March 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I’d had some warning that the weather was going to be rough in Columbus, so I spent some of my few United miles and got a First Class ticket. The first leg, from Sacramento to Denver, went fine, and I got some cool pictures from the window of the airplane:
When I got to Denver, the plane showed “On Time”, then “Delayed.” After a half-hour, they decided to board the plane, but before we left the gate they gave word that Columbus and Cincinnati were on a ground stop. Columbus in particular was a blizzard.
While we were on the plane, they announced that the flight had been canceled, and that we would need to go to the Customer Service Center. Seeing a CSC with a kiosk and phone, I was able to rebook rather quickly. Most people went to the CSC that had people behind the counter, and they waited in line a long time.
When I’m on an extremely long layover I have permission to check out the airline’s club. A day pass at United’s Red Carpet Club cost $50. I wasn’t too impressed with this one. The airport itself has free wireless internet, but in the club the wireless provided by T-Mobile didn’t come free. Signal was weak in the kiosk. The club had a nearly-sickly sweet orange air freshener smell to it, and the area is non-smoking. Some light snacks were provided for free, and the bar cost extra. I liked my experience in Continental Airline’s President’s Club in Houston better.
The second opportunity to go home today also canceled. It gave me a chance to catch up with Pr. Lehmann. He and his fiancée are going to Mackinac Island for their honeymoon. I highly recommended he stop by Zehnder’s and Bronner’s on the way up. 
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March 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Your airline world is so strange to me. I don’t know how you cope with it!
March 8th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The company covers the extra financial burden, which helps.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I was scheduled early Wed morning out of Binghamton, NY. But US Air cancelled the flight (snow & ice all around). Everything was full the rest of the day out of Binghamton. So I had them put me on a flight out of Scranton, PA, about 45 minutes south, and drove down. It took off alright, but the flight out of PHL was oversold, and US Air didn’t give me a boarding pass for my connecting flight on AA out of DFW. So I wondered if I’d get home that day. (I estimated chances to be about 1 out of 3.)
PHL wasn’t a problem after all — I was the first on standby allowed to board (I guess because it was an expensive ticket, being booked only a week before). But I got to DFW and the AA people told me that US Air neglected actually to book me on the later flight. Thing is, I told the ticket agent at Binghamton that she should be able to print out an AA boarding pass for me (I printed out the US Air boarding passes from AA.com on my home computer for the out-going trip). She said, “Oh, no. We can’t do that. You’ll have to get the boarding pass from AA at DFW. So I call AA. They say, “Yes, US Air cancelled your earlier ticket, but did not book you on the later flight. You need to check with US Air.” So I call U.S. Air and say, “There’s not a ticket waiting for me at AA at DFW.” They say, “Yes, it’s there. It must have posted while you were driving to Scranton.” I also check in Philly. They still say they can’t print the boarding pass. I (politely) ask why, if the ticket’s there. They say they can’t do it. So I get to DFW and check in with AA. The agent says, “What did they do? They cancelled the first ticket, but didn’t book you on the later flight. If there wasn’t one seat left on the plane, you’d be on standby.” So I ask, “Is it true that US Air can’t give me an AA boarding pass when I’m connecting from AA to a US Air flight?” They say, “Of course they can. We have agreements with everyone except United and Southwest.”
But, still, I got home only a few hours later than originally scheduled. Whew!