I wrote this on my flight back from Georgia (on the Atlanta to SF leg). I've added a little bit to it while typing it out (in the form of **edit:**s). It's a little overdue, but whatever.
----
Delta may very well be the biggest suck fest ever. Okay, so I have to wait to see if my bag makes it or not first for the ultimate verdict, but...
So, Matt and I leave for the airport at 4. It seriously rakes like no time to get there. I go inside to check my bag and no one is at the counter, so I use... the electric kiosk. I am genuinely nervous at this given my previous experiences with said kiosk, but I get up the courage and go to it. I'm trying to take my time in finding my confirmation # in hopes that someone will go to the desk and I can just go to them. No one comes, so I use the kiosk. Things go smoothly. I get my boarding pass, and a guy comes up to the counter and calls my name. I look up and say, "yes" and I bring my bag over to him. Do you know what he said to me? (Of course you don't... I've only told my parents this story so far... **edit: I have told a couple more people since then** well... wait. I guess you would know if you're reading this for a second or more time. In which case Thanks for your continued patronage! =) ) He says that my bag might NOT make it on the flight because I need to have "checked in earlier than 20 minutes before the flight." **edit: I'll have you know, I checked in online the night before, and I checked my bag at the kiosk 24 minutes before the original scheduled flight... it was 54 minutes before the now delayed schedule!** He says something about TSA needing time to check the bag and they are... busy or something? He points to a corner where presumably there was a TSA agent a second ago, but there is no one now. Weird. Anyways... I looked dumbfounded and I was like WHAT?!? and he says, "did you know the flight was delayed?" I respond, "I just found out" but I'm really thinking... why would it matter if I knew before or just now? Like would I get preferential treatment one way or another??! At least the guy did put the sticker on my bag, but anyways. He says the bag might go out first thing tomorrow morning. Freaking Valdosta has only 2 flights out a say (once in the morning and once for my flight now) I'm not a happy camper.
So... like I mentioned my flight is delayed until 5:15. My connection in Atlanta is at 6:55. My layover should have been about an hour, but now it's looking like a 30 minute layover... which means I need to book it once the flight lands. Atlanta airport as I said before has different concourses. I land at the very end of C and am taking off at A. So, I need to run from gate 55 to the tram, then from the tram to gate 25. I'm optimistic I'll make it, but not thrilled about it all. So, the flight boards, we sit there for a while for the stewardess to give some passenger god knows what and we finally take off. It's a fine flight. Pretty with the sun setting over the clouds. It's nice, makes me wish I could paint. Anyway, I listen to my iPod and before I know it we're preparing for landing. The pilot says Atlanta local time is 6:05. Nice! I have 50 minutes, that's more than enough time! I was wrong. It took FOREVER to taxi to the gate. I swear you'd think we'd landed 50 miles away. **edit: There were LOTS of people complaining about the delay, the long taxi time,and missing connections :( ** We get to the gate at 6:20!!! It took us 15 minutes to taxi to the gate and then guess what happened.... go on.... guess... fine, I'll tell you. The jet way was broken!! 10 minutes later, at 6:30, they unload us from the plane via a stairway (like I boarded and deboarded on my way to Georgia). Suddenly my adrenaline starts pumping and I'm off. Okay, so I didn't run to the tram, because well... have you seen me run with a full backpack on? Not pretty. But I make it all the way to the tram, to Concourse A, and to the gate with a couple minutes to spare. Seriously. I'm one of the last few on the flight. I make my way to my seat and there is... a normal sized lady in the spot next to me! Yay! But the armrest is up... I'm not dealing with this again. So, I put it down.
I settle in and then do you know what I hear? A child... directly behind me. that's well and fine and all, I like kids, usually, but this one has taken a liking to pulling on my chair making me flop around. His mom is telling him to stop, which is nice, but we just took off, so I'm a little nervous about how the rest of the flight will go. There are no personal TV sets on each chair this time, so I might just have to stick with reading, writing, and listening to the iPod. Gosh, I hope my bag is there when I land...
----
So, there you have it, my post from the sky.
I have a little to add. My bag did in fact get there, thank God! I know it seems like I'm hard on Delta, especially since my bag made it to its destination both times, but the problem I have is that I've traveled a fair amount without these issues. Growing up, my family and I didn't go camping or take road trips (except for the ones to visit my grandparents), we flew around the US and took in the sites. I used to love to fly. I would always be at the counter with my dad when he checked in our bags and I never once saw a hassle. The only time my luggage didn't get to its destination was when my girlfriends and I went to Hawaii after graduation, but the airline got our luggage to us that night with little hassle. Yes, we were upset, but we were assured our luggage would get to us right aware. We were not blamed for the issue in the slightest by the company. I recall later being chastised by our parents for not checking the tag to make sure it had the right destination first, but the airline was gracious. (That experience taught me to always have a change of clothes in your carry on if you check a bag... which by the way, I did have when I went to Georgia) My point is, I felt like Delta mislead me. The signs were wrong, the people that work at the airports were not friendly (except for Roy), and they made me freak out for nothing. Yes, I should have arrived at the airport sooner, but on my way to Georgia I got to the airport an hour ahead of time, which is plenty of time. In fact, it is the recommended time on the Delta website. When I flew out of Georgia I got to the airport 30 minutes early for its first scheduled departure and an hour early for its actual, delayed, departure. It's a small airport, I honestly thought that would be enough time and the Delta website didn't have a recommended time.
In short, I will do everything in my power to not have to fly on Delta ever again. Lizzy, if you're reading this... if you ever want me to visit again, you'll have to pick me up in Jacksonville. :-p
Oh, and the kid sitting behind me on the flight to SF continued to kick the chair through the flight. I could hear his mom yelling at him to stop, but he only listened for about 15 minutes then he got back to it. At one point, he stood up in his seat and grabbed the back of my seat, grabbing my head in the process. It was a saving grace to see my parents standing at the bottom of the elevator when I landed. It was like a breath of fresh air to know that I was done with the kid, done with the delays, and wouldn't have to deal with the loss of luggage (if that had been the case) alone.
As mentioned, the flight did not have the in-seat monitors, but it did have monitors in the aisles. They showed the movie 500 Days of Summer. I enjoyed it, but it's not a movie I would choose to watch again. I'm glad I was able to see it though, it was on my list of movies I wanted to check out.
No comments:
Post a Comment