Originally Posted by channa
Sorry to hear about the irregular operations, but "flight from he!!" ?
Usually a "flight from he!!" would involve an unplanned overnight in some intermediate city, maybe a diversion and/or a late-night rental car from some far-flung alternate airport, or an involuntary denied boarding that caused you to miss a big meeting or event.
You're still getting home tonight, and only 2.5 hours late at that, considering all that could happen, I think you did good.
I think you missed my edit, because I accidentally hit the submit button. In case you didn't miss my edit:
1. I took an unplanned overnight in MSP. Perhaps I may have been able to get on the next flight, but at the point I was informed of the upgauge on the later flight, I already had overnight accomodations made with some family friends.
2. I was originally supposed to get into LAX at 1640. After the snafu, the flight I VDB'd off of departed 3.5 hours late and landed 3 hours late, finally arriving LAX at 2210 which is 5.5 hours later than originally planned. I agree, 2.5 hours late was nothing.
3. I had to be to work at 2100, and earlier if possible. My original flight allowed plenty of slack for that, had the reroute have been on time, I would have been pretty close to on time. Once I realized how late the flight was going to be, I took the bump to make it worth my while. My bump is worth more than I make in an 8 hour work day. It took them them 1 hour and 15 minutes to board that plane. Had I not taken the bump, I would have been either 1) Late or 2) Called in sick, and the bump is more compensation than I would get otherwise.
4. My upgrades to and from the west coast NEVER clear in advance. I was pretty pissed that the first flight cancelled. Yeah, they're complimentary space available, and yeah it's not that great, but it beats coach by a long shot and the one time you get them and then lose them just gets to you.
5. The way they handled the downgrade was just absolutely awful. No two ways about it.
6. I used to work for the airlines. I've seen just about everything imaginable, and if I haven't seen it, it won't suprise me. What gets my goat is how it's handled, and there were several instances on this flight where I feel NW really dropped the ball. Do I know everything? No. But why you don't use every agent that is available to handle a huge mess is beyond me.