I will be making this post a short one but did want to put in my two cents regarding my recent travels from San Jose, California to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
I want to acknowledge that this was my first time doing multiple connections to my destination all because I did not want to fly on AirCanada due to my negative experience with them. Who would have thought it could be worse? I realize that the East Coast was experiencing extreme thunderstorms and this did play a part in this drama.
On our way to Canada, we had a connection thru Denver to Newark before we were to head to Halifax. United only has like 3 or 4 flights a day to Halifax so…. you miss a connection, you are screwed. Since we are traveling across country, we are taking the last flight of the day and there are no other options for that day. Our flight out of Denver was delayed due to weather in Newark so our flight out of Newark was also delayed. When we arrived we still had to wait another 90 minutes before they started boarding 150 passengers on the plane. While boarding, they informed us that we had 15 minutes to get pushed back from the gate before our pilot timed out. Timed out you say? The pilots are in a union and due to safety regulations, after so many hours they have to be relieved of duty. But seriously, if you knew the pilot was timing out, why not get another pilot after 3 hours of delay. And if we only had 15 minutes, why bother boarding us. When have you ever boarded and pushed away from the gate in 15 minutes. Never unless it is a private plane. They made us wait another hour before cancelling our flight at 2am. Because our boarding passes were scanned, you had to wait in customer service line with 150 other angry passengers to be rebooked. No auto rebook. No calling in on the 800#. That process took another 2 hours. By then the only hotel available to us was 25 minutes away and only had a shuttle on the hours of 7,8,9,10. They gave us meal vouchers which you could only use at the airport. They did pay for our taxi to the hotel. This was Thursday night/Friday morning and they told us there were no more flights until Saturday night (same flight but 48 hours later). At this point I took it and left. I was so tired and I just needed a few hours of sleep. After two hours of sleep, I woke up and called 800# to rebook me sooner. After being on hold for 90 minutes, a very nice lady found me a flight flying with AirCanada (I KNOW!) through Toronto to Halifax. I jumped on it. I know there are flights from Toronto every couple of hours to Halifax. My only catch was it was 8am and the flight leaves at 10:25am. Of course, the 8am shuttle left 10 minutes early so I had to call a car service who showed up immediately and got us there with plenty of time. Shaun and I dressed and repacked in 10 minutes to make this flight. I didn’t even brush my teeth! (yuck!) Everything else that day was smooth sailing. Thank goodness!
I am thinking the worst is over with arriving a day late on my trip out. Oh no! Those pesky storms are over the Midwest and east coast now. Planes are being grounded left and right. Sunday night my flight for Monday morning was cancelled and once again on hold with the 800# trying to get an earlier flight. Stupid me, I didn’t think to ask to be rerouted through Toronto so I could avoid the pain. I paid for that little mistake. When I get to the airport and am at the gate, they call me up to tell me the flight is oversold. Would I like to rebook. Once again, not thinking, I said NO. I could have gone through Toronto. So I make it to Newark, but once again, the flight is delayed due to storms. Flights are being cancelled left and right. Passengers are complaining. I just want to get to Denver because I know there will be a ton of flights to San Jose from there. After boarding an hour late, then sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours, coming back to the gate, deboarding, reboarding 90 minutes later with a new crew, the pilot decides to wait another 90 minutes for the passengers who didn’t reboard. Now this is where United in my opinion screwed up. When passengers deboarded, many asked about rebooking. They were told to just not reboard. The could not be rebooked until the plane left. If you aren’t going to handle it right then and there, why make people sit on the plane for an additional 90 minutes waiting for missing passengers. Any other time, they would have left. Heck, the never even hold a connecting flight when it is close. There were many people that if we would have left when we reboarded who would have made their connecting flight in Denver. Because of the additional delay, a third missed their connecting flight (I had already missed mine but until I knew when we would get there I didn’t want to rebook). United got away with calling this a weather delay when in reality it was not! That is what is wrong.
Now I remember why I don’t fly United unless I have to. Who would have guessed that they were worse than Air Canada. I will take lost luggage over 3 cancelled flights any day! Unfortunately for me, I have the second leg of each of these reservations in the next two weeks to experience. I hope to have smooth sailing. Lesson learned: Fly Air Canada to remote Canadian destinations like Halifax. More ways to get there.
Next Travel Diary will have much more upbeat and positive. I have things to report about Nova Scotia and the sights there. I just want to wait and get all the places at once.
Happy Travels,
Peggy Stockwell