I told you it's bad when I eat tex-mex.

But seriously, best of luck in getting everything back up. I'm currently trying to get back to IAH and it looks like it'll be around 6pm tomorrow before I touch down.

Hope all's well.

YIKES! Stay safe!

I do enjoy your pictures. ^ I can't wait to try out the WorldClub in NRT.

Make sure you go to the one over Satellite 2. If you're using CO, they berth at Satellite 1. Worth the short walk over.

My wife and I are safe. We still do not have power. Our garage was hit by a tree and will have to be rebuilt. There is a tree laying on our house right now. I think the worst part is the cabin fever and lack of coffee.

Just wanted to throw in a quick update. It sounds like my office took quite a bearing.

You may not need the fans if you have screens on your windows. The cold front passed through and the weather is quite comfortable, according to my fiance. She couldn't sleep last night in the heat and humidity. Now, she thinks she may need a blanket this evening. It is currently 80 here in PHL at 1239am, and 73 in downtown Houston at the same time.

I was talking to her on the cell phone w/ her through the majority of the storm, after her power went out and lost the landline. We're buying a regular corded phone as soon as we can. She has Verizon, FTW!

What a Weekend
 

It's 6:19 AM and I'm in the EWR NW WC. We spent the weekend in NYC, and it's been one hell of a roller coaster ride weekend.

Overall it was very good. I got my first A300 flight (and first flight on AA in F), and discovered that it is possible to find a sadder looking airplane interior on a domestic carrier than a NW 757 or anything UA operates that was built by Boeing. But the flight was great, service was excellent, and AA actually blows CO away in the food department for a 1000 mile "snack" flight at a non-meal time.

Friday we had a great time in NYC, even with the rain. Then Friday night I was walking in the dark in the hotel room barefoot and banged my left foot into the leg of a lounge chair in our suite's living room. I think I broke my small toe. The rest of the weekend has been spent dealing with that pain. No fun.

But I persevered, and we still managed to get around a lot of the city on Saturday. One thing is for sure — both of us want to live in NYC, and my partner's career is such that his next job could very well be here. I would gladly leave Atlanta in a heartbeat to move up here, and so would he. Of course, there are days I'd gladly leave Atlanta to live in just about anyplace that isn't Atlanta, but that's a different story.

Sunday things were going just fine, until we arrived at EWR. It was hot as hell, and for some reason Newark Penn Station believes in installing air conditioning but not actually turning it on, but it's Newark, and I've learned not to expect much. Same with the NJ Transit train from Newark Penn to EWR. You don't have to travel to India for a third-world train ride… just hop on NJ Transit on a hot day when the train is packed.

After arriving at EWR, the real fun began. We were moving right along through security, when some TSA woman on a serious power trip comes up to me and says "May I do a random check on your bag?" We're just about to walk through security at this point, and boarding for our flight has just started. I inform her that our flight is in 25 minutes. She says "Well you can decline but either way I'm sending you to special screening." Huh? I can decline, but not really? I had to bite my tongue at this point to avoid arrest. So off I go with this **** to have special screening, which takes a good 10 minutes. Finally I'm done with that nonsense, and we make it to the gate and board the flight to ATL. Everything seems just fine, and by about 5:20, everyone is boarded and it appears we're right on time for our 5:29 PM departure. Wrong! 5:29 comes and goes, and we continue to wait. About 5:45 I start to wonder what's going on when I realize the captain has walked off the plane and the flight attendants are milling around talking in the first class galley. My partner asks me what's up but of course nobody knows. Finally around 6:15 PM the lead flight attendant walks through the plane announcing that our first officer has timed out, and they are looking for a replacement first officer for our flight. The captain was off the plane, they had shut down everything in the cockpit, including the switches that turn on the passenger service units and PA system.

Time goes by and the captain returns. We're now over an hour past departure. Finally they inform us that if we'd like to get off the plane and sit at the gate, that's fine, but to stay close.

To make a long story short, around 7:45 PM we are all at the gate, we get meal vouchers, and then leave to go get a quick bite to eat, and get back for what is now an 8:30 PM estimated departure. At 8:30 it becomes 8:45, then 9:00, and finally 9:30. Finally around 9:15 PM, CO cancels the flight.

I get on the phone with the elite line, because the lines at the customer service desk are already ridiculously long, due to the fact that quite a few other flights are missing crew and canceling. All of this is the lingering effect of Ike screwing up all of CO's operations at IAH. The elite desk isn't able to get us anything that would get my partner to work this morning, or me back home in time to catch a flight Monday evening to MSY for work. Finally I give up with CO, get my partner the very last seat on FL's very first flight to ATL this morning, which was the earliest possible flight that still had a seat from EWR-ATL, and then book myself on DL's second flight of the day in the last seat, which is in F. We then make a reservation at the EWR Hilton, get to the hotel shuttle, and by 11:00 are finally in our room for the night, minus our checked bag. We were told at the gate our bags would be sent to baggage claim, which is what CO's gate agents at the other canceled flights' gates were saying to their passengers, but at baggage claim we get told that they are not pulling any bags from canceled flights.

After a few hours of sleep, we get up, shower, put on yesterday's clothes, and head back to EWR. I get the royal SSSS treatment from the TSA for the second time in just over 12 hours. And now in a few minutes I finally board a DL flight to ATL.

As for CO, they've rebooked my partner on a flight to ATL tomorrow morning, and me on a flight tonight. Nice job, guys. Thanks to your total refusal to rebook us on DL or any other airline, we're out nearly $700 we spent to get us on other airlines so we wouldn't screw up our schedule too much, plus nearly $200 for a hotel room, because had we waited for a free hotel voucher (which they were giving out), we probably would have been in line at EWR well past midnight.

CO, I know there's been a major hurricane. But seriously, this refusal to rebook on any other airline to preserve your revenue in an emergency situation is ridiculous. This whole experience has me rethinking my decision to stick it out through the recent OnePass changes and everything else negative that's happened.

Right now I'm tired, b!tchy, and just want to go home.

Sounds like I'll keep my very nice weekend to myself. :o

Glad to hear [it sounds like] most Box'ers are okay.

Yeah , I was watching CNN on sat and they showed downtown Houston and I was on the lookout for floating otter's
Glad to hear everyone seems to be fine, except for Hartmann's garage :td:

Finally home. I've never written a complaint letter to CO, have let a lot of relatively minor stuff slide over the years, and have never asked for compensation. However, this time is different. If I'd let CO "take care of us" last night, we'd both still be camped out at a hotel in New Jersey right now, and one of us would be there for almost 24 more hours. We might even be at a hotel 40 miles from EWR, as some of the passengers were being sent that far from the airport because CO was claiming the hotels closer to the airport had no rooms -- which isn't quite true, because Marriott and Hilton's websites both showed plenty of availability at their hotels near the airport at 10:00 PM last night when we were looking for a place to stay. Apparently they just weren't accepting more travelers at the cheap rates CO was willing to pay. Taking care of our own rebooking and accomodations may have cost nearly $900, but in the end, we're home, and my partner is on his way to work and will be there by 11:30 AM. I'll still be able to make my work trip this week as planned.

Yes, I'm still mad about CO's refusal to admit that in this kind of situation it's better to keep people as happy as possible, no matter the cost. I realize times are tough, but my experience with CO last night compared to my experience dealing with the aftermath of Allison in 2001 when I was dealing with similar problems with canceled flights and missing crews was night and day. That time CO was willing to bend over backwards and do whatever it took to get you to your destination as quickly as possible and keep you happy. Last night's experience at EWR was every man for himself, and customer service be damned.

I'm sure the EWR-tude played into this too, as so many of those employees are nasty on even a really good day. But wow, CO, you get a big fail for this. And you'll be getting a letter from me with receipts attached for our new flights (including the DL flight I was told had no seats yet I could buy it myself) and hotel room.

When I'm told mis-truths like this I'll conference call a rep from both airlines together. Works like a charm. :-::-::-:

With hotel vouchers, you don't have use them at the hotel indicated on them. As long as the hotel you want to stay at has a contract in place with the airline you're flying, you're fine.

Seats on other carriers during Irregular Ops
 

On the day of departure, we (CO) must call the airlines locally in order to book seats for our customers. We must get the local other airlines's approval to book otherwise you will be turned away at their ticket counter.

On the other hand, if you call into that airline's reservation system you can probably get that same booking that we (CO) have been denied when we called. Why? Because when we do the calling, the other airline knows that you are going to show. No other airline is going to accept same day bookings if they are potentially going to oversell the flight.

That's good to know. Of course, we might still be standing in line for that voucher had we waited for it.

Eh? If you're "ticketed and confirmed" why would you be turned away (without an IDB)?

I've done the conference call trick at least a half dozen times, including once with CO in ABQ, and its always worked.

Thanks, sfogate. I appreciate knowing that little bit of information.

However, it still doesn't excuse the attitude being dished out last night at EWR by the agents there to customers who were not being aggressive, nor does it excuse the fact that the elite line agents had been told they were absolutely not to book passengers on other airlines as a result of the disruptions caused by the hurricane. If this was a normal severe thunderstorm event that closed a hub for a few hours one evening I'd understand taking that stance. However this is a highly unusual event that closed CO's largest hub for days, and caused massive disruptions at EWR (and likely CLE too), as well as at numerous outstations. I, and many other passengers who were stranded last night, would have appreciated CO at least trying to book us on other airlines.

My agent on the elite line was really wonderful and did what she could. But she was cut off repeatedly by her supervisor, and she sounded quite honest with me when she apologized and said "I've been told to tell you that we cannot call Delta because we lose revenue if we do." That was what really made me mad. At the very least I qualify for CO to refund my ticket from last night, as well as my partner's, as the flight was completely canceled. Well, guess what, CO, you lost that revenue anyway. So why not at least try to extend a little goodwill in that situation?