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Hurricane Delay Rant

Discussion in 'Getting There & Getting Around' started by STPFan, Jul 3, 2014.

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  1. STPFan

    STPFan VIP Whale

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    4 hour delay for my flight and we don't even live anywhere near the storm zone. I can sort of understand my Mom's flight being cancelled because she had a layover in New Jersey this morning on her way to Newfoundland (though the storm is not in NJ yet), but Pittsburgh to Vegas delay??? Yeah I know the plane is probably coming from the east coast first but am just bummed out, was not anticipating rolling into Vegas after midnight. :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

    Whats the chance of a room upgrade that late at night?
     
  2. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    I hear ya cluckin' big chicken.

    New Jersey airport aka Newark Liberty is the biggest stinking pile of shit ever. It has a poor design and it's a crappy place to spend time.

    I live in Chicago and I actually enjoy my time in MDW and ORD....they are sooooo damn nice!

    Anyway, I flew out of Newark last night on an 8:55pm flight, knew that shit was gonna be delayed, and as I normally do, I called at 455pm to switch to the also delayed 6pm flight (now slated for 7pm). Southwest will let you switch for free if your flight is delayed and there is space. I literally do this over 50% of the time and have never not gotten on the earlier flight.

    So there was space, but despite Flightaware showing a delay, SWA did not yet reflect a delay to my flight. bullshit. Anyway I had to call back once the delay appeared. 21 minutes later i get the text my 855 flight is delayed until 1125pm. I call, the 6pm flight it full. Fuck you SWA.

    The silver lining is I got to Newark, caught up on my episodes of 24, had a great burrito, and best of all my 8:55pm flight lifted off at 1:55am (exactly 5 hours late) BUT 10 minutes AHEAD of the 6:00pm flight!!! Winning!!!!

    This is my last flight with Southwest, I am switching to United. I'm sure they suck worse, but I live 5 minutes from O'Hare and had only been driving the hour to Midway because they had accomodated shit like the flight switches in the past. If they aren't going to do that they aren't enough better than United to justify the extra time/cost of going to Midway.
     
  3. FormallyTD

    FormallyTD Big Time

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    Considering it's the 4th of July weekend, I think it's unlikely you get the upgrade.

    Hope you at least got out of there, it's frustrating. I think we've all been there too many times.

    Hope you have a great trip.
     
  4. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    I hope you're kidding about this. ORD is a POS airport but not as bad as EWR and IAD.

    Keep in mind that all domestic airlines are going to have major delays due to this hurricane. It's better to have a delayed flight (depending on how long) than a cancelled flight.
     
  5. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    nice response from SWA (keep in mind my complaint wasn't about the delay per se, but about the late posting of the delay screwing me on my reschedule):

    Hey BeeeJay. Thanks for sending. First, I realize how long and tiring yesterday must have been for you, and I am truly sorry for the disappointment. Mother Nature has taken her toll on the Northeast, and it made for a horrendous beginning of a holiday travel weekend. I'm here to own the fact that it's up to our People to try and alleviate those stresses, and I am sorry we let you down when you attempted to proactively change your flight.
    Please know that I have logged a formal complaint on your behalf. Additionally, I have issued you a SWA travel voucher as a token of appreciation for putting up with the mess that transpired yesterday. You will receive this voucher via e-mail within the next 14 business days. I hope you will receive this token in the spirit intended as a warm invitation to hop back onboard. We'd LUV nothing more than to win you back. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday weekend!
    -Sam
     
  6. topcard

    topcard Here's to $10 3:2 two-deck, $5 Craps, and $5 UTH!

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    Has this been a fun season to watch or what?
    They've redeemed themselves well.
     
    Annual Spring Trip!
  7. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    I fly United and while I like them less than when they weren't merged (I was a Continental fanboy) they're better than SWA in my opinion. I've never been a SW fan because of the boarding process.

    But I've become frustrated with United a bit too and actually am thinking about switching to American even though I'd have to connect for pretty much every flight in DFW.

    All domestic carriers are hurting in the service and erosion of fringe benefits and FF programs though.
     
  8. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    Alaska Air is staying strong with their service level and FF program. I've been switching my business to them for quite some time now, even though their First Class product is depressing. Fortunately, I'm able to credit my Delta flights to my AS account.

    Even though I'm a big fan of American (I'm Executive Platinum with them), I'm worried about how things will run with American next year.
     
  9. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    For the hell of it the other night I was checking itineraries for my routes from IAH on all the domestics and punched up Alaska and everything had me connecting in SEA. IAH-SEA-LAS...damn.
     
  10. broncofn

    broncofn VIP Whale

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    So does this mean you have a free flight out to vegas before your 2 year countdown timer?
     
  11. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    Yeah everything for the most part will go through Seattle. Depending where you fly from, you might even be doing a connection in PDX or LAX. They have some odd flights... LAX-DCA, LAX-BOS, etc.
     
  12. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    I fly a lot domestically (and some internationally). My loyalty is split between Southwest and United. I know people in general - and in particular on this board - have a love/hate relationship with Southwest. I truly get the reasons why. I really love Southwest for some of the reasons you mentioned above - flexibility, ease of scheduling, no change fees, no baggage fees, etc. I used to fly offshore quite a bit and never quite knew when I was returning, so I always booked full fare tickets. If SWA had an open seat on the next flight home, they would put me in it, sometimes just minutes before closing the door. If you ever missed your flight with another airline, it is like resurrecting the dead to find your reservation. I also have a SWA Visa and have earned a Companion Pass and am A-list. The Companion pass is pure genius.

    I wager to say that you wouldn't have received that type of customer service response from another major airline. I think Southwest's customer service kills the competition.

    With regards to United... they are light years ahead of the "big name" competition, like US Air, AA, etc. They also scored major points with me for keeping the Continental website and frequent flyer program. (God, the pre-merger United website was awful.)
     
  13. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    I really feel for you. When a couple of major hubs are impacted it can have a major trickle-down effect.

    Did you get the upgrade?!?
     
  14. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    Agreed...I am thankful they kept the website and that I was able to keep my FF #.

    United needs to reduce the number of regional jets they're using on 737 routes and get the damn wifi going consistently. Those are my main two problems with them right now
     
  15. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    AMEN, brother! I have been flying IAH-PIT recently, and half of those flights are on the dang Embraer regional jet. Ditto for DEN-YYC. Thankfully the security lines have drastically improved at IAH... they used to be the absolute worst.

    I also make it a point to respond to every post-flight survey United sends me. When asked for comments, my response is the same every time: "WIFI! WIFI! WIFI!"
     
  16. Nick61

    Nick61 MIA

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    I once waited at the airport for 6 hours for my wife, as she flew from Chicago home to St. Louis--thunder storms. The drive time for those 2 venues is about 5 hours.
     
  17. RockyBalboa

    RockyBalboa Front Line Winner

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    I am looking at a RDU-IAH segment on part of my summer vacation and it's on a CRJ700 - unless I want to connect in ORD or IAD for a couple hundred more.

    They also had some IAH-LAX on the CRJ's...not sure if they still do. But when I was booking my Vegas SB trip they had them.

    Also..my main route is into PHL...severely reduced service.

    And I am going to fo your WIFI WIFI WIFI response on my next survey lol
     
  18. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    For people (like me) who never relax until the wheels go up, here's one thing you can do to keep yourself occupied in the last 24 hrs:

    Go to flightstats.com and put in your airline, flight number and date.
    When it brings up the flight details, on the Event Timeline tab, grab the tail number of the plane that's assigned.

    Go to flightaware.com, plug in the tail number, and you can see where that plane is now, what route it is flying.

    For example. I'm headed for the airport in an hour, and I can see that my plane flew in from Tampa and arrived in BOS 2 hrs late at 2:45am, but it's not going anywhere else before my flight - it's sitting at the gate waiting.

    It's still raining cats and dogs here, but at least I know I have a plane. For now.

    I also booked a backup flight later in the day from MHT and one tomorrow from BOS (both Southwest, that is the greatest thing about Southwest, booking backups and being able to cancel without penalty).
     
  19. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    This is not recommended to those who live at hub airports since the airlines can shift the scheduled aircraft to another one that might be available.
     
  20. user3657

    user3657 VIP Whale

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    I feel your pain.....
    Original flight was delayed 4 hours from philly to ATL on the 3rd. Was on runway for almost two hours when the pilot said we were going back because the FAA had just officially closed the runway, no more outgoing flights due to the weather situation.

    Called SW, they had no idea about the situation and said that my flight took off over 2 hours ago, so couldnt help me rebook as they didnt have info. I waited inline at the gate to try to find another flight to vegas as I felt I was going to be stuck at ATL overnight. PHX/DEN/HOU all have late night flights to vegas.

    Gate was not helpful, said that was the only way to go (it wasnt). Flight finally took off about 7pm, which was when my connecting flight was due to take off. Arrived in ATL about 10ish, no more flights out to vegas, had to wait till 10am for the next flight. Was not offered a room.

    Had the gate associate took the time to look, I think I could of taken another route to a busier airport and gone out that night or even catch a much earlier flight in the morning.
     
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