55,555 woes
Jun 30, 2002, 9:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
55,555 woes
<gripe>I seem to be having the worst luck trying to qualify for the 55,555 promo. I think I've given up on trying to qualify for 4 programs (UA,MX,AC,LH), but now may not qualify for any.
A few weeks ago I had the following flights:
EZE-GRU-MIA RG (credited to MX,UA)
MIA-ORD-YYZ UA (MX,AC)
YYZ-YUL AC (AC)
This weekend I was supposed to be on these flights:
YUL-YOW-YYZ-GRU AC (to MX,LH,UA)
GRU-POA-MVD RG (to LH,AC)
MVD-EZE UA (to UA)
The remaining partners were going to be MX and some biz travel on SQ/BD.
The problems began when the GRU-MIA flight left 45 minutes late; my original connecting time in MIA had been an hour and 20 minutes; with the delay it was under 40. It didn't help that I was in the very last row of a full flight. We landed at 6:10, and the travel gods must have been smiling (or toying) with me as I was able to make it off the plane, on the train, through immigration&customs (only had carryon), security, to the gate and on the United plane by 6:45. Where we proceeded to sit for 2.5 hours while the captain kept having the mechanics disassemble the cockpit several times. Made it to Chicago just as my connecting flight was taking off. There weren't any other flights through Toronto that day that wouldn't require overnight in Montreal (not such a bad thing) but I had return tickets to Austin that evening on AA. So had them fly direct to Montreal on AC (lost one UA segment).
This weekend I flew back to Montreal on AA; only had an hour connect to my next flight, but then discovered that flight was delayed 45 minutes; that ended up OK as I made the flight and the next one to Toronto. The flight to GRU; as we are pulling back from the gate, the emergency slide deploys... and we sit on the ground for 3 hours while they fix it. We get to Sao Paulo after my flight to Porto Alegre has left. Where I found out I wouldn't have been able to make anyway as I didn't have a Brazil visa (I had called the consulate about this, they said I wouldn't need a visa even connecting through Porto Alegre as I wasn't leaving the airport). The next connecting flight to Montevideo didn't leave till the evening, missing the UA flight, but I could head directly to buenos aires (thus losing another two segments).
To top that off, my biz travel got cancelled so I'm out another 4 segments there. So resigned myself to only getting credit in 1 program now, if that.
Anyway, getting to the point.
Could I get credit for those three segments? The problem is none of them were going to be credited to the airline I was flying (except UA - and that would be my 5th).
[This message has been edited by hauteboy (edited 07-01-2002).]
A few weeks ago I had the following flights:
EZE-GRU-MIA RG (credited to MX,UA)
MIA-ORD-YYZ UA (MX,AC)
YYZ-YUL AC (AC)
This weekend I was supposed to be on these flights:
YUL-YOW-YYZ-GRU AC (to MX,LH,UA)
GRU-POA-MVD RG (to LH,AC)
MVD-EZE UA (to UA)
The remaining partners were going to be MX and some biz travel on SQ/BD.
The problems began when the GRU-MIA flight left 45 minutes late; my original connecting time in MIA had been an hour and 20 minutes; with the delay it was under 40. It didn't help that I was in the very last row of a full flight. We landed at 6:10, and the travel gods must have been smiling (or toying) with me as I was able to make it off the plane, on the train, through immigration&customs (only had carryon), security, to the gate and on the United plane by 6:45. Where we proceeded to sit for 2.5 hours while the captain kept having the mechanics disassemble the cockpit several times. Made it to Chicago just as my connecting flight was taking off. There weren't any other flights through Toronto that day that wouldn't require overnight in Montreal (not such a bad thing) but I had return tickets to Austin that evening on AA. So had them fly direct to Montreal on AC (lost one UA segment).
This weekend I flew back to Montreal on AA; only had an hour connect to my next flight, but then discovered that flight was delayed 45 minutes; that ended up OK as I made the flight and the next one to Toronto. The flight to GRU; as we are pulling back from the gate, the emergency slide deploys... and we sit on the ground for 3 hours while they fix it. We get to Sao Paulo after my flight to Porto Alegre has left. Where I found out I wouldn't have been able to make anyway as I didn't have a Brazil visa (I had called the consulate about this, they said I wouldn't need a visa even connecting through Porto Alegre as I wasn't leaving the airport). The next connecting flight to Montevideo didn't leave till the evening, missing the UA flight, but I could head directly to buenos aires (thus losing another two segments).
To top that off, my biz travel got cancelled so I'm out another 4 segments there. So resigned myself to only getting credit in 1 program now, if that.
Anyway, getting to the point.
Could I get credit for those three segments? The problem is none of them were going to be credited to the airline I was flying (except UA - and that would be my 5th).
[This message has been edited by hauteboy (edited 07-01-2002).]
Jun 30, 2002, 6:51 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
Wow.. Bad luck on those. I have never seen an emergency chute deployed accidentally. How did that happen did you find out?
Jun 30, 2002, 7:36 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: YYZ
Posts: 6,138
I was working at YYZ STOC on Sat. and I watched the GRU-bound flight incident via remote controlled camera from my desk. It appears a flight attendant was attempting to arm the L1 door for departure on pushback when he/she accidentally deployed the chute. The aircraft was not 100 feet from the gate and the tow tractor was still attached. 2:49 was the official delay time on the flight. The plane is still airworthy, but the pax who were seated in seats where L1 would be their closest door in the event of an emergency had to vacate their seats. It looks like 36 pax were offloaded as a result. Bad luck for all involved...
[This message has been edited by YYZC2 (edited 06-30-2002).]
[This message has been edited by YYZC2 (edited 06-30-2002).]
Jun 30, 2002, 8:12 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,330
I read once that the cost to airline of getting those chutes repacked and re-certified is REAL high. Like $30,000 or something? Bet that FA is back to doing LAX-LAS flights 6 a day for the next 3 months. 
Jul 1, 2002, 4:59 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Well I'm at JFK now, flew back from Buenos Aires on AA last night, sans delays or slides deploying.
EZE airport was fairly busy last night.. at least compared to a few weeks ago when it was pretty much dead.
My AC flight has posted to UA already, unfortunately as a RG codeshare flight. Supposedly for 55k the metal counts, not the codeshare; was this ever clarified?
BTW. It was interesting being on that YYZ-GRU flight when Brazil won the World Cup.Everyone was dancing and singing in the aisles and waving flags!
[This message has been edited by hauteboy (edited 07-01-2002).]
EZE airport was fairly busy last night.. at least compared to a few weeks ago when it was pretty much dead.
My AC flight has posted to UA already, unfortunately as a RG codeshare flight. Supposedly for 55k the metal counts, not the codeshare; was this ever clarified?
BTW. It was interesting being on that YYZ-GRU flight when Brazil won the World Cup.
Everyone was dancing and singing in the aisles and waving flags![This message has been edited by hauteboy (edited 07-01-2002).]