.
Then the flight form Pittsburgh was delayed, too. We’re at Logan, with no way to get in touch with her.
Then, at Logan, they changed the arrival gate three times – at opposite ends of a long concourse, and the last change not posted until after the plane was actually unloading.
Poor scared kid. Poor hysterical mother…..
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: the Gudetama song?
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: Really? the man I’m totally not dateing/we’re just friends picks me up all the time.
@Major Major Major Major: I need to practice that for Comic-Con. And find a yellow leotard. But no, The Red Hot Chili Peppers song referenced in the title.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: I know… just pretending out loud that it’s what you meant, since your comment was right after my Gude pic.
NotMax
This is good news for John McCain. ;)
Related here previously about the trip from Hades: almost 3 days and 11 flights to get from Curitiba, Brazil to NYC in 1961. Included one engine of a two-engine prop plane aflame and the army, already occupying the tarmac, with machine gun emplacements ready, threatening to shoot down the plane if it landed.
Original Lee
Sounds like Delta. My sincere condolences on this horrible plane trip. Although, to be fair, the only time I have trouble with Delta is when I’m flying Original Delta. When I fly Delta-that-used-to-be-Northwest, I’m almost always fine.
Plane travel has gotten to be so unpleasant for me, though, that if I can get there in 12 hours or less by car, I will drive. I am also astounded when a flight goes as scheduled (those few times I fly). The most recent wrinkle (in a kind of get off my lawn way) is when they hold up boarding the flight because they need 25-30 people to volunteer to check their carry-on luggage because there’s not enough room for everyone to have two bags when they have a full flight. Then if they don’t get enough, they arbitrarily pick a point in the boarding line and start taking away anything that won’t fit under the seat in front of you.
My most recent flight involved sitting in the middle of the row in one of the newer planes, which is problematic because I am tall. My seat was outfitted with a seatbelt that had been permanently shortened so that I could barely fasten it, and I had an obnoxious young person sitting ahead of me who reclined her seat just enough that getting out to go to the bathroom felt a lot like a physical comedy sketch. Allegedly a nine-hour flight, but in actuality closer to ten hours because we left the gate about half an hour before takeoff.
danielx
There was the time I went from San Francisco to Indianapolis by way of Pittsburgh, with the Pittsburgh to Indianapolis leg on a prop flight. At night. In snow and wind. All because some US Air ticket agent decided to fuck with me: “whaddya mean, the fare’s not valid? it was valid when you sold me the ticket or i wouldn’t have the goddamn ticket in my hand, right?”
Airline stories are part of relationships, and generally not a good part.
Aleta
Instead of calling the fyre festival a disaster, it’s actually a good thing it failed before it got started. If the beginning had been pulled off, the afterward would have been a sorry mess. People in charge usually desert a place to party elsewhere; doubtful they had arranged for trash removal, or hired clean up crew. Probably ecological damage to the site too. The host town would have been stuck with it all.
It sounds like all the ticket money got siphoned off far ahead of time, and they tried to get the setup rentals and workers for nothing until -maybe- their concession proceeds came in.
NotMax
Bet it’s the last time she books a flight with Cletus Airlines & Bait Shop, LLC.
Mart
@trollhattan: The Hovercrafts have arrived comrade! http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/24/technology/larry-page-flying-car/
efgoldman
@Original Lee:
I don’t know which is worse; the asshole in front you describe, or a little kid behind you who keeps rhythmically kicking the back of your seat.
PVD to DCA is just over an hour, so we can put up with ALMOST anything. We fly on not-really-American (used to be Republic). The aircraft is an Embraer, seats maybe 60, and all the seating is 2+2. Pretty easy.
In the winter we go Amtrak. Eight hours, but big, comfy seats, food and drink aboard (for some definitions of food), usually more or less on time regardless of weather.
eemom
@efgoldman:
Indeed. I would have flipped. Hell, I flipped when my daughter got stuck in an Amtrak mess for 7 hours coming home from UVA on her first winter break , and she was 19 and had a cell phone. It’s hard being a mother.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Considering how badly many people drive, are we sure we want them driving in 3 dimensions?
NotMax
From the recesses o’ the 1960s closet, Nocturnal Aviation.
Juju
Have a good chuckle together at the travel mishaps and then have a lovely time while ABC is there for her visit. Bon weekend.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Some already do.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus:
My advice is that, if you must have an easy flight turn into a 24-hour adventure, never, ever do it at the State College, PA airport. They not only have a shitty convenience store/hot food counter as the only place to get anything to eat, it’s outside the security checkpoint, so it’s a pain to use while you sit around all day for the plane that’s supposed to finally be here in an hour.
The women’s Frozen Four is going to be in State College in a few years, and that airport is going to be overwhelmed by hundreds of fans showing up. Hell, it would probably be overwhelmed by just four teams and the players’ parents.
efgoldman
@eemom:
There was no current updated airline website to look at then, either. I’m not sure there was even a web; I know we didn’t even have dialup AOL yet.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
I don’t want to scare you, but he may be a little more serious than you think. Or else your local airport is way easier to negotiate than LAX.
abcconcepts
I just landed. It is 1:08 AM. JGC is here to pick me up. He has his flaws, I am aware, but getting to see him is worth every second of the two-hour drive to Boston, the ten hours at Logan, and the two hour flight. I am clearly very tired.
ABC
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
The light rail to the Minneapolis/St Paul airport is so convenient that family coming to town generally just take the train from the airport to their hotel and I meet them there.
Steeplejack
I must be a prize sap. I’ve always sort of enjoyed picking up/dropping off people at the airport.
seaboogie
@Major Major Major Major: So SanRio – that doesn’t look like Hello Kitty to me, but maybe I’m not keeping up with the times….
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
It wasn’t so bad when I lived in Mar Vista and could take surface streets all the way there.
The 30-mile drive on some of the most crowded freeways in So Cal is not fun.
efgoldman
@Steeplejack:
DCA? That’s not so bad.
When the kids went to Europe last Spring, I had to pick them up at IAD. On a Saturday afternoon. Flight came in from Paris more or less on time, but between customs, and passport control, and the shuttle buses….
Cars at the curb were three deep, and the parking nazis were moving people (including me) out, not allowing any waiting. I think I went around five times.
Who was the bright bulb who designed a huge international airport with only one pickup zone, a few hundred yards long, for all arrivals?
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I fly as little as possible any more. I used to fly 30 weeks or so a year. For over a decade. It took about 4-5 yrs to get to the point that nothing bothered me except really shitty seatmates, which didn’t happen as often as one might expect. In fact I learned that being nice and smiling could get me upgraded to first class when everyone else was being pissy. One of the best life lessons that I’ve learned in almost 70 yrs. I wish I was better at it.
joel hanes
a seatbelt that had been permanently shortened
[presses Flight Attendant button overhead]
Yes, may I please have a seat-belt extender? Thank you very much.
Works every time.
efgoldman
@Ruckus:
My granddaughter (she’ll be four in August) has already flown almost as much in her life as I have in mine. They come up at least three times a year. They have to drive to SIL’s family in North Carolina (about the same distance as to RI) because the fares are outrageous and they go where the nearest major airport is many, many miles/hours away.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
One good thing about Arizona is the Phoenix airport. It’s a little confusing to figure out which road to take to each terminal the first time, but there’s a lot less merging in and out of the same road.
Plus their cell phone lot has a big arrivals board that constantly updates, and all of their rental cars are at a single facility, so there’s only one set of rental car buses competing for space, not 6 or more like at LAX.
SFBayAreaGal
@Steeplejack: I love picking up and dropping off people at San Francisco International Airport.
efgoldman
@Mnemosyne:
Boston is surprisingly easy, with the new tunnel. There’s lots of merging, but it’s not really that bad. Getting there, though…..from where i live, it’s almost an hour on a good day, of which there aren’t many, on a terrible “expressway” that was obsolete when they finished it in the 1950s.
Providence, OTOH, is smallish, a straight 20 minute shot from my house, all highway. I actually pay my kids any difference to fly in and out that way, so I don’t have to drive in/out of Logan in Boston.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Had a good friend in OH pass away not long ago and I had just purchased my tickets to fly to my best friend of over 40 yrs service. The tickets to OH were running over $800 and I just couldn’t afford to spend nearly $1200 in 2 weeks for airfare. When I flew for business it all went on my company credit card. That is until the one time time I reached my credit limit of $5000 because I had been flying several weeks in a row so airfare, rent car, hotel, food……
abcconcepts
I landed at 1:08 AM and JGC was there to pick me up. I know he’s not perfect (believe me, I know), but getting to see him is worth every second of the two-hour drive to Boston, the ten hours at Logan, and a two-hour flight. I am happy to be here, and am also clearly very tired.
-ABC
SFBayAreaGal
Getting in and out of SFO is real easy.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
I’ve had to fly in and out of Logan and then drive to NH for events. Pre-tunnel. Not nearly as much fun as you make it sound.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
DCA, also IAD, BWI, LGA, JFK, BOS, SFO, LAS, ATL, MSY, MSP, OKA, DNA, etc., etc.
Ruckus
@SFBayAreaGal:
Have to say I agree. SFO is one of the easiest major airports to get in and out of. And I’ve flown in and out of most of the majors. However once you get on the freeway all hope is lost for a fast drive anywhere.
seaboogie
@Steeplejack:
I used to travel solo a lot for business, and always envied those folks who had someone to meet them. You are not a sap – you are a mensch*.
*Def – ” a person of integrity an honor”.
efgoldman
@Ruckus: One summer in the mid-60s I had a camp counselors’ job in the Adirondacks (Long Lake – beautiful place). I had no car or license, so the only way to get there was fly. American at 700am out of Boston; prop-jet Electra to White Plains NY, show up ten minutes before the flight, no security, literally five passengers for, I think four flight attendants, full hot breakfast…..
Change in White Plains to Mohawk to Saranac Lake on one of these.
A puddle-jumper, made multiple stops. Full of kids going to various camps, most of whom had never flown before. Takeoffs and landings at those small airports were an adventure, and I think they ran out of barf bags. Approach to Saranac was (probably still is) by spiraling around inside the mountains until touch down, Fun.
seaboogie
@SFBayAreaGal: SFO is my local airport of choice, and it really is pretty user-friendly – not angsty like so many other airports. Maybe it’s a west coast vibe…
However my most favorite home airport was Vancouver, CA when I lived there.
efgoldman
@Steeplejack:
When we had lunch, you didn’t tell us you were a masochist
Mnemosyne
@SFBayAreaGal:
I usually end up at OAK because it’s the cheapest flight out of Burbank. I don’t think I’ve driven out of there, but the (relatively new?) BART extension that takes you directly to the terminal is quite handy.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: The one time I got upgraded to first class was in 1996. I was flying back to Minneapolis from Detroit the day after the Michigan Wolverines won the hockey national championship game. I get to the counter to check in, wearing my Michigan jersey, and the woman looks at me and says, “There’s an extra seat in first class, and I can move you there if you like.” I said, “Thanks; that would be great.” As she handed me the boarding pass, she said, “I’m Bobby Hayes’ mother, and I like the jersey.” (Hayes was Michigan’s third line center.)
That was twenty years ago. These days, the distance I’ll drive to avoid flying gets greater and greater. In addition to all of the other issues with airports and airlines, I’m autistic, with a typical autistic person’s aversion to physical contact with strangers, and sitting next to someone who overflows their seat into mine makes a flight hellish; there’s no way to complain about it without making yourself the bad guy.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, speaking of transportation, I’m still seriously considering doing an Amtrak day trip to San Luis Obispo as a mini writer’s retreat for myself. It would give me 4 hours to work in each direction, with a 2-hour break to walk around SLO between trains.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
Used to do a lot of business travel when I was somebody in software. Lots of conferences and expos with overlapping arrival and departure times, so I ended up picking up and dropping off coworkers who were more angsty about travel.
Once dropped myself off at LGA in a motor home. Went to a friend’s wedding in downstate New York. The groom’s uncle said he could give me a ride back to the city. Turned out he meant I would drive the gigantic bus while he and his girlfriend sat in the back drinking champagne. Good times.
CaseyL
I haven’t done any serious traveling for a couple of years. These days I mostly drive to nearby places, like seaside towns in Washington state. Air travel wasn’t too bad last time I flew, but it sounds like it’s gotten exponentially worse in the last two years.
They say the trade-off is more affordable fares, but I don’t remember airfare being that expensive before deregulation. I was able to do quite a bit of flying in my 20s and 30s – back when there were still many airlines to chose from! Seems like a golden age now, looking back…
chopper
she’s a keeper.
SectionH
Just was on Fb, saw this.
It’s still sinking in. Somebody died because this asshole wanted to kill Democrats. I’m trying not to throw up.
Sorry if it was posted before. I used to live in Lexington. Still own a house there. Fucking hits home.
Ian
Is she being kept in the pink room?
SectionH
OMG, BJ can has a duplicate comment detector?
Alain, you probably won’t see this, but major kudos for that tweak!
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I never complained. But I also have this ability to make assholes want to move away from me if they fuck with me too much. Only had to use it a couple of times but it is a skill that comes in handy when push comes to shove. Each situation is different but it works on drunks and just plain assholes. Said on here the other night that a very large woman pushed herself by me while I was storing my bag in the overhead and sat in the middle seat. I just pointed to my window seat and asked her to move and she declined. So I climbed on the arms of the seats and with my ass in her face walked to the window seat and dropped in. Got a few chuckles from the people waiting to pass, she wasn’t impressed. I also commandeered the arm rest between us, settled in and went to sleep. I hope I snored.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: Do it! I love the train trips
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
It’s a lovely idea but I’m not sure how much work you might get done. I ride the train a fair amount these days and it really isn’t conductive to work all that much. It might be OK if you are looking for time to work on outlines but unless you can shut out a somewhat noisy world, I’d think writing would be difficult. I can’t imagine writing on the Amtrak train. Maybe on one of the European or Japanese trains.
Ian
@efgoldman:
So you pay hundreds of dollars for this seat, and the only comfort is that you can recline, and all of a sudden its your fault you press one of two buttons in front of you?
Blame the person in front of you all you want, it is the airlines F***ing their customers to blame for your legspace, not the person in front of you.
I find this to be the equivalent of blaming the poor for being poor. People make decisions based on limited resources… AND FUCK THEM! If only that poor little kid had spent their extra money to fly first class like real people… instead they should act like the serf they are.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
The one thing I’m nervous about is that I got a little motion sick on the big trip up to SF, and now I’m worried that I’m developing motion sickness in my old age and will be slightly bilious the whole trip.
I’m hoping the reason I had issues with it last time was because I kept having to move from place to place to find a spot where people weren’t talking. It was especially annoying that one of the people who was supposed to be there for NaNoWriMo kept blabbing the whole time because he forgot his notes. Then go to a different car and talk in your loud voice, asshole — we’re trying to write!
Ian
@efgoldman:
Dulles is the only place I know that devotes more staff to shuttling passengers between terminals than to achieving security and customer service.
Ian
@SectionH:
Radio Rwanda (fox) has been on for 25 years. Surprised that tlhis hasn’t happened more often, not surprised that when it does happen it isn’t covered more.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SectionH:
According to that article, no one died.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: The thing is, people don’t have to be assholes for it to cause me problems. They just have to not quite fit in the seat they were assigned, or want to use the armrest, or whatever. Just the incidental contact that is inevitable with sitting in coach is enough to make me very uncomfortable. I’d much rather spend 14 hours driving, with just me and the stereo.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: Chew some gin-gins or drink some ginger beer.
PST
Lying awake and reading this thread got me wondering how many flights I’ve taken in my lifetime. I figure between 1500 and 2000 over the course of 50 years of flying regularly. Just as no matter how bad a travel nightmare story you have, someone has a worse one, no matter you much you fly, someone else flies vastly more. Efgoldman’s story about his daughter made me think of all the times I ended up sleeping overnight in the Pittsburgh airport flying Allegheny student standby between Toledo and Boston in the 70s. I’m not as convinced as some that flying is so much worse today. I don’t know how we functioned without cell phones.
SectionH
@Steeplejack (phone): Yes, and I’m wrong. First thing on Fb I saw did report a young woman had died. I knew the link I had was kind of old. Should have kept looking for most recent info.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I opened some peanuts I got from Costco and it had the dark brown clump in it. I don’t know what it was, but I have two dogs and it reminded me of something they produce.
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I do understand and realize that you most likely couldn’t pull off being a courteous asshole, it’s probably not possible for you, given your autistism. I have to be careful because the line is easy to cross. So I only used it when absolutely necessary, when the cost of not doing it becomes greater than doing so. I also agree that driving is easier, except going north or south, LA to SF. You are going to hit major traffic at one end or the other at the very least no matter when you leave because I live on the south east side of LA and my friends live in Marin or Sonoma counties. If you get the timing wrong it’s rush hr at both ends. Now that’s fun.
Ruckus
@PST:
Sleeping on terminal floors is an art form. And some terminals are much better than others. Best for me was concourse B, north side at Atlanta. LAX may be the worst but Detroit comes in a close second.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Ruckus: One thing I’ve learned driving from Minneapolis to Ann Arbor is that the only way to get through Chicago is to do it between 11:30 pm and 4 am. Fortunately, I’m a nocturnal creature.
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I still am but not to the degree that I used to be. It’s 1am here and I’m getting tired. Not that long ago 3 or 4 am was normal. Don’t know if it’s what the VA docs haven’t told me I’ve got or the meds I’m on but these days 12 or 1 is about as late as I normally get. And maybe it’s just because I’m an old fart.
PST
@Ruckus:
As is sleeping on a row of molded plastic seats.
Ruckus
@PST:
Never could manage the plastic seats.
satby
@abcconcepts: aww, sweet. Have a lovely stay.
brendancalling
I wonder if she was on the same flight as my [new!] ladyfriend’s sister, who had a cancellation and a delay of her own.
Yesterday was a clusterfuck for air travel.
laura
Word to the wise, the Cabeau memory foam pillow is so good. You CAN actually sleep in the middle seat, or any other with this dreamy cervical collar. They have a cool version for those who power surge -and you know who you are. It squished down to a very small size and has its own duffle bag. It’s got a sleeve for your i-phone, but too tight for android.it’s a wee bit pricey at around $40.00, but damn, you can sleep!
Will be taking the red eye on Virgin from SFO to NYC on the 7th, and if all goes according to plan, should sleep almost the whole flight. I flew from SFO to Ft. Lauderdale days after the shootout in January. Fell asleep right after takeoff and awoke with 20 minutes left in the flight. Same level of comfort on the return trip.
It keeps your head erect and is flat on the backside so your head’s not all geeked forward.
J R in WV
@abcconcepts:
Hi! Welcome to West (by dawg) Virginia, ABC, hope you enjoy your stay.
I had an airport catastrophe recently, tried to go from CRW to Tucson AZ, got to Atlanta, airport was disfunctional, crowded past all sane limits. After being stranded there for 18 hours, got a ticket back home, followed up in a $700 refund a couple of weeks later on. Delta failed. I could go on for an hour, but TL;DR. No seats available in airport !!!
Enjoy small rural community peaceful springtime!
Mnemosyne
I didn’t see ABC’s comment last night. Did she have the true Balloon-Juice experience and end up in random moderation? ?
abcconcepts, as you probably know, perfect guys (or gals) don’t exist. It’s all about finding someone whose quirks you can live with.
scuffletuffle
@abcconcepts: no flights out of Hartford?
BruceFromOhio
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Love that line! When the weather is nice, it’s a splendid walk from the Nicollette Mall stop to the Nicollette Island Inn. Atlanta (MARTA) Chicago (Orange Line) and San Francisco (BART) are similar, plane to train to hotel in an almost effortless sweep – unless you are hauling a bunch of luggage or have a large group.
Cole, thought you were farther down state towards Charleston; you are stone’s throw from the ‘burg! Got a niece going to school in Steubenville across the river, she’s really enjoying it there.
Shana
@efgoldman: probably a long dead thread, but Dulles at leaat has a good size cell phone lot. National only has about 30 spots. Much prefer Dulles.
Barbara
@SWMBO: I have driven home from Hartford twice (not by myself) when thunder storms closed air traffic around DC. It takes around 7 hours if you start after 6:30 pm.