“Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo.” – Al Gore
Our great 2018 European adventure started with a dud yesterday. Our flight from SFO to ATL was rerouted to Tulsa, Oklahoma to get more fuel and wait out a storm in Atlanta. The pilot opted to let people de-board which ended up being disastrous. After 30-40 minutes of re-boarding, we then waited another 30 minutes for some passengers who had left the terminal (for a cigarette or whatever). Eventually, the plane left without the stragglers, but we were now a full three hours delayed. Needless to say, we missed our connection to Madrid.
Once the flight was officially missed, Delta rebooked us for…..2 days later. Thankfully, David is a Diamond Medallion member (Tip #8: Airline loyalty matters) and was able to call the Diamond desk and re-book for a later flight that day, through Paris with a bit of a layover, but we’d still get to Madrid on Friday. Unfortunately, the flight that we discussed booking (a 10:30pm flight from Atlanta to Paris) was not the actual flight we got booked on (an 8:15pm flight), plus (I assume because we were initially booked TWO days later) we were told to collect our luggage at baggage claim by the gate agent. So it gets worse; We can’t find our luggage….the baggage claim office says they aren’t taking more “search and recover” requests….we are on hold with the Diamond baggage desk, and that customer representative says “well I am not sure what else we can do today, you should go ahead and board, since you are leaving in 5 minutes.” This is the first time we’ve been told that we were on the earlier flight 🙁
Once again, we’ve missed our flight (one that we cashed in upgrades for, no less). Since we were in the domestic/baggage terminal we tried to speak with one of the desk agents there (no help). After 30 frustrating minutes (and more phone calls) we just decided to go to the International Terminal….and end up there 10 minutes later than we would have needed to in order to make our flight. For professional travelers, this was the most frustrating occurrence of the day. First, we should have just known that our bags would eventually follow us to our final destination (vs. being told to pick them up in baggage claim) and two, we should have immediately gone to the international terminal to sort out our issues, get new boarding passes, etc. Even the most seasoned of us can get flustered at times, and this was our turn.
At the end of the day, through sheer willpower, generosity of an amazing desk agent (Marcia – you have a nice letter to Customer Service coming your way), a little help from the Diamond desk, and a few tears, we got rebooked for Friday to Paris via Montreal. We’ve had to buy a new ticket to Naples and God only knows where our luggage is, or when we’ll see it again, but at least we are enroute. We’ll drink to that!
Editors Note: After all of that the flight from Montreal to Paris would not let us check in (Air Canada) due to a miscommunication between Delta, Air France and Air Canada. The fine folks at Delta in Montreal have now got us on an Air France flight tonight. That flight’s also delayed, so we have to rebook something later in the day to Praiano (via Naples). Probably the worst travel experience either of us have had, but there is still a good chance we will get to Praiano tomorrow. That’s more than we can say for our luggage….but we’ll keep you to date on those trials and tribulations, as they unfold.