My girlfriend happens to live in a small Georgia town, somewhere south of Atlanta, which is sadly not where I live. Of course, one of the advantages to a long distance relationship is having a good reason to fly. This summer, we'd worked things out where she'd be with me in Scotland for July, then when I'd finished with university and whatnot, we'd fly back together so that I could spend August in the States.
She had booked before I had, getting the best price with CO. I had to wait for some tax money to be given back to me by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs before I was able to book, and when I eventually had the money, CO were wanting £100 more than US. £100 I wasn't willing to spend, even for a carrier with a much better reputation than US, so with a grimace, I made a booking on US.
So, on July 31st at 6.15am, our Taxi turned up to take us from my student flat in Glasgow to the Airport. A short fifteen minute or so journey at that time of the morning, costing around 13 GBP from Hamden Cabs, a firm I knew to be reputable and, more importantly, about 10 GBP cheaper than the black cabs. My girlfriend's flight (CO17) was scheduled to leave at 0900, while mine was later, at 1015. I know that arriving at the airport before 0700 is a bit ridiculous for a 1015 flight, but I've always preferred getting to the airport early. Last time I flew out there on KL, my flight left at 0555, and I was at the airport for 0200. That was a bit silly, considering no check in opened for any flight until nearly 4am!
Luckily, despite it being more than 3 hours until my flight, both Continental's and US' checkin desks were open, so we were able to do the bag drop, and the special insisting we're not going to blow up the plane interrogation that applies only to USA bound flights, and headed upstairs to security. I'd brought some drinks to the airport, in anticipation we might need to wait til 0715 for my desk to open, so it was a quick gulp of some Dr Pepper before entering the queue. Being so early, and GLA not exactly being a major airport, we were through security in under ten minutes, shoes still on.
A quick pop into the Boots in the airport to buy a 2.99 GBP meal deal each, to give us some extra food for the flights (especially for me, considering what I'd heard about US), and then it was off to gate 27C, where CO17 was to depart from. Out came the copy of The Guardian for me to read, and slowly time passed until her flight was called. We said our "See you in about 18 hours"s and after a hug, and an explanation to the guy at the head or her queue collecting boarding passes that I wasn't actually travelling with them, it was time for me to head off on a perilous trek to my gate, 28. 60 feet later, I sat down at the window and watched out the window for any activity that might be happening. CO17 (a 752) pulled back and was gone, then about 20 minutes later, US 769 started boarding.
US 769: GLA-PHL: B752
Boarding was by zone, and I was zone 4, but still boarded not too long after boarding was announced, the advantage of a smaller plane. Being far from a US Elite, and not willing to pay for Envoy, the best seat I'd managed to get was 8F (I am a window man, fo' sho'). Boarding was short, and the flight full. Lunch was served shortly after take off. I had some disgusting chicken thing, with disturbing vegetables, and a nice little brownie type thing. Should have taken photos, might do next time. A glass of orange juice with the meal, and then I fell asleep for a bit, having been up all night packing and tidying my flat, as my lease had run out that day.
Annoyingly, for a 7.5 hour flight, there was no IFE available, with no explanation for why not. The plane was outfitted with overhead TV sets, but headphones were never offered, nor where they ever turned on. There was a further drinks run approximately halfway throught the flight, where I was told I wasn't allowed a full bottle of water as it was too large, but she'd happily refill my glass as often as I asked, then she disappeared until the handout of the turkey cheese roll and final drinks run (full can of orange juice) shortly before arrival.
Landing was on time, and I downed the red bull I'd bought as part of my meal deal so that I'd be awake during immigrations and customs. I also walked very swiftly, as I'd a tight 90 minute connection, and the PHL FAQ in the US section of FT (too many acronyms, or TMA) recommended 2 hours for an international to domestic connection. Immigrations wasn't too bad, through fairly quickly considering how confused the immigrations official was regarding my reason for visiting. "I'm here to see my girlfriend", "Oh, when was the last time you saw her?", "This morning". Anyway, got through to the luggage claim, and then came some fun. Luggage started coming through about 30 minutes after landing. As there hadn't been any other international arrivals for about an hour before us, it was kinda disappointing having to wait so long.
Picked up my cases, walked to customs, where the agent asked if I had some food, and I did have some pringles and chocolate in my carryon, so that all needed checked. Sigh, then it was time to check my luggage back in, and run to my gate. I was happy to find I'd made it from the plane to my gate (B4) in 45 minutes! I was less happy to find my onward flight to ATL was cancelled. I knew thunderstorms were forecast for ATL that afternoon, but had figured it wouldn't affect me, because I'm pretty special, and bad things just don't happen to me.
So, it was down to Customer Relations, where I queued for about 30 minutes, where an agent had me rebooked on the next flight to ATL within about 3 minutes, and an occasional grunt from him. I dropped by a PHL information desk, to get the free college student access to the wifi, so I could update my girlfriend's parents on my new schedule without paying for a phone call. I got to my gate, logged onto facebook, got chatting, and just as I was about to hit enter on my new flight number, an announcement came over the tannoy announcing that one got cancelled.
This time, it was a 2 hour queue, though an agent went up and down the queue giving out a phone number to people to call, so that when they got to the desk, all the agent would need to do is print the new boarding passes. Unfortunately for me, my cell phone doesn't work overseas, so I was basically screwed. After hours of queuing, I got to the desk, and said as nicely as I could that I'd like to go to Atlanta please, to which I was told that wasn't gonna be happening today.
I asked my options, and was told if I wanted, I could pay a 77 USD distressed passenger fee for a hotel room, or I could sleep in the airport. The agent then told me she couldn't find a record of me on the just cancelled flight, so I told her I'd been on another previously cancelled flight first. This changed her mind a little, when she saw my original itinerary, she was able to give me a hotel voucher, a 10 USD meal voucher for dinner, and two 5 USD meal vouchers for breakfast and lunch, and rebooked me for a flight the following afternoon. I thanked her, and made my way to the hotel shuttles.
My hotel was a "Quality Hotel", and I waited an age for a shuttle to turn up. Several "Quality Inn" shuttles came and went, and the drivers apologised saying we were at a different hotel. Other passengers tried calling the hotel, but could get no answer. Eventually, an apologetic driver turned up, and we headed to the hotel. More fun, as the hotel lobby had no power. Luckily, the rooms still had power, and they were able to check people in with airline vouchers, so I got a room on the ground floor. It was nothing special, but it had a bed, and a shower. I was also able to get a free bottle of soda from the hotel shop, since their credit card reader couldn't function with no power, and the manager was a very nice lady.
I managed to get a good night's sleep, as the last I'd heard, my girlfriend's flight to ATL hadn't been cancelled, so I didn't need to lie awake worrying about her (she doesn't fly well). I woke at 5am, as my body was still in UK time, and took a shuttle to the airport at about 7. A quick McDonalds breakfast, then a SEPTA train into Philly proper. It being a Saturday, a day return fair cost me 9 USD. I wandered around for a few hours, visiting Penn's Landing, Ben Franklin's house, and Elfreth's Alley. SEPTA back to the airport, a hotdog for lunch/dinner, and onto my flight to ATL
US 3423: PHL-ATL: E170
My first RJ, and I was disappointed that in the cancellations and rebookings, I'd lost my window flight, though of course, it being an RJ, at least I got an aisle. 2.5 hour flight, one drinks run, nothing exciting to say about it, other than that. Did get the whole can of Orange Juice though, so that was exciting.
Landed on time, and met my girlfriend, who'd not had such a fun time as I'd thought. Her flight to ATL had been cancelled, and they said they wouldn't be able to get her on another one until 2 days later, on the Sunday. Then they'd re-routed her, putting her on the redeye to CLE, then the first flight to ATL. No meal vouchers or other compensation offered. She landed in CLE at about 0100, and took off for ATL at 0600, and didn't sleep a wink, due to worry she'd miss her flight. She'd landed in ATL at about 0800 or so, and still came with her mother to pick me up from the airport at 1900. Poor girl. It did give her a chance to pick up her lost luggage though.
We waited by the baggage claim for my luggage to arrive, knowing of course that it wouldn't. When it didn't, I walked over to the US Airways office, where a sign proclaimed I wouldn't be allowed in until another customer had left. After he'd finished his business, I went in, asking if she had a clue where my luggage was. She said "probably not", but allowed me to poke around in a side room, in case it had somehow arrived. Magically, both my cases had made it, and my adventure was over, at least until my return flights: next week. I'll update you on those.
