Monday, September 25, 2006

My New York Trip: Part I...

The Worst Part.

I decided to discuss the worst part of my trip since I have not fully recovered from this experience. My trip ended on what I thought was a perfect note until I arrived at LaGuardia Airport. My initial flight was scheduled to depart at 3:50 pm Sunday afternoon. My mother, aunt and I arrived at the airport a little early because we didn’t know what to expect since this was a new experience with all of the heightened security.

I arrived there only to find out my plane wouldn’t leave until 4:27pm (due to “weather” conditions in atl). When I was first arrived in NY via LaGuardia the airport surprised me. It looked outdated and the way people were stacked up on top of each other I felt like I was in a bus station. Anyway, we begin to board the plane, and prepare to taxi off to the runway roughly at a quarter to 5:00pm. I then noticed the pilot appeared to be bullshitting around the runway for about 20 minutes. He then makes an announcement about how we may have noticed he turned off the plane’s engine because he was instructed to stay on the ground because of the storm in Atlanta.

At this point I did manage to find another form of entertainment via the XM satellite radio they provided, but of course every one else was cussing and fussing respectively so. So we stayed in this spot for about 2 hours until our final okay to take off. I arrived in Atlanta at around 10:00pm, my initial lay over was suppose to be depart Atlanta at 8:05pm. As soon as you get off the plane and into the terminal you notice huge crowds of people sitting everywhere. Evidently they grounded all Atlanta flights going in and out of town. I made my way to my connecting gate to ask the ticket agent about the status of our flight. We were now scheduled to leave at 11:01pm and not due back to Dallas until 12:21am.

Naturally I am completely frustrated with the entire situation. It never fails I am always delayed. The plane ride to NY was perfect (in fact I forgot about the bullshit delays). So I called my ride who has to work in the morning like I do; that instead of arriving at 9:00pm; the time will now be 12:21 in the fucking morning. We board the plane around 11:00pm, but I notice we’re just sitting there once again (we didn’t even push back away from the gate). The pilot gets on the intercom to announce he had some bad news. The plane can’t push back until the run way has more room for our plane. Apparently, the entire airport got the green light to take off and now everyone is on the runway. After yet another 40 to 50 minutes passed we are finally able to push off and head towards the runway.

I arrived to my final destination at 1:30 am. At this point our flight is the only group of people in the entire airport. Everyone is sleep walking, and looking like zombies. We all head to the baggage claim for what we thought would be a smooth process. Well because of Airtran it took me another 40 minutes to get my luggage because someone down below wasn’t doing their job. They were only sending up 5 to 6 pieces of luggage every 20 minutes, and people were getting pissed. I finally arrived at my friend’s car at 2:10 am. I didn’t walk into my house until 2:35am. I called in sick today because obviously I am not going to be able to give anyone 8 hours of work, after my 10 plus hours of being stuck in airports and on planes.

Needless to say I will NEVER fly Airtran again. You truly get what you pay for. Although many airlines have become comfortable with giving their customers mediocre service and can careless about people’s valuable time. It never fails, when I fly I am always experiencing some type of delay. But this experience tops all delays, I’ve experienced.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Girl..i feel you on that one...


My FW went through the same thing with Airtran going to Laguardia...she has YET to do a full itinerary on time. But they are still the cheapest trip going. I hope the actual trip it self was worth all the hassle.


Welcome back to the D.

Mahogany Misfit said...

Yuck that sounds AWFUL! Airtran is a ghetto airline motherfucker!

I hate when my shit gets delayed so I can sympathize.

Also, having to wait 40 minutes for luggage is BULLSHIT! Grrr...that pisses me off!

Blu Jewel said...

Sounds almost like an episode I had a few years back when my best friend and I were going to ATL. Somehow the luggage arrived BEFORE we did and they failed to tell us that for over an hour after we landed. UGH!

Anyway, I'm sure there was plenty good about your trip, so get some rest and be prepared to give up a positive report. :-)

Ms. Confessions said...

Needless to say I am so not feeling commerical airlines right now.

Too bad I have to travel at least two more times this year.

Not looking forward to the endless delays...

T.a.c.D said...

Totally feel you...totally...HAM!

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