Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Summer Travel
What a day.
It all started out marginally well. fine (well, at least the part after we left the house). We got to the airport early. All very relaxing. Boarded on time.
Reading on the plane.....waiting to land when the pilot says we have been circling because of storms and we may be diverted. I almost screamed!!! What???? I have planes and trains to catch, family to see. This is not happening.
Sure enough, diverted. A is for Albany. Let's go there first!!!
Once we got there I emailed Peggy, our travel agent, so she knew what was going on. And I asked at the Delta desk if they could re-book us in the event we missed our 9:15 flight. No problem they said. There is a 9:50 Air France flight and we were confirmed. Just had to have tickets printed once we got to New York.
We waited. And waited. And waited for clearance from JFK that we could re-board and head back to JFK.
By 7:30 we were back on the plane. By 8:30 we were still circling Albany.
We finally landed at 9:00, and off the plane by 9:20. Francis had texted to say the doors were closed on his flight but they had a 30 minute delay.
We got off, spoke to a Delta rep who told us to run to the next terminal to make that Air France flight. Oh...the Delta system kept on telling us that the Air France/Delta flight was leaving at 9:50. But when we got to the counter it said 10:50.
We were golden! Wahoo!!. We could make this flight, still meet Francis and make the train. Got to the checkin counter where the woman couldn't check us in because we didn't have the actual ticket. She told us to quickly go around to the ticketing counter to get the tickets.
No can do. They would not give us tickets. We flew down on Delta. And had an American JFK-CDG ticket. What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Air France/Delta owed us nothing and would not put us on the flight.
I was on the verge of tears. A woman from behind the counter said we needed to go to the American Terminal and get on one of their flights.
We still had hope.
Once at American, we told our story and the woman said, What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Hmmm we had heard that before.
She could re-book us for tomorrow but there is a $250 fee per person. What? She then said that she. had spoken with the supervisor and that was waived. Phew!!
In the meantime Peggy made us a reservation at the JFK Sheraton.
One last question....what about our bags? I handed the woman our baggage claim checks and she said...oh...your bags were only checked to JFK!!! What???
So we had to get back on the Airtrain and go to Delta to get our bags. After waiting 20 minutes in line for baggage problems, the woman tells us that our bags were checked through to Paris and they were now rebooked on our flight tomorrow.
We don't believe her.
We walk back outside, grab a taxi with Mohammed Ramadan who is driving, while talking on the phone via bluetooth while following Mrs. Nav to get us to the Sheraton. (Mrs. Nav is a gps-he tells me he can get us anywhere on the island but out here he needs help).
The JFK Sheraton is a throw back in time. After we check in (I realize now I have idea how much it is) I went straight to the bar and take a glass of Cab Sav to our room.
It's after midnight and our Chinese takeout was just delivered.
Our plan is to sleep in, have breakfast, hang, checkout late and head right back to the terminal. We'll take the shuttle bus to save $$.
We are now on a 5:15ish flight to Paris arriving at 6:45am.
Life is NOT dull. Always something.
It all started out marginally well. fine (well, at least the part after we left the house). We got to the airport early. All very relaxing. Boarded on time.
Reading on the plane.....waiting to land when the pilot says we have been circling because of storms and we may be diverted. I almost screamed!!! What???? I have planes and trains to catch, family to see. This is not happening.
Sure enough, diverted. A is for Albany. Let's go there first!!!
Once we got there I emailed Peggy, our travel agent, so she knew what was going on. And I asked at the Delta desk if they could re-book us in the event we missed our 9:15 flight. No problem they said. There is a 9:50 Air France flight and we were confirmed. Just had to have tickets printed once we got to New York.
We waited. And waited. And waited for clearance from JFK that we could re-board and head back to JFK.
By 7:30 we were back on the plane. By 8:30 we were still circling Albany.
We finally landed at 9:00, and off the plane by 9:20. Francis had texted to say the doors were closed on his flight but they had a 30 minute delay.
We got off, spoke to a Delta rep who told us to run to the next terminal to make that Air France flight. Oh...the Delta system kept on telling us that the Air France/Delta flight was leaving at 9:50. But when we got to the counter it said 10:50.
We were golden! Wahoo!!. We could make this flight, still meet Francis and make the train. Got to the checkin counter where the woman couldn't check us in because we didn't have the actual ticket. She told us to quickly go around to the ticketing counter to get the tickets.
No can do. They would not give us tickets. We flew down on Delta. And had an American JFK-CDG ticket. What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Air France/Delta owed us nothing and would not put us on the flight.
I was on the verge of tears. A woman from behind the counter said we needed to go to the American Terminal and get on one of their flights.
We still had hope.
Once at American, we told our story and the woman said, What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Hmmm we had heard that before.
She could re-book us for tomorrow but there is a $250 fee per person. What? She then said that she. had spoken with the supervisor and that was waived. Phew!!
In the meantime Peggy made us a reservation at the JFK Sheraton.
One last question....what about our bags? I handed the woman our baggage claim checks and she said...oh...your bags were only checked to JFK!!! What???
So we had to get back on the Airtrain and go to Delta to get our bags. After waiting 20 minutes in line for baggage problems, the woman tells us that our bags were checked through to Paris and they were now rebooked on our flight tomorrow.
We don't believe her.
We walk back outside, grab a taxi with Mohammed Ramadan who is driving, while talking on the phone via bluetooth while following Mrs. Nav to get us to the Sheraton. (Mrs. Nav is a gps-he tells me he can get us anywhere on the island but out here he needs help).
The JFK Sheraton is a throw back in time. After we check in (I realize now I have idea how much it is) I went straight to the bar and take a glass of Cab Sav to our room.
It's after midnight and our Chinese takeout was just delivered.
Our plan is to sleep in, have breakfast, hang, checkout late and head right back to the terminal. We'll take the shuttle bus to save $$.
We are now on a 5:15ish flight to Paris arriving at 6:45am.
Life is NOT dull. Always something.
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