WillFlyToDisney2
09-15-2004, 08:04 AM
Yep, you read that right. Long Beach, California to Los Angeles, California. Good 45 minute trek in light traffic up the 405 Freeway (no plane required). WHY you ask? Read on...
For someone who isnt thrilled to be flying in the first place, any added stress can send you over the edge! Case in point - I was SUPPOSED to be home right now after a trip to Cali and flying back out to the West Coast on Thursday. Where am I right now? My hotel room in Woodland Hills, CA (this one has room service too and a comfy robe!).
My group arrived at the quaint little Long Beach airport in plenty of time to check in for our 2:45pm flight to DFW on American. We wait in line and get up to the front only to be told that our plane was diverted to LAX and we had to go to LAX to board the plane. Ummm..... we are a group of 11 with LOTS of luggage and musical and sound equipment. The ticket agent (the first in a LONG line of RUDE workers) told me she was sending us in 2 vans to LAX where they were holding the plane for us. Ummm, lady, I wasnt born YESTERDAY. There is no way you are getting thru baggage check in and security at LAX in under 90 minutes. So off we go into the vans to LAX. The only cool part of the ride was our cab driver who actually recognized the band. :) I called the radio station from the van and had them play our song for the cab driver. Cool moment. The last of the day!
We arrive at LAX and are directed to the "group check in line" where we stood for 2 hours. Yep 2 hours. The guys pulled out their gift bags packed with gourmet snacks and shared with everyone else that had been shuttled over from LGB. Sesame honey cashews are SO yummy but make you thirsty. Just FYI there are NO drink machines outside of security of LAX. Keep that in mind if anyone offers you sesame honey cashews in line.
Get up to the front of the line only to be told that the ONLY flight we could get on was the 11:15pm thru ORD with a 5 hour layover then into BNA about noon. WHAT??? We were supposed to be HOME by 11pm not just leaving. UGH UGH UGH.... Sooo they rebook us - which takes another hour - and I send the band off thru security to camp out at a sports bar to watch football while I argue with the ticket agents. They were totally unapologetic about our plight and even tried to charge us for changing our departure location. I just literally sat on the floor and laughed at THAT one! Yes, we CHOSE to get in cabs and drive 45 minutes to the 2nd largest airport in the country to miss our plane.... Sigh... Thank heavens for a sense of humor.... Ironically we are VIPs on this airline. AA provided the tickets we were flying on!! We have a special hotline to call for all of our reservations (which of course is closed on Sundays). For our troubles we were offered $20 in food vouchers. Oh, not PER PERSON but for the WHOLE GROUP of 11. Wow.
At this point I was going to miss my departure the NEXT DAY in BNA to go home and AA refused to pay Delta the $100 to change my ticket. The supervisor informed me that it was only their job to get me to my destination, not to make sure I made my connection with another airline. I apologized for assuming that booking my flights over 12 hours apart was enough time! The earliest I could get home now was midnight on Monday. I did some quick math... 48 hours home then back to Cali... I dont think so!
I called a friend to rescue me from LAX and we hit a local Mexican restaurant while I made frantic phone calls to try to get my kids handled for the next 2 days so that I could just stay in LA. I called AA on the phone to change my flight out to the 20th now (after the Emmys) and was told I had to do that at LAX because they had messed up my ticket somehow. Oy! Back to LAX where I "accidentally" waited in the first class check in line and got a wonderful lady named Helen to take care of my flight changes. She graciously waived the "change of departure" charge and sent a message down to baggage to get my luggage back. A lovely 3 hours later I had my bags back and I was leaving LAX! (We amused ourselves while waiting by riding around on those little luggage carts. Yes, I know I am 35 years old, but it was fun! Oh and we were looking for celebs but only saw Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H fame).
Now, if I had gotten on that plane at 11:15pm I would have been SO frazzled beyond belief from the sheer grief that the airline caused that any little turbulence would have really done me in.
Some day the airlines will learn how to handle issues as they pop up. I never heard a single apology or explanation for why our plane landed at LAX instead of LGB. I'll be taking the whole ordeal up with the VIP dept of AA. I half expect to show up on the 20th and somehow not have a seat on the plane! Yikes!
Oh, and I had to change my Delta ticket TWICE but the 2nd time it was only $55 because the agent on the phone found me a cheaper fare! Whooo Hoooo!
This is in no way a post to bash the airline that gave me such grief. All airlines have their moments. Delta and Continental have left me stranded before too in years past. It happens. It is just one more issue to deal with when flying. I really wish I would have taken some Xanax before arriving at LAX now! LOL
Flying home on the 20th! Mark, we need a tracking board!
Kelley
For someone who isnt thrilled to be flying in the first place, any added stress can send you over the edge! Case in point - I was SUPPOSED to be home right now after a trip to Cali and flying back out to the West Coast on Thursday. Where am I right now? My hotel room in Woodland Hills, CA (this one has room service too and a comfy robe!).
My group arrived at the quaint little Long Beach airport in plenty of time to check in for our 2:45pm flight to DFW on American. We wait in line and get up to the front only to be told that our plane was diverted to LAX and we had to go to LAX to board the plane. Ummm..... we are a group of 11 with LOTS of luggage and musical and sound equipment. The ticket agent (the first in a LONG line of RUDE workers) told me she was sending us in 2 vans to LAX where they were holding the plane for us. Ummm, lady, I wasnt born YESTERDAY. There is no way you are getting thru baggage check in and security at LAX in under 90 minutes. So off we go into the vans to LAX. The only cool part of the ride was our cab driver who actually recognized the band. :) I called the radio station from the van and had them play our song for the cab driver. Cool moment. The last of the day!
We arrive at LAX and are directed to the "group check in line" where we stood for 2 hours. Yep 2 hours. The guys pulled out their gift bags packed with gourmet snacks and shared with everyone else that had been shuttled over from LGB. Sesame honey cashews are SO yummy but make you thirsty. Just FYI there are NO drink machines outside of security of LAX. Keep that in mind if anyone offers you sesame honey cashews in line.
Get up to the front of the line only to be told that the ONLY flight we could get on was the 11:15pm thru ORD with a 5 hour layover then into BNA about noon. WHAT??? We were supposed to be HOME by 11pm not just leaving. UGH UGH UGH.... Sooo they rebook us - which takes another hour - and I send the band off thru security to camp out at a sports bar to watch football while I argue with the ticket agents. They were totally unapologetic about our plight and even tried to charge us for changing our departure location. I just literally sat on the floor and laughed at THAT one! Yes, we CHOSE to get in cabs and drive 45 minutes to the 2nd largest airport in the country to miss our plane.... Sigh... Thank heavens for a sense of humor.... Ironically we are VIPs on this airline. AA provided the tickets we were flying on!! We have a special hotline to call for all of our reservations (which of course is closed on Sundays). For our troubles we were offered $20 in food vouchers. Oh, not PER PERSON but for the WHOLE GROUP of 11. Wow.
At this point I was going to miss my departure the NEXT DAY in BNA to go home and AA refused to pay Delta the $100 to change my ticket. The supervisor informed me that it was only their job to get me to my destination, not to make sure I made my connection with another airline. I apologized for assuming that booking my flights over 12 hours apart was enough time! The earliest I could get home now was midnight on Monday. I did some quick math... 48 hours home then back to Cali... I dont think so!
I called a friend to rescue me from LAX and we hit a local Mexican restaurant while I made frantic phone calls to try to get my kids handled for the next 2 days so that I could just stay in LA. I called AA on the phone to change my flight out to the 20th now (after the Emmys) and was told I had to do that at LAX because they had messed up my ticket somehow. Oy! Back to LAX where I "accidentally" waited in the first class check in line and got a wonderful lady named Helen to take care of my flight changes. She graciously waived the "change of departure" charge and sent a message down to baggage to get my luggage back. A lovely 3 hours later I had my bags back and I was leaving LAX! (We amused ourselves while waiting by riding around on those little luggage carts. Yes, I know I am 35 years old, but it was fun! Oh and we were looking for celebs but only saw Loretta Swit of M*A*S*H fame).
Now, if I had gotten on that plane at 11:15pm I would have been SO frazzled beyond belief from the sheer grief that the airline caused that any little turbulence would have really done me in.
Some day the airlines will learn how to handle issues as they pop up. I never heard a single apology or explanation for why our plane landed at LAX instead of LGB. I'll be taking the whole ordeal up with the VIP dept of AA. I half expect to show up on the 20th and somehow not have a seat on the plane! Yikes!
Oh, and I had to change my Delta ticket TWICE but the 2nd time it was only $55 because the agent on the phone found me a cheaper fare! Whooo Hoooo!
This is in no way a post to bash the airline that gave me such grief. All airlines have their moments. Delta and Continental have left me stranded before too in years past. It happens. It is just one more issue to deal with when flying. I really wish I would have taken some Xanax before arriving at LAX now! LOL
Flying home on the 20th! Mark, we need a tracking board!
Kelley