After getting back to BOS on Wed., I noticed my DL account was not showing the flight. I called DL in the morning, and they said they had not yet "closed out" the flight. I called again in the afternoon, and they said I would have to mail in or fax a copy of my boarding pass (which I found to be most inconvenient). I called again, in the evening, and they put me on hold for about 8 minutes. They said they could not find my ticket# in the record, probably because I used a US ticket. Then they said the reservation had an airport entry regarding tickets they had not seen before. Then they posted the flight from LGA-BOS, in K class. I'm glad I didn't have to photocopy the boarding pass, write a letter, print it, fax it, check to see if it posted, etc. Always better when things can be handled by email or phone. BTW, is DL offering double miles on the shuttle these days? US offers AA and US miles for all shuttle flights. Also, does anyone know what DL was doing out of LGA on Tuesday night? Did they too have buses? Rich, did they actually take your ticket and have you ride the bus? I hope you were not paying the full $200 fare for a bus ride? I think the bus costs around $20, from NYC-BOS, so says my sister who takes the bus.

I also, once, took the bus by accident. Actually, I live in BOS, and went to a US focus group in Framingham, MA. It is a suburb about 40 minutes from BOS. The focus group was about the shuttle, and they awarded 10,000 miles in either US or AA for participating. BTW, most people at the group said they fly whatever shuttle is leaving when they are, and they are not influenced by miles that much.

Anyway, I board a bus in Framingham, which I think is going to BOS. After we drive a long time, and they show a movie, I figure something might be up. So I casually ask seat-mate if he knows exactly where the bus is going. He says it is going to Port Authority, not BOS. They made no destination announcement on the bus, or anything. So I was on a bus, crusing to NYC. I did not tell the seat-mate anything, because it was crowsed, and I didn't feel like talking to him about the situation. I called some friends from my cell phone, and asked what "discretion" the "gate agents" in a bus terminal have. I figured it would be nice if the bus company provided hotel accommodations, and a ticket on the first flight shuttle to BOS. Dreaming of course, I think. I figured I would say I had a 8AM meeting in BOS.

The bus arrived NYC at about midnight, or maybe later. Getting off the bus, I told the driver there was a "slight problem." He proceeded to check when the next bus departure to BOS was. It was in forty minutes. He said I could take that back to BOS. So much for hotels, and shuttles!

I asked the driver (there was no "gate agent") if they could provide a voucher for food. The driver did not seem to know, and he said he would buy me something. We went to a snack bar, and I got french fries and an orange soda. The driver asked the clerk about a voucher (thinkk it was a food stand operated by bus company), and she told him he had to go upstairs or something. I think he paid for it himself.

I asked him if these things happen, and he said that the other drivers told him, in a hushed tone, that they have also had pax get on the wrong bus to the wrong city.

At the BOS departure gate, the inbound driver tells the driver going to BOS what happened. The inbound driver says he has my original Framingham-BOS ticket. He just tells the BOS bound driver to take me on the bus. BTW this was a different bus company than the one I came in on. I guess this is the bus version of Rule 240! Or, can a bus company write a fim?

I got back to BOS, around 4AM, and by the way, both buses were especially crowded. There was no "gate agent" in BOS either, and I was to tired to go to the counter, and ask for whatever comp bus companies might give out. I ended up taking a cab home, courtesy of my company cab voucher, and got a brief rest, then went back to work.

I asked my sister about this, and again she is quite familiar with buses,
and she says they usually make an announcement about the destination of the bus. She says she has been on buses, and had to change after they make the announcement of the destination. BTW the Framingham pick up was just a little place, not a full bus station, and the driver must not have looked at my ticket at all.

So...the bus "gate agents," or drivers probably have little discretion if any for compensation or accommodations, but at least they have a bus version of Rule 240! They didn't even make me reisue the ticket, or go to the "service center." In fact, I got on the bus with no ticket at all back to BOS. And, they didn't charge me a $75 change fee, but then again no upgrades were available. And they were not taking volunteers to be bumped. They didn't seem to have all the acronyms like an airline. No talk of fims, rule 240, pnr, no need to "sync my e-ticket." Instead Just "hey...take this guy on this bus."




[This message has been edited by jetsetter (edited 11-04-1999).]