Will I ever get to PDX?
 

Mailing this in from the new "laptop Lane" at CVG, in between flights. Flying PHL to PDX to SFO to SEA and back to PHL this week. No one flies PHL to PDX directly, so I am flying on Delta through CVG. Supposed to be on the 4:23 flight out of CVG to PDX, but flight in got delayed and didn't land until 5:00pm. PDX flight had already left. Now on the 8:40 flight to PDX, which now isn't leaving until 9:50, which will get me into Portland at 11:50 p.m. (2:50 EST, if you are counting), so I should get to the Portland Hilton and checked in and to sleep by about 1 am PST, or about 4 am EST.
Fortunately, I don't have any problems sleeping on planes. I don't know how those of you who can't sleep on planes can do it, if you have to do one of these.
Well got to go. I think they'll be boarding sometime before the end of the millenium, and I don't want to miss it!

Djlawman

Go see what's "on-sale" at the airport gift shop. I got me one of those cool Dilbert talking beanbags last layover.

DJ,

When will you be departing from SEA? If it fits in with my schedule, perhaps I could meet you at the airport for 30 minutes or so. Feel free to ask Rudi if I am a nice guy, normal, non-psychotic, etc. Hey, anyone who went through the Haddonfield school system can'e be all that bad....

He (MileageAddict) is (a nice guy). And he is addicted as we all are. And he is more than worth a "rendez-vous".

Well, just checked into the Portland Hilton (Double Double Dipping, of course). It is now 2 am PST, so 5am EST. I overestimated the likelihood of my flights being on time. Have depositions beginning at 9 am tomorrow. Boy, I am really going to be sharp tomorrow. Thanks Delta.

thats ff-life. tomorrow is today - today may be tomorrow.

Or, tomorrow never arrives.

And the worst horror of all: Never leaving the airport!!! Especially if it's JFK or LAG or LAX!!!! HELP!!!

Good luck and Happy and safe travels DJLawman and get back to the great nation of New Jerzee soon and ok. CATMAN

Ah, but now I am in San Fransisco, and luxuriating at the Ritz Carlton. Will be dining with my cousin tonight, and with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law tomorrow night. Quick flight on United Shuttle from PDX to SFO today, no problems, and then here for two nights until headed to SEA on Thursday morning, & back to PHL on Friday morning.
Days like yesterday are a real ....., but it's nice to be able to enjoy a travel experience like the Ritz Carlton once in a while also. Lots of Marriott points accumulating here at the RC on the client's dime.

Pssst......hay Catman.....you shood now as a freqkent flier that LaGuardia is not LAG...


it is LGA.

Those are the best kinds of miles and points, those earned in luxury and especially at the client's dime.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your travels DJLawman. From what you went through, The Ritz was just the right kind of medicine!

THE LAG was a typo for those who need to know. But flights LAG at Laguaradia! CATMAN

Well, just got done posting a long, irate letter to Delta. The kicker to the whole trip to Portland was that, when I got there at 1 am PST (4 am EST--my time), i searched around for my luggage for about a half hour, no one left in the airport it seemed, no Delta employee around. Finally one shows up, with me and no one else left in the airport, and I try to give her a missing baggage report, when she says, "Doug Johnson--I think your luggage came in on the earlier flight!" And, so it had.
Now, when I had checked with the gate agent getting off the flight in Cincinatti, she had INSISTED that the earlier flight to Portland had already taken off. I noted that it showed on the board as delayed, but she said it was already gone.
Obviously, my luggage did not magically fly into the air and catch a plane which had already taken off.
I think what really happened is that they had so many passengers delayed by other flights' weather delays that they needed the space on my flight, and knocked me off.
Therefore, I have written Delta, and requested compensation that I would have received if I had been asked to voluntarily bump--i.e., a free ticket. I was one pissed-off traveler when I got to my hotel in Portland at 2 am PST (5 am EST).
Of course, I will let you all know what happens. Let's hope Delta makes good on this. I certainly think I deserve compensation here.

Absolutely you deserve compensation.

Semi-similar event:

Got off late plane in Houston, told to run to catch other flight because they're holding it for me. Run to flight which is actually empty gate. Told by gate agent to run back to gate I just came from. Take that same flight and they'll figure out how to get me from TPA to MIA later.

Although I can't prove it, I believe the airlines have an operational imperative that says lie to the passenger to make operations run more smoothly...

Catman: I thought you were a writer. You could easily have covered by writing something like: "By the way, LAG was not a typo. Flights at LGA always LAG."

Djlawman: This experience sort of shoots holes in my remarks on another thread, directed at you, about checking bags. However, in over thirty years of frequent flying, I've had only one bad baggage experience, when my bag went to the wrong carousel at DFW and it took an hour or so to find it. BTW: If my schedule has been messed up in any way and I'm late getting in, the first place I check is the bags lined up but unclaimed from earlier flights.
Another thought: NEVER ask the agent at your arrival gate about when another flight will depart. I never even ask for a gate number. Just check the screen and go to the gate shown there (or to the airline's club if the screen says the flight is cancelled or delayed - assuming you're a member of the club; if you're not, take your chances).
The situation you describe seems unusual for Delta. Their agents meeting flights in CVG are looking at the same screen you see when you walk down the concourse. It could be that the agent you spoke to was looking at PDQ instead of PDX, and THAT flight had already departed. I have had situations where the information on the computers available in the Crown Room didn't match that on the screens in the terminal, but that's not what you ran into here. (The Crown Room info was almost always better)