"United" could be considered a swear word in my family!They are the number one airline carrier in the United States and being such allows them to dictate the rules for the industry and basically bully everyone else. They will do everything in their power from losing a customer's business. They are a strong machine (much like the terminator) and are difficult to defeat.
On Friday, Samantha was supposed to arrive in Denver at 4:10 PM, but this of course did not happen. They told her that she was going to have to stay the night in Huntsville, Alabama where she had a layover. Why she had a layover in Alabama is something I will never understand. I was shocked to find out that they even have an airport in Alabama, let alone a place where layovers are regularly scheduled.
Samantha was just about to give in and go to the hotel when I begged her to go talk to the Continental people. She begrudgingly gave in to my plea and low and behold they found 1 of 2 remaining tickets to freedom. Unfortunately this travel required another layover in Houston, TX which of course also was delayed. Then when she got to Houston I think it was only fitting that she experience another delay, I mean when you're on a roll just go with it, right?
At 12:16 AM she arrived in Denver which I think is pretty good considering it was only 8 hours after her original flight time. I don't know about you guys but I think the airline industry is really improving. (;
Most importantly, however, we beat the machine. United said they couldn't get her here until 10:50 AM on Saturday and we proved them wrong and made them pay out to Continental. Despite the fact that she had to endure tedious travel that put her in Virginia, Alabama, Texas, and Colorado all in the same day, it was sweet to know that she would sacrifice her sanity to be with her brother.
Okay, who are we kidding she came to see Mindy.
9 comments:
Yes... I am very familiar with the evils of airlines. I flat REFUSE to fly on US Airways anymore. Way too many delays, missed flights and reschedules. I'm pretty sure most airlines cringe when they see me coming since I normally travel with the kids and we all have frequent flyer cards with all the major airlines and are "preferred" flyers on SWA and Delta. Because I've been a business traveler in the past I don't try and upgrade to 1st class with the kids on Delta - but MAN I've been tempted just to tick off the airline.
Good job getting Sam in the same day (mostly). I'll know now that you can be on my preferred list of people to call in case of airline emergency. I have two people on my speed dial that I call when I sense trouble coming so they can get me rerouting information before I hit the counter. (The last time was when I was flying out to Washington to house hunt and as we were boarding the plane the jetway caught on fire - you can imagine how that went.) You'll be #3 on my list!!
I am so honored to be your #3!
I feel like I'm your Charles Barkley on those cell phone commercials. I'm totally in your top five!
Frontier and Southwest airlines are my heros. They don't pretend to be anything other than what all airlines are which is Greyhound in the sky. Better still, they do it with a sense of humor.
++ for Southwest are you can check 3 pieces of luggage although I understand the third will now cost $25 bucks and you can buy a one way ticket cheaply. Easiest web site to use too.
++ for Frontier, their miles program only requires 15,000 points for a USA ticket and they fly direct from DC to Denver. Competitive pricing in markets where they compete with Southwest.
Skip United and" fly the friendly skies"of Southwest and Frontier airlines. HMMMM, they should be paying me ad $$ for this post.
That's why I travel Southwest, of course, I am usually traveling south or west. But we have had the best experience with Southwest and at this point only fly with them.
I would totally agree with the Queen's sentiments except to say that with Southwest you have to know how to work the system. You MUST check-in 24 hours in advance or else face boarding with the herd in the back of the bus. I've checked in 15 minutes past the 24 hours in advance mark and gotten "B" seating. That's unreal. Also - you can't play the preboarding with kids under 5 thing anymore with Southwest. I fully leveraged that rule in the past and I'm sure it was because of me they did away with it. They have families with young children board between the A and B groups now so if you want the prime seating you must go ahead and get your 24 hour in advance passes to try and get the "A" 1-30 seats. Then you board with those "chutes."
If the gate agent is cool and they see you've got those passes they'll sometimes let you on first anyway. On Southwest you can't standby on same day flights either - you have to pay for the flight amount differences. But they also don't fee gouge you. You just pay the difference.
I also like JetBlue, JetExpress and MidWest. Basically all the non-traditional large airlines are good. It's just unfortunate that to get the really nice non-stops sometimes you have to go with them.
Thanks for the bloggie! Sniff, sniff. I feel so honored!
I can't talk about "the machine" right now. I'm too upset because they were able to get back at me on the tail end last night. Yawn. Love you!
I'm totally addicted to the ding fares on Southwest Airlines. The only thing I don't like about Southwest is all the stops. It's fine if you are traveling by yourself. BUT TOTALLY NOT FEASIBLE if you are traveling with small traynnical children.
For traveling with tots I prefer Frontier Airlines. Less stops and they have those cool tv's in every seat!
Thought you needed to see this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23356288/
See - US Airways and United are EVIL. What do you do if you are checking both a carseat and a piece of luggage?? Pay extra MONEY!
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