Wow, I always seem to forget just how much I hate to fly.
I'm not afraid of flying, and I like to think I'm a fairly patient fellow. But the airlines have got to be one of the worst organized customer service businesses I have ever encountered.
Last night, we had a flight from LA to Las Vegas, with a two hour layover before flying to Boston to meet Tracy's parents.
We got to Vegas fine, but things rapidly started to go downhill.
Our 11:30 flight out to Boston was first delayed to 2:30 a.m., then 4:30, and then cancelled. Turns out, I think, that it was the same plane as a flight
out of Boston that was getting delayed and then eventually cancelled, which killed our chances of getting out of Nevada yesterday.
After a long wait at a Delta counter, we got some taxi, meal, and hotel vouchers. After a long wait for a taxi that accepted vouchers, we got to our hotel (the Greek Isles). After a long wait to check in (a few dozen folks were in the same boat), we got to our room.
Which at least was non-smoking, and had a solid shower.
Delta had "created" a new flight at 12:10 p.m. Friday for everyone on our previously cancelled flight. And that seemed nice. But when we got to McCarran airport this morning... we had
already been delayed. That seems strange to me; how can a newly scheduled flight, created
solely to accommodate people from canceled service, be delayed by almost three hours four hours before it's scheduled departure?!
Ahhhh!
As of right now, Tracy and I are camped out in Terminal D, waiting for our "Delayed" departure time of 2:40 this afternoon. McCarran has sporadic floor AC outlets, which is nice; Tracy and I found an empty plug, and will probably watch a movie soon. And they offer free WiFi, a service I wish more airports
and hotels would start to implement. I'd be far more irate (and trust me, I'm already a bit pissed) if I couldn't check my e-mail.
I have a lot of sympathy for the airlines. Not only is it an incredibly difficult engineering feat to manage the volume of flight they do, but it's a scheduling nightmare as well. Plus, you get to deal with your customers at their worst; when they're tired and frustrated and just trying to get somewhere.
But really? The US government has given you guys a few billion dollars of the past decade, and this is the best you can do? Shit will always happen; I'm not so naive to think that things like this can be perfect. But this is ridiculous. There are a lot of smart people out there, and I'm willing to bet a few of them are feeling frustrated, as they work for airlines but don't have the power/wherewithal/cajones to implement the changes they can see are so obvious. So let's fire the dumbass bureaucrats who are getting in their way.
The LA public bus system is more reliable than this; and many of you know how late and irregularly the 156 runs sometimes. But when I pay my buck-twenty-five, I feel like I'm getting solid, easy, and ultimately dependable service for my money. Multiple the price of admission by about 500%, and suddenly I'm wishing I took the bus.
Sigh.
