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Travel Nightmare

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Contributed by: Deanna Russo YourHub Manager on 6/24/2008

It started out as a mini-vacation with my husband who was traveling south on business. Needless to say the trip didn't begin the way we were anticipating. My husband says it was the worst travel experience he's had, and he's traveled a lot.

Here's what happened. Last Monday, we were supposed to fly US Airways out of Buffalo to Washington, D.C. on a 5:30 flight. Due to weather problems and delays, we were moved to a Buffalo to Charlotte flight instead. OK, so instead of 5:30 we left Buffalo at 8:15. It happens a lot, flights get delayed...this was just the beginning.

When we got to Charlotte, we didn't land on the same concourse as our connecting flight - of course. Walking briskly, we did get to our connection without a problem, in fact my husband got our seats upgraded to first class, so we walked right on the plane when we got to the gate. Then we sat in the luxury of first class for our 10:30 flight to Jacksonville.

As the pilot pulled the plane away from the jetway, we heard "Folks, there's a problem with the navigation system. We're going to have to get it replaced by mechanics here at the airport, it could take an hour". At this point it's about 11:00pm. So he keeps everyone on the plane, because most of the restaurants and bars at the airport are closed or will soon be closed.

So my husband and I get our free "first class" drink and sit back to wait patiently. After all, if there are mechanical problems with the plane, who wants to take chances and fly?

"OK, the problem's fixed, we're ready to go". It's about 12:00am. Then we pull away from the jetway again and we hear "I can't believe this, there's another problem up here in the cockpit, i don't know if it's related to the navigation system or not, but I got to get this checked out". You can hear the frustration in the pilot's voice. He said he's flown this particular airplane for nine years, and has never experienced problems like this.

We as passengers were frustrated, but what can you do? The plane's not working properly. As the second mechanical problem was worked on, others on the plane were complaining about getting off - some were pacing back and forth. One mother took her kids off the plane and tried to board another flight to Orlando.

About 1:40am, the pilot says "It looks like all the problems have been fixed, but at this point this crew has been awake and working for too long (FAA regulations), so this flight is cancelled."

So here we are in the Charlotte airport at 2am standing in line, waiting to be re-booked on another flight. Other lines open up, and I dart for one of them thinking maybe this line will be quicker. Wrong. It was probably the slowest line that we've ever encountered. We were in that line for over an hour.

As we're standing in line, my husband brings up a valid point. Charlotte is a
US Airways hub. so why can't they create a new flight in the morning, get a well-rested crew together and fly us to Jacksonville? After all, the plane works now, so why not? That would make too much sense.

The next available flight to Jacksonville? 8:20pm. So we book a flight to Savannah instead. That flight leaves Charlotte at 7:50am. That's still about an hour and a half away from our final destination.

3:30am: We finally get out of the airport with our meal vouchers and a voucher for a local hotel. We go to the hotel for two hours - shower, change, and head back to the airport to fly to Savannah. Luckily, no problems with that flight.

We arrive in Savannah around 9:30am, get our rental car, and my husband - very tired at this point - begins to drive. We finally get to our Georgia destination around 11am.

Did I mention my husband was there on business? He slept for two hours, and then did a presentation. It took him days to recover and get healthy and rested again.

Needless to say, the travel experience was a nightmare, but I was able to enjoy a couple of relaxing days in Georgia on my mini-vacation, and I'm happy to say there were no problems on the return flight.

Until next time...

Deanna

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Submitted By: Kimberly King

posted on 6/26/2008 @ 10:13:38 AM

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I AM SO SORRY you had such an awful travel experience!! I know all about travel nightmares! Hopefully I won't encounter any problems when I jet off to Chicago next week! Kim

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CONTRIBUTOR INFO

Deanna Russo YourHub Manager

Buffalo , NY

Deanna Russo YourHub Manager has posted 106 blog entries and 7 comments since joining on 3/12/2007. Deanna Russo YourHub Manager's average blog rating is 4.87.

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