I flew from San Diego to Los Angeles last night and leaving home I knew that was the only sure bet out of my four trips to get to Guadeloupe (well as sure as one can be with the airlines anyway). It was on United Express and we got to LAX on time.
I walked over to Terminal 5 thinking it would be faster than wait for the shuttle (that was my workout for the day; next time I'll wait for the shuttle) to check in at the American Airlines counter. The agent, a charming gentleman, checked my suitcase and wished me good luck since the flight was full. Big difference with some of our agents at UAL who scare you the minute you get to the podium by telling you there is no way in hell you will get on. Then you DO get a seat and even have empty seats on the plane. This has happened so many times that now the rule is not to leave the boarding area until the plane pushes back. People check-in from home, different cities or even countries and for whatever reasons never make it to the flight. So I was hoping that someone's misfortune would help me. I got to the gate and found out I was number 7 on the stand-by list. Not good. Everybody showed up and they did not take any stand-by. Went over to the next gate for the second flight. Now I was number 8 and the flight was delayed. The delay did not bother me but it gave people who might have been running late a chance to make it. Again counting on someone's bad luck. Pretty sad way to travel actually. It was not meant to happen; again no stand-by got on board. By that time it was close to midnight and the first flight was scheduled for 6:30am. I settled in one of the very uncomfortable chairs and watched Slumdog Millionaire before finally closing my eyes for a couple of hours.
I walked over to Terminal 5 thinking it would be faster than wait for the shuttle (that was my workout for the day; next time I'll wait for the shuttle) to check in at the American Airlines counter. The agent, a charming gentleman, checked my suitcase and wished me good luck since the flight was full. Big difference with some of our agents at UAL who scare you the minute you get to the podium by telling you there is no way in hell you will get on. Then you DO get a seat and even have empty seats on the plane. This has happened so many times that now the rule is not to leave the boarding area until the plane pushes back. People check-in from home, different cities or even countries and for whatever reasons never make it to the flight. So I was hoping that someone's misfortune would help me. I got to the gate and found out I was number 7 on the stand-by list. Not good. Everybody showed up and they did not take any stand-by. Went over to the next gate for the second flight. Now I was number 8 and the flight was delayed. The delay did not bother me but it gave people who might have been running late a chance to make it. Again counting on someone's bad luck. Pretty sad way to travel actually. It was not meant to happen; again no stand-by got on board. By that time it was close to midnight and the first flight was scheduled for 6:30am. I settled in one of the very uncomfortable chairs and watched Slumdog Millionaire before finally closing my eyes for a couple of hours.
After freshening up a bit I went to the gate and was unhappy to see I was still number 6 on the list but happy to see a 767 parked outside. Bigger plane equals more seats. I finally got my boarding pass. 37C never sounded so good. I fell asleep before the plane even took off.
After an uneventful flight, we landed in Miami and I spent the next hour trying to find a way to get to Guadeloupe that night to no avail. I had to accept the fact that I would have to wait one more day before seeing my family. I called home and found out that my brother had arrived safely from Paris with my nephew. At least one of us was there.
It was time to find a hotel for the night.
1 comment:
Hmm... maybe UA has a policy of setting lower expectations. They scare you the minute you walk up the desk so you'd be happy with whatever little morsel you get from them later, like actually getting on a flight!
o(^_^)o
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