rankourabu
Jan 8, 06, 9:42 pm
This is a trip I took over Christmas.
Leaving my island on Gulfstream to Miami on a Friday afternoon a week before Christmas, I was once again the only person on the B1900 (the tourists were coming TO The Bahamas, noone was leaving)... Arriving into MIA with an hour to connect intl to intl seemed impossible.
Immigration at MIA as always was a zoo, but I was pushed through to a short line, up to security, cut in line, and just in time for Alitalia to MXP.
This was my first time on AZ, and if I can help it my last. The crew was rude and unresponsive, after dinner, nowhere to be seen. This is the first time that I have ever seen a bottle of water, some cups and ice put out outside of the galley for passengers to serve themselves.
Once in a while the FA came out of the galley to clear all those call buttons people have been pressing as in How dare they???
The only saving grace was the 777 with its PTVs.
Connecting in Milan was relatively easy, and I was on my EMB145 to Krakow, Poland. Unfortunatelly my luggage remained at MXP, and I would not get it back for a week (Alitalias explanation: planes are small, we cant fit all luggage).
Next day I had to fly to London, and chose CentralWings, one of the many LCCs that now fly the routes between Poland and England. For $30, it was a pleasant flight with a nice crew, albeit on beat up ex-LOT 737..
Next was Easyjet from Luton to Amsterdam, of course that followed a long bus ride up to Luton and a mad rush in the pre-xmas check in area. A short flight to AMS. I must say I like how they board in groups. And even though I ended up in groud D and boarded almost last, noone was sitting in Row 1! I cant believe people just walk by the front row with the most legroom! The flight to AMS was full and on time.
Next was Air Berlin to Tegel. A nice little airline, not a LCC really, we even got a snack :O. That was nice, even on a short hop like that. I must say I was impressed with their service and crew.
Back on Easyjet on Dec 23rd from Schoenfeld to Krakow. SXF was a madhouse, as it was the Friday of xmas, but our plane left on time for the short 45 min flight. Upon arriving at KRK, which has in recent months grown tremendously, we waited an hour for stairs to arrive.
This was much to the obvious displeasure of the crew who were supposed to turn around in 20 minutes. Krakow has outgrown its capacity, not that long ago, there was like ten planes a day come in, now with the LCCs, there is nearly a 100 flights a day, way too much for the small terminal, and the ground crew is way overworked, and the facilities too crowded.
After the New Year, it was back on Alitalia to MXP, and onto DL to ATL. The 11 hour DL flight, turned into a 13 hour journey when we had to sit on the plane awaiting takeoff at MXP for 2 hours. The DL crew was much friendlier than Alitalia. Upon arriving in ATL, I missed my connection to FLL, I wasnt the only one that evening, the lines to see a Delta agent were very very long.
I was told that since the delay was not Delta's fault (I beg to differ, we missed our takeoff slot, and had to wait 2 hours), I would not be given a hotel for the night to continue my journey in the morning to catch my CO connection at FLL. Furthermore, I was told I have to fly to MIA, and make my own way to FLL for my connection!!! After an 18 hour journey at that point, it was close to the end of patience for me, and as I never get angry at the agents on the front lines, this one was clearly wrong and really pissing me off. To my "Is this how you guys treat your elites?", she magically pulled out a confirmed seat on a flight that was delayed until midnight.
Spent 4 hours in the DL Crown Room (thanks Priority Pass) awaiting the flight with many others that have missed their connections. The bar sure was crowded that evening. Slept through the entire flight to arrive at FLL at 2:30am
My connection was not until 10am, and I have previously planned to get a hotel, but now it seemed to be pointless. I slept on a comfortable soft bench in front of CO check in for 2 hours before the airport got busy around 5am. Then continued to nap until departure in the Presidents Club.
CO actually sent 2 almost empty planes to MHH at the same time, as it was Jan 3rd, and all the tourists were going the other way.
Leaving my island on Gulfstream to Miami on a Friday afternoon a week before Christmas, I was once again the only person on the B1900 (the tourists were coming TO The Bahamas, noone was leaving)... Arriving into MIA with an hour to connect intl to intl seemed impossible.
Immigration at MIA as always was a zoo, but I was pushed through to a short line, up to security, cut in line, and just in time for Alitalia to MXP.
This was my first time on AZ, and if I can help it my last. The crew was rude and unresponsive, after dinner, nowhere to be seen. This is the first time that I have ever seen a bottle of water, some cups and ice put out outside of the galley for passengers to serve themselves.
Once in a while the FA came out of the galley to clear all those call buttons people have been pressing as in How dare they???
The only saving grace was the 777 with its PTVs.
Connecting in Milan was relatively easy, and I was on my EMB145 to Krakow, Poland. Unfortunatelly my luggage remained at MXP, and I would not get it back for a week (Alitalias explanation: planes are small, we cant fit all luggage).
Next day I had to fly to London, and chose CentralWings, one of the many LCCs that now fly the routes between Poland and England. For $30, it was a pleasant flight with a nice crew, albeit on beat up ex-LOT 737..
Next was Easyjet from Luton to Amsterdam, of course that followed a long bus ride up to Luton and a mad rush in the pre-xmas check in area. A short flight to AMS. I must say I like how they board in groups. And even though I ended up in groud D and boarded almost last, noone was sitting in Row 1! I cant believe people just walk by the front row with the most legroom! The flight to AMS was full and on time.
Next was Air Berlin to Tegel. A nice little airline, not a LCC really, we even got a snack :O. That was nice, even on a short hop like that. I must say I was impressed with their service and crew.
Back on Easyjet on Dec 23rd from Schoenfeld to Krakow. SXF was a madhouse, as it was the Friday of xmas, but our plane left on time for the short 45 min flight. Upon arriving at KRK, which has in recent months grown tremendously, we waited an hour for stairs to arrive.
This was much to the obvious displeasure of the crew who were supposed to turn around in 20 minutes. Krakow has outgrown its capacity, not that long ago, there was like ten planes a day come in, now with the LCCs, there is nearly a 100 flights a day, way too much for the small terminal, and the ground crew is way overworked, and the facilities too crowded.
After the New Year, it was back on Alitalia to MXP, and onto DL to ATL. The 11 hour DL flight, turned into a 13 hour journey when we had to sit on the plane awaiting takeoff at MXP for 2 hours. The DL crew was much friendlier than Alitalia. Upon arriving in ATL, I missed my connection to FLL, I wasnt the only one that evening, the lines to see a Delta agent were very very long.
I was told that since the delay was not Delta's fault (I beg to differ, we missed our takeoff slot, and had to wait 2 hours), I would not be given a hotel for the night to continue my journey in the morning to catch my CO connection at FLL. Furthermore, I was told I have to fly to MIA, and make my own way to FLL for my connection!!! After an 18 hour journey at that point, it was close to the end of patience for me, and as I never get angry at the agents on the front lines, this one was clearly wrong and really pissing me off. To my "Is this how you guys treat your elites?", she magically pulled out a confirmed seat on a flight that was delayed until midnight.
Spent 4 hours in the DL Crown Room (thanks Priority Pass) awaiting the flight with many others that have missed their connections. The bar sure was crowded that evening. Slept through the entire flight to arrive at FLL at 2:30am
My connection was not until 10am, and I have previously planned to get a hotel, but now it seemed to be pointless. I slept on a comfortable soft bench in front of CO check in for 2 hours before the airport got busy around 5am. Then continued to nap until departure in the Presidents Club.
CO actually sent 2 almost empty planes to MHH at the same time, as it was Jan 3rd, and all the tourists were going the other way.