From the Vault: “Oh, the places you’ll go…”

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This is an entry that was published on October 27, 2008 – very early into the existence of this site. It is entirely a personal entry, based on an experience that too many of us are familiar with – airline delays. I was supposed to be in Utah for a training program, and ended up instead with more aggravation than I cared for and an overnight stay in Chicago. Enjoy!

Oh, the places you’ll go

So I should be in Salt Lake City right now. Am I? Nooooooo…

I should have known. I never fly United, mainly because every time I do, there is some type of drama.

It’s not all bad. I am typing this from my suite at The Renaissance O’Hare. It’s on United’s dime thankfully, but it’s an awfully nice hotel. All I’m paying for is the internet access, and Portabello mushroom sandwich that I had for dinner at 10:30.

It started with my plane being late getting to (censored); a bolt fell off of the wing, so I guess it’s good that they took the time to fix it. We left an hour late, got into O’Hare, and then I ran from the F Concourse to the C Concourse (for those that don’t know the airport, they are NOT close to one another). I get to the gate….the flight to Salt Lake left about ten minutes earlier (it had also been delayed), and I looked for an agent to talk to. Um yeah, good luck with that. Finding a ticket agent when you need one is about as likely as finding a Wal-Mart employee when you have no idea where the rice cakes are located (not that I have any experience with that or anything).

So I finally overhear someone who is getting help get directed to “Customer Service.” So I run there, no doubt pissing off all the people I beat to the line. No matter… my entertainment had only begun. I then got to stand in line for almost 90 minutes waiting to talk to a ticket agent to find out what I already knew…. I can’t get there (Salt Lake) from here (Chicago). Thankfully, it was mechanical problems causing the delay, thus the nice free hotel suite. I found out (from a more unfortunate soul) that delays caused by air traffic control resulted in you being told to frack off by the airline.

So here I sit, drinking my $4 Pepsi and listening to Rush while I vent through this blog. I am on standby for a 10:00 flight and confirmed for a 2:15 flight…the training, of course, starts at 1:00 Mountain time. Bill, my co-trainer, now gets stuck filling in, which will no doubt cause him endless joy given that, due to my knack for doing things at the last minute, he is working without the handouts that are sitting in my backpack here in the room.

I won’t even contemplate where my checked bag is, or what month I might hope to see it again. I know this…I will arrive in Salt Lake tomorrow wearing the same clothes I have on now. I might be doing some clothes shopping tomorrow night in Utah.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this was the lack of information provided by United staff back in (censored). Clearly information was only provided on a “need to know” basis and we pesky piss-ant passengers (say that ten times fast) didn’t need to know. They didn’t even bother to begin communicating with us until our departure time had already come and gone and there was still no plane at the gate.

I should add the highlight of the night was the actual flight in. Our pilot was hauling, as we had a very narrow window so as not to get caught in traffic, and we flew over Wrigley Field twice while there was a game going on… it was a beautiful sight.

So in summary, the Renaissance O’Hare is great, but United still sucks.