Like Christmas Eve all over again
I’ve always loved Christmas Eve. I spend the entire day sneaking peeks at the piles of presents under the tree, wondering at which ones have my name on them, and anticipating the fabulous goodies that await me underneath the paper and bows. Frequently, the anticipation is much better than the actual Christmas Day when I realize that underneath the paper and bows were a fifth orange peeler, tube socks, or a can of creamed corn (all actual presents I received this last year).
Well, right now, it is like Christmas Eve all over again. I’m eagerly awaiting the presentation of a gift. My imagination has built it up so much that I’m surely going to be a bit disappointed when I find out what it really is, but nevertheless, it is an exciting time.
For what am I about to receive a present? For having to put up with terrible, terrible ineptitude on the part of America West airlines.
I was supposed to fly out of Kansas City on Friday at 2:36 pm. I was to arrive in Phoenix, Arizona, a few hours later, and catch another flight to Seattle, which was to deposit me safely on the ground at about 7:30 pm (Pacific time). Nothing particularly unusual about the itinerary for the trip, and the flight from Phoenix to Seattle was even supposed to be a dinner flight.
Well, the plane arrived in Kansas City on time, and de-planed all of its passengers. The flight crew prepared the plane for its flight on to Phoenix. All of the passengers for my flight to Phoenix were waiting in the gate area for our boarding call, and the time for boarding came and went without comment. About 10 minutes after we were supposed to board, the gate representatives for America West informed us all via intercom that our flight had a short delay and that they would get back with us shortly.
30 minutes passed.
We then got another update from the gate representatives saying that there had been a mechanical malfunction with the plane on its way into Kansas City (the cabin had been losing pressurization!) and that the mechanics were working on fixing the problem. They promised another update very shortly.
An hour passed.
They then informed us that the part that was broken wasn’t repairable and that they would need to replace the part. The only problem was that the nearest part to fix the plane was in Atlanta, so we would need to wait for a plane to come from Atlanta to Kansas City with the part so that they could fix our plane and get it off of the ground. The estimated leave time from Kansas City was now 6:45 pm.
Unfortunately, there were no other flights leaving Kansas City, for any other destination, from any other airline, that had any open seats on them. They advised us all to talk to the gate representatives at our gate to arrange for us new connecting flights out of Phoenix that night if possible, and for meal and hotel vouchers if our connecting flights would leave the next morning. About half of the plane’s passengers (including me) got in line. Unfortunately, the agents at the counter seemed a bit slow in performing their duties. After an hour had passed, three people had been helped. At that point, the rear half of the line (including me) walked away from the line. From my seat, I watched a woman who had been sitting near me in the gate area standing in line. She had originally been the tenth person in line, but after 2 hour and 15 minutes, she was only third in line. America West opened no other gate counters for us, and brought in no other personnel to help people find flights and accommodations.
Finally, our plane was repaired and they loaded us onboard.
And we waited. And waited. And waited. After sitting on the plane for about a half hour, the captain came on and told us that the mechanics had in fact not finished fixing the plane, and that our revised take-off time was 8:00 pm.
We left the ground at 8:05. When I arrived in Phoenix, I made sure to be one of the first to the gate counter to get my vouchers or same-day connecting flight. Sadly, there were no more flights leaving that night for Seattle that were not full, so I would have to get vouchers. The gate representative said that he made me a reservation at a Hampton Inn, but that, due to the time of our arrival in Phoenix, he could not give me a meal voucher for dinner, but that he would give me a voucher for breakfast instead. The last meal I had eaten had been breakfast that day, at about 10:00 am, but being tired and a little aggravated, I took my vouchers and asked him about my baggage. The gate agent told me that after I picked up my bags, I could walk over to the courtesy phone near the baggage claim area, look up my hotel on a board by the phone, call the hotel, and have a shuttle sent out for me.
He took my baggage claim stubs, scanned them, and said that my bags would be waiting for me on baggage claim carousel number 1 in about a half hour. Since about half of the flight’s passengers were going to be staying overnight, and most of us wanted our bags, we all headed down toward our baggage claim area. We waited. After an hour, our bags still hadn’t shown up on the carousel, or on any other carousel. As a group, we all went down to the baggage claim office.
The baggage claim people investigated the case of our lost bags, and discovered that there had been a shift change among the baggage handlers as our bags were being unloaded from the plane, and that our baggage was sitting in plain view (and in plane view, hyuk hyuk) on the tarmac. They sent the new crew down to load them on the ramp to be sent up to us.
When I finally got my bags, I found the courtesy phone and board, as promised. Again, a snag was found. There were about 20 Hampton Inns in the greater Phoenix area, and no indication as to which one had a room reserved for me. I took my chances and picked the first on one the list and gave it a call.
The Hampton Inn I called did not have my reservation, but through a linked computer system, could check to see which Hampton Inn did have my reservation. As it turns out, the America West gate representative who had said he reserved me a room at Hampton Inn and scribbled “Hampton Inn” on my printed voucher, had in fact only SAID that he’d reserved me a room at the Hampton Inn as he scribbled “Hampton Inn” on my printed voucher. No Hampton Inn anywhere in the greater Phoenix area had my reservation at all. Luckily, the manager of the hotel said that he’d go ahead and book me a room at the one I called, and would take the airline’s voucher. He sent a shuttle out for me.
When I checked in at the hotel to get my room, I learned that America West’s ‘breakfast voucher’ was also fairly worthless. My flight from Phoenix to Seattle left early the next morning, and there would be no time to stop anywhere to get breakfast before I had to be at the airport. And due to the early-morning leave-time on the flight, I would also miss the continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn by 15 minutes.
Luckily, the flight that I had out of Phoenix the next morning was on USAirways. Nothing went wrong. The gate staff were competent and courteous. They informed us, though, that each person who was joining them from the America West flight from Kansas City from the day previous needed to leave their phone numbers with the flight crew, since a representative from America West would be contacting each person on that Kansas City flight to make things right.
After not having eaten for 26 hours, lunch with my brother tasted very good.
So, here I sit, waiting for my phone call. What will they offer? A refund? Free flights? Or just an apology? I’m just hoping that the anticipation on this particular day is every bit as satisfying as the actual phone call.
Well, right now, it is like Christmas Eve all over again. I’m eagerly awaiting the presentation of a gift. My imagination has built it up so much that I’m surely going to be a bit disappointed when I find out what it really is, but nevertheless, it is an exciting time.
For what am I about to receive a present? For having to put up with terrible, terrible ineptitude on the part of America West airlines.
I was supposed to fly out of Kansas City on Friday at 2:36 pm. I was to arrive in Phoenix, Arizona, a few hours later, and catch another flight to Seattle, which was to deposit me safely on the ground at about 7:30 pm (Pacific time). Nothing particularly unusual about the itinerary for the trip, and the flight from Phoenix to Seattle was even supposed to be a dinner flight.
Well, the plane arrived in Kansas City on time, and de-planed all of its passengers. The flight crew prepared the plane for its flight on to Phoenix. All of the passengers for my flight to Phoenix were waiting in the gate area for our boarding call, and the time for boarding came and went without comment. About 10 minutes after we were supposed to board, the gate representatives for America West informed us all via intercom that our flight had a short delay and that they would get back with us shortly.
30 minutes passed.
We then got another update from the gate representatives saying that there had been a mechanical malfunction with the plane on its way into Kansas City (the cabin had been losing pressurization!) and that the mechanics were working on fixing the problem. They promised another update very shortly.
An hour passed.
They then informed us that the part that was broken wasn’t repairable and that they would need to replace the part. The only problem was that the nearest part to fix the plane was in Atlanta, so we would need to wait for a plane to come from Atlanta to Kansas City with the part so that they could fix our plane and get it off of the ground. The estimated leave time from Kansas City was now 6:45 pm.
Unfortunately, there were no other flights leaving Kansas City, for any other destination, from any other airline, that had any open seats on them. They advised us all to talk to the gate representatives at our gate to arrange for us new connecting flights out of Phoenix that night if possible, and for meal and hotel vouchers if our connecting flights would leave the next morning. About half of the plane’s passengers (including me) got in line. Unfortunately, the agents at the counter seemed a bit slow in performing their duties. After an hour had passed, three people had been helped. At that point, the rear half of the line (including me) walked away from the line. From my seat, I watched a woman who had been sitting near me in the gate area standing in line. She had originally been the tenth person in line, but after 2 hour and 15 minutes, she was only third in line. America West opened no other gate counters for us, and brought in no other personnel to help people find flights and accommodations.
Finally, our plane was repaired and they loaded us onboard.
And we waited. And waited. And waited. After sitting on the plane for about a half hour, the captain came on and told us that the mechanics had in fact not finished fixing the plane, and that our revised take-off time was 8:00 pm.
We left the ground at 8:05. When I arrived in Phoenix, I made sure to be one of the first to the gate counter to get my vouchers or same-day connecting flight. Sadly, there were no more flights leaving that night for Seattle that were not full, so I would have to get vouchers. The gate representative said that he made me a reservation at a Hampton Inn, but that, due to the time of our arrival in Phoenix, he could not give me a meal voucher for dinner, but that he would give me a voucher for breakfast instead. The last meal I had eaten had been breakfast that day, at about 10:00 am, but being tired and a little aggravated, I took my vouchers and asked him about my baggage. The gate agent told me that after I picked up my bags, I could walk over to the courtesy phone near the baggage claim area, look up my hotel on a board by the phone, call the hotel, and have a shuttle sent out for me.
He took my baggage claim stubs, scanned them, and said that my bags would be waiting for me on baggage claim carousel number 1 in about a half hour. Since about half of the flight’s passengers were going to be staying overnight, and most of us wanted our bags, we all headed down toward our baggage claim area. We waited. After an hour, our bags still hadn’t shown up on the carousel, or on any other carousel. As a group, we all went down to the baggage claim office.
The baggage claim people investigated the case of our lost bags, and discovered that there had been a shift change among the baggage handlers as our bags were being unloaded from the plane, and that our baggage was sitting in plain view (and in plane view, hyuk hyuk) on the tarmac. They sent the new crew down to load them on the ramp to be sent up to us.
When I finally got my bags, I found the courtesy phone and board, as promised. Again, a snag was found. There were about 20 Hampton Inns in the greater Phoenix area, and no indication as to which one had a room reserved for me. I took my chances and picked the first on one the list and gave it a call.
The Hampton Inn I called did not have my reservation, but through a linked computer system, could check to see which Hampton Inn did have my reservation. As it turns out, the America West gate representative who had said he reserved me a room at Hampton Inn and scribbled “Hampton Inn” on my printed voucher, had in fact only SAID that he’d reserved me a room at the Hampton Inn as he scribbled “Hampton Inn” on my printed voucher. No Hampton Inn anywhere in the greater Phoenix area had my reservation at all. Luckily, the manager of the hotel said that he’d go ahead and book me a room at the one I called, and would take the airline’s voucher. He sent a shuttle out for me.
When I checked in at the hotel to get my room, I learned that America West’s ‘breakfast voucher’ was also fairly worthless. My flight from Phoenix to Seattle left early the next morning, and there would be no time to stop anywhere to get breakfast before I had to be at the airport. And due to the early-morning leave-time on the flight, I would also miss the continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn by 15 minutes.
Luckily, the flight that I had out of Phoenix the next morning was on USAirways. Nothing went wrong. The gate staff were competent and courteous. They informed us, though, that each person who was joining them from the America West flight from Kansas City from the day previous needed to leave their phone numbers with the flight crew, since a representative from America West would be contacting each person on that Kansas City flight to make things right.
After not having eaten for 26 hours, lunch with my brother tasted very good.
So, here I sit, waiting for my phone call. What will they offer? A refund? Free flights? Or just an apology? I’m just hoping that the anticipation on this particular day is every bit as satisfying as the actual phone call.
posted by The Academian | 11:43 AM
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