Airline travel has become plagued with more and more issues. Take our vacation trip to Washington State as an example.
Tammy and I were to fly Southwest Airlines from BDL to SEA at 6am on Saturday, August 9th with a B5 and B6 boarding number. We woke up at 230am to a message that our flight was delayed until 9am making for a real tight connection in DEN. We headed to the airport anyway. On the way, we received another message that our flight had been changed to 345pm from BDL to BWI toSEA and a C41 and C42 boarding number. Tammy began an internet search to see any earlier flights were to be had but to no avail. We called customer service who let us know we could still keep our original flight with the tight connection or take the rebooked flight. We decided for the rebooked flight out of fear of the delay increasing and getting stuck in DEN because of a missed connection. We drove home, tried to sleep - which didn't happen, and waited to return to the airport for our new 345pm flight. The flights went without a hitch though Tammy and I were not able to sit together due to the high boarding numbers and ended being awake for 24 hours by the time we reached Cle Elum, Washington. As a side note, we would have made the original tight connection in DEN as the flight left earlier than its estimated delay time.
Flying home from SEA, I was booked on an American Airlines flight with the IL grandparents through ORD. We had a 130pm flight arriving in ORD at 730pm and BDL at 12am. We left Cle Elum at 815am and dealt with the nightmare of SEA-TAC departure traffic and insanely long security lines. The departure to ORD itself was uneventful. I did have a tight connection in ORD which I watched on the flight app as our arrival time went from 20 minutes early to on-time. Then the captain announced that ORD was closed due to weather, and we were being diverted to STL because we didn't have the fuel to circle until the airport reopened. While at STL, I received a message I had been rebooked for a 7am flight the next day. I figured by the time we arrived at ORD it was best to just spend the night there. A short time later another message informed me that my rebooked 7am flight had been cancelled. Tammy and I had been texting during this time about the situation, and she was able to book me a flight for Monday at 825pm. I would be spending a few days with the IL grandparents.
We landed in ORD around 10pm and learned that Iliya's flight had been affected by the bad weather also. He had left SEA on an American Airlines flight at 930am and was diverted twice from ORD to other Midwest airports. He was coming in at 1030pm; so we waited for him and left ORD around 1230am in a limo that had been waiting for the IL grandparents since 730pm.
My luggage did not come off the plane at ORD; however, because of our flight delay to SEA to begin our vacation, Tammy and I had packed an extra set of clothes and toiletries in our carry on backpacks in case we missed our connections. I had never done this before, but it was a true blessing in the days to follow.
Sunday was a nice but warm day. Storms were being predicted again for ORD Monday night; so I was nervous about getting out. Iliya and I booked a 230pm, hundred dollar Uber to get us to the airport for our Monday night flights. We made it there around 4pm. Skies were getting dark and radar showed storms approaching. I was watching the airline app for the location of my arriving plane which was being delayed from its departure, as well as, possible flights to rebook for the next day if my flight was cancelled. It started to become clear that I had a decision to make - keep this flight and hope it didn't get cancelled or rebook a new flight for Wednesday in case the flight was cancelled because all the Tuesday flights were now gone. I rebooked for an 8am Wednesday flight with great apprehension but was rewarded 30 minutes later when they cancelled my flight. Iliya's flight had also been cancelled. Again, I had been in contact with Tammy about my situation. She asked Chad if he would be willing to pick us up at ORD which he did driving in an awful storm to get us back to the IL grandparents around 930pm.
The IL grandparents booked us a Wednesday, 430am limo to get Iliya and I to ORD for our flights home. The flight took off on time much to my relief, and I arrived at BDL at noon recovering my luggage which had been there since Sunday.
As mentioned in my Washington vacation blog, Tammy stayed an extra week with the OR Laberees. Her flights home on Saturday, August 16th from PDX to ORD to BDL was originally scheduled for 1130am. The day before she received a message to check in for her 7am flight. When and who made the change is still unknown. The flights themselves went well. Well that is until arriving at BDL baggage. It took about an hour for American Airlines to get the bags out on to the belt. Excuses for the delay were too many planes landing at the same time and being understaffed.
