In July of this year, shortly after my partner and I got married in San Francisco (see
trip report), I started planning a trip for us in late December. I had banked over 600,000 UA miles, and wanted to use some of them, so I researched what would be available using ANA's award availability tool. My spouse was tired of hearing me talk about my trip to Turkey in June (see
trip report), so we made a deal: He would agree to go to Istanbul for the trip, and I would stop talking about Turkey. I was excited about going back to Istanbul, because I didn't get to explore the sights as much as I would have liked during my trip in June. We also decided that a stopover in Amsterdam on the way back would be a great way to welcome 2009.
Here's the itinerary we were able to book:
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
UA 1576 Depart TPA 1:35 p.m., Arrive IAD 3:49 p.m.
UA 946 Depart IAD 5:56 p.m., Arrive AMS 7:15 a.m.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
TK 1952 Depart AMS 11:40 a.m., Arrive IST 4:10 p.m.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
TK 1953 Depart IST 1:50 p.m., Arrive AMS 4:35 p.m.
Friday, January 2
UA 947 Depart AMS 12:20 p.m., Arrive IAD 2:59 p.m.
US 1645 Depart DCA 7:35 p.m., Arrive TPA 9:55 p.m.
We were able to get F on the TATL flights, C on the IST flights, and F on the DCA-TPA flight. Of course, TPA-IAD is in TED...
...and that brings us to today.
UA 1576 was delayed. Unfortunately, it was the continuation of UA 1560 ORD-TPA, which was delayed by over three hours. Not because of weather, but because it went mechanical. It was supposed to leave ORD at 9:11 a.m., but it didn't leave until after noon. It was due into TPA at 4:03 p.m., and united.com was still showing us leaving TPA at 3:56 p.m. That didn't make any sense to me until I realized United was switching equipment. Regardless, a 3:56 p.m. departure would not get us into IAD in time to connect with UA 946. Therefore, the agent at check-in confirmed us on a flight from IAD to LHR and protected us on a TK flight between LHR-IST.
When it became obvious that the connection to AMS through IAD would not be possible, I called United. A very helpful agent offered to re-ticket us through LHR. She asked if I was near an agent at the airport, and I told her that I was. She told me that he would have to "off-load" us from the flights we had checked in for--un-check us in, so to speak. She put me on hold, and I went to an agent at Gate E-75, and the agent off-loaded us. The agent on the phone came back, and I told her we were done.
However, we weren't done. The phone agent said we weren't un-checked, and asked me to go back to the gate agent. During the next 75 minutes, I was on the phone with one agent and talking face-to-face with another. The problem? I was off-loaded from all of my flights, but my spouse was still checked in on AMS-IST. The problem with that was that a new ticket could not be issued for him until he was off-loaded. The gate agent called a TK agent at ORD, and after finally getting through, he was told to call another number, and yet another. No luck.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
United Airlines 1576
TPA-IAD
Scheduled Departure/Arrival: 1:35 p.m/3:49 p.m.
Actual Departure/Arrival: 3:47 p.m./5:57 p.m.
A-320
Seats 1A and 1C
We departed TPA not knowing if we would be re-ticketed. The gate agent had done everything he could, talking to two TK agents who told him to call a different number and a third who hung up on him. The phone agent didn't offer much encouragement: "We can't re-ticket your companion until someone at Turkish un-checks him."
It goes without saying that we were both a little anxious on the flight. The though occurred to me that we might arrive at IAD in time to make the AMS flight if it got delayed a little. Unfortunately, we no longer had seats on that flight, so that gnawed at me a little.
OK, there
was something noteworthy about the flight. When beverages were served, my spouse got a whole can of Diet Coke, and I got a whole can of Sprite Zero. TED is dead, except for the lack of an F cabin. And my Sprite Zero was from Thailand!
We landed at 5:40 p.m. The flight was uneventful, bumpy during the last ten minutes, and I really started to wonder if maybe we should have stayed on the AMS flight.
My doubts were erased after a long taxi and a wait for our gate. Before we arrived at the gate, I saw on my iPhone that UA 942 departed at 5:54 p.m. I was relieved, but there was still the uncertainty about whether or not the rest of our trip could get ticketed.
As soon as we deplaned, we walked to the International First Class Lounge. During the next 30 minutes, the two attendants at the lounge worked to re-ticket us. We are especially grateful to Holly, who was supposed to leave at 6:00 p.m., but stayed until she was sure everything was OK and told us to go have something to drink and eat while they took care of everything.
So here we sit, waiting for our flight to LHR. We're a little bummed that we will not get to IST until 10:00 p.m. on December 25, but all things considered, things could have turned out a lot worse. A whole lot worse. Right now, our biggest concern is how to spend nearly six hours at LHR Terminal 3.
I see that SQ has a Silver Kris lounge there....
