So, I just arrived in Frankfurt. I'm sitting here checking e-mail and getting some administriva out of the way while I wait for Tom's flight to get in. Getting here was a bit of an ordeal, but now I'm happy and relatively awake (we'll see how long that lasts!) Anyhow, things I've learned/reasserted in the past 18 hours:
Travel lesson #1: Always leave more time than you think you'll need.
I got to Pittsburgh International at 0945 Friday morning. My flight was
supposed to leave at 1155, so I thought I was just being a good, paranoid
traveler and leaving a LOT of extra time. I was on a United Flight that
codeshared with USAir to Charlotte, then a different one to Newark, then
finally one to Frankfurt. Originally, I'd been on flights from Pittsburgh
to Newark, and then Newark out but I got an e-mail a few weeks ago
adding the Charlotte leg. No big deal, I figured.
I walked up to the United counter, and got scowled at by the lady and told to
go check in at USAir. Feeling a bit idiotic, I wandered over to the self-check
in counter at USAir...and watched while the machine failed to find my
reservation. I managed to catch the attention of one of the checkin agents,
and she spent another few minutes tapping on HER keyboard looking through the
system. She finally told me that something had gotten REALLY messed up
and when United changed my flights a few weeks ago, they'd not actually
given me seats or updated the tickets, even though I was supposed to be on
them. She suggested I call Priceline and meanwhile stand in line at the
USAir ticket counter (separated by my current location by a few feet of
space...)
I called Priceline, not knowing how to really explain the situation to them,
but was somewhat relieved to find a well-spoken, polite, somewhat intelligent
voice on the other end that didn't seem too surprised or worried. He told me
that he'd call United and make them fix it somehow. I got put on hold, and
meanwhile the USAir ticket people confirmed that they were essentially
powerless to do anything. (Thanks, United. Way to codeshare effectively and
clean up your messes when you change your schedule randomly.)
Anyhow. the Priceline dude got back to me and said they were thinking of
routing me through Chicago, but he was going to confirm with the airline.
More being put on hold. He finally came back and said that my original
itinerary was confirmed on United, and all I had to do was ask them to issue
me an updated ticket. I went back over to the same friendly folk I'd briefly
encountered earlier, and got grumped at again, this time getting informed
that their system didn't show "any problems" with my reservation and there
was no need for a ticket reissue. The most they would do for me was print me
a receipt. I was a bit startled to look at it, because it had my very first
itinerary - no Charlotte leg. I asked them about it and they refused to
talk to me further.
So I trudged back over to the USAir counter, waiting in line again, and
got a call from Priceline again to make sure that things were okay
(Apparently a panda called and told them that he was somewhat concered
about the situation), and I told the lady about the strange receipt. She
told me to go ahead to USAir and see what they'd do for me, and that in
the meantime she'd make more calls and call me back.
This time the lady at USAir was able to go into the system and grab my
reservation, or something, or just took pity on me, because after about 15
more minutes of me standing there she had boarding passes for all 3 legs
of my trip (Charlotte leg included.) The Priceline lady called back when I
was on my way to the gate, and was REALLY surprised to hear that I was
on the 3-leg trip, (apparently all systems now showed me on the 2-leg) but
said that as long as I had boarding passes with seats for everything, I was
good to go. Time of arrival at my gate: 1145.
Travel lesson #2: Packing something to munch on is a good idea.
I was supposed to have an hour layover in Charlotte, and two hours in Newark.
The flight out of Pittsburgh sat around on the runway forever, and we got
into Charlotte just in time for me to board my next flight...when I'd been
counting on getting something to eat. No big deal; I could always eat
in Newark.
Well, we got into Newark an hour late. Again, not too much of an issue;
I still had another entire HOUR. I got down to my gate for Lufthansa and
checked in - actually, I'd been asking if there was any way for me to get
transferred onto T.j.'s flight and they told me they had to put my Passport
in the system, etc. So, I handed my stuff over, and they start typing, and
typing, and frowning, and asking if I have a ticket or receipt or anything.
I hand them the whole mess of stuff that the lady from USAir gave me, as
well as the Priceline printout and proceed to stand there for...the entire
next hour as they try to obtain an updated ticket for me (for my original fight,
not the boyfriend's.
I am the last passenger to board the plane, and I still haven't eaten. However,
I AM actually ON the flight, which is beginning to seem like a minor miracle
at this point. The experience made me remember another lesson from Dad:
if things are screwed up once, don't assume that they're actually fixed. I'm
not sure what would have happened if I'd tried to board with the boarding
pass that USAir had assured me would work, and I'd like to think I would
have checked at the counter even if I wasn't trying to switch flights,
but honestly - I'm not sure.
Finally...
Travel Lesson #3: Dressing like a business traveler gets you much better
treatment.
This is a trick that I confirmed many times when I was flying a LOT last year,
and held true yesterday. Except for the dolts at United, I was treated
really well by all the people I interacted with, and my guess is that
part of the reason why was that people glanced at me in a suit and mentally
stuck me in a different category than most of the rest of the "spring
break" crowd...perhaps the most striking difference has been on this flight,
though. I'm sitting in the middle of a "spring break" crowd and the
flight attendants have been a lot more deferential to me...I had a glass of
white wine with dinner, and the flight attendant made a show of showing me the
bottle, asking if it was okay, etc. The spring break crowd didn't get
that treatment. Ha. (Okay, it's a small, petty, shallow victory but after the
previous 9 hours, I was willing to take anything and wallow in it a bit.)
So, in conclusion: get there early, pack food, ask lots of questions,
and dress nicely. And then bask in the fact that you're headed to
Europe for Spring Break and about to embark on a Grand Adventure, of sorts.
Oh yeah, and don't fly United. Idiots.
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