I feel the need to just let all this out.. I've been through one of my worst travel experiences to date. That says quite a bit considering I travel about 22 weeks a year.
I was flying down to Tampa from Montreal, connecting in Chicago. I should probably preface this by saying I've always had bad luck traveling through Chicago. I very often get hit with delays and missed connections, weather issues and just a whole list of crap. My last connection through Chicago ended with a 7 hour delay to get home. OK, that aside, my flight from Montreal to Chicago O'Hare was late but uneventful. I originally had an hour and forty minutes to make my connection to Tampa. With the delays, I was cutting it close. I had just enough time to walk to my next gate and they should be boarding.
That didn't happen.
When I arrived at the gate, my next flight was delayed 20 min.. OK, not bad I'm thinking, I won't miss my priority boarding so I can get my carry on in the overhead. It's the only reason early boarding is important.
So for perspective, my original flight was supposed to leave Chicago at 5:30pm local time. After two 20min delays, we find out that our aircraft is having issues and United needs to find us another plane.
6:10pm departure became 6:45. 6:45 became 7:20.. 7:20 becomes 7:50.. 7:50 becomes 8:30. Always not enough time to go anywhere or do anything. I did slip into the lounge at some point and got a glass of wine. I saw the departure move up to 9:25. So I waited in the lounge and to my surprise, at 8:50 the departure was still 9:25. So I hightail it back to the gate. We have a plane! Yaaa... And it's late coming in from Houston so the 9:25 becomes 9:45.. Dohh! But right around then we actually do start boarding. I'm tired but I'm really happy to be on my way.
Get to my seat and think all is well with the world...
This is your captain speaking... It seems there's a leak with some hydraulic fluid.. Maintenance is investigating...
I was flying down to Tampa from Montreal, connecting in Chicago. I should probably preface this by saying I've always had bad luck traveling through Chicago. I very often get hit with delays and missed connections, weather issues and just a whole list of crap. My last connection through Chicago ended with a 7 hour delay to get home. OK, that aside, my flight from Montreal to Chicago O'Hare was late but uneventful. I originally had an hour and forty minutes to make my connection to Tampa. With the delays, I was cutting it close. I had just enough time to walk to my next gate and they should be boarding.
That didn't happen.
When I arrived at the gate, my next flight was delayed 20 min.. OK, not bad I'm thinking, I won't miss my priority boarding so I can get my carry on in the overhead. It's the only reason early boarding is important.
So for perspective, my original flight was supposed to leave Chicago at 5:30pm local time. After two 20min delays, we find out that our aircraft is having issues and United needs to find us another plane.
6:10pm departure became 6:45. 6:45 became 7:20.. 7:20 becomes 7:50.. 7:50 becomes 8:30. Always not enough time to go anywhere or do anything. I did slip into the lounge at some point and got a glass of wine. I saw the departure move up to 9:25. So I waited in the lounge and to my surprise, at 8:50 the departure was still 9:25. So I hightail it back to the gate. We have a plane! Yaaa... And it's late coming in from Houston so the 9:25 becomes 9:45.. Dohh! But right around then we actually do start boarding. I'm tired but I'm really happy to be on my way.
Get to my seat and think all is well with the world...
This is your captain speaking... It seems there's a leak with some hydraulic fluid.. Maintenance is investigating...
Oh man. Really... . So wait some more and some more... They serve us water... We're still on the ground... Captain comes on 2 or 3 more times and I'm not really believing what I'm hearing... .
This is your captain speaking.. So it's been an hour we're sitting on the plane.. The maintenance team has tracked down the issue and ordered a part but it's going to be a few hours to get it fixed. . So ops is telling us we should de-plane..
At this point I'm thinking.. OK.. Night in Chicago it is... I know the drill... Coming off the plane they announced the flight is cancelled and we should all make our way to the customer service desk. I check my United app and they are letting me rebook myself on the next flight out at 6:15am the next day. Its getting close to 11pm at this point and I'm in Chicago for the next 7 hours...
Hop on hotwire... Find a hotel which I thought was close.. OK my bad for not being more vigilant about this. But in my defense.. All the "airport hotels" were either 400 a night or sold out, so I took what I thought was the next closest. Englewood resort in Itasca. If you know the area... You know that was just plain a bad idea.. This is not close. Anyways, get outside and get into the endless cab line. Finally get a cab, all the while I'm trying to call my hotel and rental car in Tampa so I still have something the next day. Well doesn't my brilliant cabby buddy get lost! Some closed roads and boom, this guy has no idea where to turn. The $40 ride ended up being $75.. Brought him down to 60 but couldn't get any lower. Make it into the hotel... My reservation wasn't there yet... They find my reservation, finally get me checked in, booked a car back to the airport for 4am and a wake up call at 3:30am. All in all, made it into bed at just after midnight.
I should at this point say 2 things... One, my adventure wasn't over and 2, I am proud of myself for keeping my spirits up this whole time. . It would have been easy for me to fall into the wasteland of blame and bad attitude. Zig Zigglar said a bad day is just an excuse for a bad attitude. I wouldn't let myself fall into that trap.. I was close, especially when the cabby was negotiating his screw up with me... I almost lost it on him. But I didn't. Close.. But still kept it together.
I didn't sleep very well even though it was a gorgeous establishment... On my way to my room, I saw this crazy awesome pool and spa area. It would have been so wonderful to stick around there for a little longer to take advantage of that. Anyhow.. Woke up at 3:15am, got ready and made it down to the lobby for 4am on the nose. The car service was nice, had water bottles for me and cheaper then the cab coming in. The guy booted it and we were at the airport before 4:30am. No line at security, moseyed on over to my gate with an hour to spare before my flight.. I am thinking great! Finally!
I find some really bad airport food breakfast (it was terrible) but ended up finding a Starbucks and did get a double espresso. All this to make it to the gate and find we are delayed again... Late inbound flight from Anchorage Alaska! Fine... Wait wait wait... Finally make it on the plane around 7am... (The flight was supposed to leave at 6:15 originally)
This is your captain speaking... It seems we have a small maintenance issue.
...
...
I mean
...
...
REALLY?!!?!?!?
OK.. Fine... Nothing I can do about it.. Accept my fate and relax.. In reality, I'm not willing to take a chance.. I appreciate the diligence everyone shows to make sure the planes are perfect. I do.
This time they did actually fix the plane as well. So fast forward some more... We ended up taking off at about 745am... Yaaa! Finally airborne and on my way to Tampa..
While in the air, this story was just been rolling around in my head and felt I needed to share it. So after watching a couple of episodes of supernatural on my tablet, I decided to try and write all this out on my phone which is exactly what I did. If it wasn't for the fact I had a very busy few days in Tampa, I would have blogged this on Wednesday when all this happened but this is my first spare moment really... I do also need to share the irony that I am on my way back to Montreal from Tampa and I am right now sitting and waiting for my connection in Chicago. So far everything is on time.
I don't really have anyone to send this to except family and friends who will ask what happened so I might just put up a blog post.. On a side note... If you are reading this, please don't leave any pity comments... Things like...
"Sorry to hear about that.." "Wow how shitty.." "United needs to fix their planes.."
Ultimately that's missing the point of sharing this. I'm happy that everyone working at the airport is so vigilant in making sure we travelers are safe. It makes me feel better about flying knowing people are watching out for us. I'm also proud of myself for not letting myself get brought down by the whole situation. (but I'm not looking for praise either).
In the end, don't let your situation affect your attitude. Your attitude is your choice. Also don't get mad at travel delays when people are doing their job properly. (When people are incompetent, thats another story) There is nothing they or you can do about it. Does it suck, yes it sucks.. I ended up losing my rental car and had to go fishing for a new one before boarding. My hotel in Tampa told me they will check me in before I show up so I hopefully won't lose my room. I didn't in the end, they kept it for me but had to pay the night I wasn't there. It's all part of the deal when you have to travel. I think God that I'm healthy and in control of my attitude and that I DID find a room Tuesday night (many others didn't) and that I made it to Tampa without any other issues. :)
So far my flight back has been great.. :)
While in the air, this story was just been rolling around in my head and felt I needed to share it. So after watching a couple of episodes of supernatural on my tablet, I decided to try and write all this out on my phone which is exactly what I did. If it wasn't for the fact I had a very busy few days in Tampa, I would have blogged this on Wednesday when all this happened but this is my first spare moment really... I do also need to share the irony that I am on my way back to Montreal from Tampa and I am right now sitting and waiting for my connection in Chicago. So far everything is on time.
I don't really have anyone to send this to except family and friends who will ask what happened so I might just put up a blog post.. On a side note... If you are reading this, please don't leave any pity comments... Things like...
"Sorry to hear about that.." "Wow how shitty.." "United needs to fix their planes.."
Ultimately that's missing the point of sharing this. I'm happy that everyone working at the airport is so vigilant in making sure we travelers are safe. It makes me feel better about flying knowing people are watching out for us. I'm also proud of myself for not letting myself get brought down by the whole situation. (but I'm not looking for praise either).
In the end, don't let your situation affect your attitude. Your attitude is your choice. Also don't get mad at travel delays when people are doing their job properly. (When people are incompetent, thats another story) There is nothing they or you can do about it. Does it suck, yes it sucks.. I ended up losing my rental car and had to go fishing for a new one before boarding. My hotel in Tampa told me they will check me in before I show up so I hopefully won't lose my room. I didn't in the end, they kept it for me but had to pay the night I wasn't there. It's all part of the deal when you have to travel. I think God that I'm healthy and in control of my attitude and that I DID find a room Tuesday night (many others didn't) and that I made it to Tampa without any other issues. :)
So far my flight back has been great.. :)
