Airport horror stories

[Cooper]

Traveling over the holidays isn't always the easiest but when bad weather strikes things can get a lot more complicated.

 

A Chicago friend and board member decided to travel to NY and visit his family for the holidays. He arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport only to learn that his 7pm flight was delayed due to bad weather. Now his flight was scheduled to board 2 hours later. Well, 2 hours turned into 4, then 8. Finally, after 12 hrs of waiting, his flight took off. He arrived in NY just in time to join his family for their Christmas Eve celebration. Oh, I forgot to mention, his luggage was lost! Fortunately, it turned up yesterday just in time for his return to Chicago.

 

Well, I heard from him from him last night. His return flight to Chicago was diverted to Columbus, Ohio. Reason given, bad weather. He spent the night in a Columbus hotel and was booked on a flight to Washington, DC, where he is right now waiting for his flight to Chicago later in the day.

 

Seems lots of stories like this are being told on a daily basis. What's going on in our friendly skies?

[KMEM]

What do you expect from companies that refuse to face reality, that refuse to acknowledge they have a failed business plan, that refuse to raise ticket prices by analyzing the cost of flying between two city pairs but instead institute "sneaky" increases for commonly accepted practices such as checking baggage, that insists upon having an in house "passenger rights" code that is entirely up to interpretation by each airline and has no teeth for enforcement thereof, that thinks the best way to compete is to pick out a competitor and cut the fare between two or more of its' city pairs until they cry uncle or go out of business and finally, that thinks the way to be efficient is to cut the pay of their employees?

 

Bad weather cannot entirely be avoided but it can be mitigated by having enough aircraft and crews to keep from exacerbating the situation. If an aircraft is stuck on the ground either because of the departing airport weather or because of the weather at the arrival airport, one might be unhappy with the delay but even more so when the crew announces they are out of duty time and the aircraft you are sitting on becomes a waiting room with wings.

 

There is an old saying or aviation joke that goes I (as a passenger) don't mind having a bad day so long as the crew and air traffic controller(s) have good days. In other words, losing baggage is pretty minor compared to losing an aircraft to include loss of life.

 

I realize you were not especially moaning and groaning but only telling a holiday travel "adventure" but you did ask the question, "what is going on in the friendly skies?"

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[Cooper]

After 17 hours of trying to return from NY to Chicago, my friend has arrived safely with luggage. CEO, it was nice of you to show a concern. He really was surprised anyone knew and appreciated your thoughtful call. Coop

[Troyster]

Airport horror stories .....

 

being in the stall next to Senator Larry Craig ... eeeeewwwwwwwww. That's enough to keep you up at night with nightmares!