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Summer IRROPS on DL Flying RDU-EWR Leads to RDU-DCA-CVG-DCA and A Megabus Ride to NYC

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Summer IRROPS on DL Flying RDU-EWR Leads to RDU-DCA-CVG-DCA and A Megabus Ride to NYC

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Old Aug 6, 2018, 8:55 am
  #16  
 
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I'm not actually sure if you can do this, but at either RDU or DCA would they have provided an Amtrak transfer and voucher to give up your seat? Probably would have saved everyone's time, if they allowed that sort of thing.
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 9:37 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by tom tulpe
WN don't fly RDU-PHL direct. It's a connection via (mostly) ATL.
interesting, they used to. must have been canned within the past 12-18 months.
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 1:42 pm
  #18  
 
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Looking forward to following ..... This is not judging but I find it ironic that between your FT handle and you're saying "if you stop moving your dead" that you didn't hope on a an Amtrak train. Especially in light of how fubar'd NC has been this summer with weather and computer problems.
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Old Aug 6, 2018, 7:15 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by tom tulpe
WN don't fly RDU-PHL direct. It's a connection via (mostly) ATL.

EDIT: Megabus OTOH offer an overnight connection from Durham to NYC via Washington DC Union Station, leaving at about 8pm and arriving 8 am the next day. Would have saved OP about a day.
Yeah, I mean I guess I held out to much hope that eventually I would catch a flight heading my way.

Originally Posted by wtcmor
That was quite a story. Will be interesting to see how Delta handle this.
I spoke with them on the phone already they said they'd be processing a refund. We'll see how much they give back.

Originally Posted by nequine
That was certainly a long route for a shortcut!
Yeah, I don't mind a circuitous routing, but I do like eventually getting home.

Originally Posted by krazykanuck
Thought of your adventure today as I drove past the Megabus lot here in Houston. Quite the day, I still think you should have tried to return to RDU.
Going back to RDU would have made for better reading. I think Megabus runs from Houston to NOLA you should give it a shot, and let us know how you liked it.

Originally Posted by transportprof
Amtrak also runs two daily trains from Raleigh to Newark, NJ. They don't stop at EWR, but it's just a short ride back from Newark Penn Station to the airport, around 5 minutes
Yeah, on Thursday night I looked to see if the Silver Star/Meteor ran through RDU at night. I know Charlotte has at least a Southbound train that arrives in the middle of the night. Everything from RDU up north was the next day. I assumed at that point I'd have no problem getting a flight on Friday.

Originally Posted by janehoya
I am sorry you had to endure that debacle but thanks for posting as I sincerely enjoyed reading your account. The lessons you learned will be good to remember if ever faced with a similar situation.
Thanks glad you enjoyed it. While it wasn't a positive experience hopefully it serves a cautionary tale for others about how bad IRROPs can get sometimes.

Originally Posted by Schwann
What a great report! Just a shame you couldn't take advantage of some of those vouchers.
Thank you. Yeah, I mean scooping up a few hundred in bump money would have made this story a little sweeter.

Originally Posted by kahdgar
I'm not actually sure if you can do this, but at either RDU or DCA would they have provided an Amtrak transfer and voucher to give up your seat? Probably would have saved everyone's time, if they allowed that sort of thing.
I don't believe only United has an interline agreement with Amtrak, and it only covers a small number of train stations in the Northeast. It wouldn't have been applicable in my case.

Originally Posted by Uncle Nonny
Looking forward to following ..... This is not judging but I find it ironic that between your FT handle and you're saying "if you stop moving your dead" that you didn't hope on a an Amtrak train. Especially in light of how fubar'd NC has been this summer with weather and computer problems.
Yeah, I am no stranger to riding Amtrak I have covered almost all of the Long Distance routes in the network. I also have never quite had an experience like this, so I figured somehow Delta would manage to get me closer to New York then Washington, DC.
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Old Aug 9, 2018, 3:06 pm
  #20  
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Well DL has refunded me $21.41.

Not sure how they calculated that, but that is what they decided I didn't use on my $335 ticket.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 9:42 am
  #21  
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Great TR - DL definitely wasn't super helpful with IRROPS and I'll assume that any airline would have been the same unless you're CK (AA) or GS - I don't know DL status levels. Bummer on combo of refund and that the $800 / $500 voucher wouldn't work. You took everything in good stride for the first 18 or so hours and then needed 5 seconds to breathe deeply and at least appear to be in great spirits. Very impressive!

my fantasy is that we do our best to make the best decision at any given moment. You asked for advice and mine is that I wouldn't change a thing. It's tempting to say that for a $335 ticket, I would have asked for the $800 voucher to be in cash because I would buy an Amtrak ticket. But then there's the risk that the Amtrak / train ticket would yield another kind of delay. It's possible that the RDU-ATL-EWR routing would have kept you stranded in ATL and that's way further than RDU. Ditto for the DTW routing offer. So I think you made the correct decision at every step of your journey, starting with you being able to use your client's conference room (i.e. establishing the comfortable & strong relationship with the client) and finishing with the Megabus (learning that your decision to not researching a rental was correct). You even got to confirm that CVG's The Club makes the best Bloody Mary. Yum!

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