Travel Nightmare

In summary, this explains my absence and why I missed our live chat at The Point tonight.

I took a vacation to Georgia. Left Saturday AM, was supposed to get back last night (Monday).

Leaving from Atlanta yesterday afternoon. Boarded the plane, sat on the runway for about 30 minutes. About everyone on the plane had a connecting flight to get to to in Charlotte, myself included. Obviously the delay was not helping matters. I was in row 9. In row 11, some lady flipped out on the flight attendant. She was a total bitch. Sorry, but she was. Just screaming at her. Asked to be let out of the plane. The flight attendant said you can't just open the door and get out in the middle of the runway. The passenger accused her of being sarcastic and kept going. The flight attendant said if she kept it up she would be her worst nightmare. I had enough at this time and turned around and told the lady to shut the hell up; we all had tight connections and yelling at the flight attendant wasn't going to get us there. A stare down between the two of us ensued and it appeared that one or both of us might end up on the news for getting tased and carried off the plane by the TSA. Nothing came of it, we left shortly thereafter, and we got to Charlotte early. I thought I would be okay.

Got off the plane and saw my flight to Akron was cancelled for "mechanical problems," though I suspect it was because the flight was almost empty. Everyone on the plane was automatically rebooked. Most people got the 9AM Tuesday flight to Akron, direct. Some got a later flight that night to Cleveland. I got an 11:15 AM to Philadelphia, where I would wait until 4:30 to go to Akron. Bad times. They put me up in a hotel and gave me a $10 food voucher, which did not even cover my Gatorade and chicken salad. They then told me to come back early and try to get on standby for the early flight in the morning. I did. First note: Some guy in the hotel lobby was way too impressed with the waffle machine in the lobby. He talked about it the whole shuttle ride back to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. Someone needs to get him one for Christmas.

First and a half note: I had to go the hotel with some lady wearing an Obama shirt.

I was on the flight to Akron on Tuesday morning, standby. I was in my seat. I can't tell you how happy I was to be on the flight. Then over the loudspeaker on the plane someone said "passenger Keeler please come to the front." They told me my flight was overbooked and I would have to wait to take my original flight to Philly. No one else came on the plane on my way off or before it left. It was not overbooked. So then I had to go another terminal and wait for the 11:15. I took it and got to PHL sometime between 12 and 1. I was also in a middle seat between two people who should have been forced to buy two seats. Well, almost home, right? No.

Second note: As soon as I got off the airplane in Philadelphia, I saw some lady push a gate attendant. Security arrested her. Not a good idea to do ever, but really not a good idea this day in age. Jail for her. Hopefully for a long time.

I didn't think we would ever even leave, as about half of the departures were cancelled from Philly. It was a total mess. But we did get off, with a delay. Boarded my plane for Akron. We taxied out to the runway and sat for 30 min. Mechanical problems. Plane cancelled. At this time I was close to jumping out the window of the concourse. So I sat around eating overpriced food and staring at the floor and waited until 9 to get back to Akron. Finally, we got back to CAK. My bag wasn't there. I filed a claim and was steaming. After I did all that and everyone was gone, my bag magically appeared. My checked bag that had everything I took with me - clothes, computer charger, laptop charger, IPod charger, toiletries, everything. The people in Charlotte said they couldn't get it last night, which I am pretty sure was a lie. It was late and they just didn't want to get it. So all I had was what I was wearing and my dead laptop, dead cellphone, dead IPod and my SkyMall magazine which I read about 64 times in my backpack. Third note: The lady who was in charge of bags at CAK was actually very nice and helpful.

When I got back to the parking lot, I found in my haste Saturday AM I parked in the short term lot, not the long term lot. That was actually my fault. My parking bill was about double what I expected. I then drove home at about 95 MPH.

This is why I hate flying. If you know me, you know I always prefer driving. I don't think I will fly again for years. Someone has to say it, and I have always thought it, but kids under 3 should not be allowed to fly. All they do is cry and yell the whole time. People should have to come meet the kids and fly to them, or the parents should drive them. I am not anti-kids, but I am anti-kids on planes. They make it miserable for everyone else.

I made a promise to myself after September 11 I would never complain about air travel again. Until today, I kept that. I never yelled or even got mad at the workers, because it wasn't their fault, but I can not do this. The way I saw some people treat some of the airline workers made me embarrassed to be a human. You people should all be forced to do manual labor in Siberia for 5 years due to your behavior. Who treats other people like that? If I actually had important things to do when I got home, I would have been screwed. Good thing I don't.

On the plus side, I did pass some of the time playing with my new Phillies hat I bought at the airport. Then I came home and saw they won tonight 1-0.