Airline troubles

[Russianwolf]

Dropped Lillian at the airport to make her 6:45 PM flight at about 5, then it was delayed until 8:30, and again until 10:30. Well they canceled the flight about 30 minutes ago. And of course every flight for Jet Blue to the west coast is booked solid for the next three days at least.

Couple carriers have seats on flights in the morning, but the cost is $1725 for a one way.

Don't know what to do. Jet Blue better get her on a flight and provide a hotel or cab fare to send her home (and that'll run them $150-200 alone).

Here she is trying to get to Cali to see her mother who she hasn't seen in 9 years, and this happens.

 

[phillywood]

Dropped Lillian at the airport to make her 6:45 PM flight at about 5, then it was delayed until 8:30, and again until 10:30. Well they canceled the flight about 30 minutes ago. And of course every flight for Jet Blue to the west coast is booked solid for the next three days at least.

Couple carriers have seats on flights in the morning, but the cost is $1725 for a one way.

Don't know what to do. Jet Blue better get her on a flight and provide a hotel or cab fare to send her home (and that'll run them $150-200 alone).

Here she is trying to get to Cali to see her mother who she hasn't seen in 9 years, and this happens.

Well, go watch the news for your answer, it seems like no one is moving anywhere, not that I am trying to be agrinch, but it looks like that even if she can get out of US in Europe and other countries they have trouble too. You may be better off to go pick her up and bring here home at least she will sleep in her own bed.

 

[ldb2000]

Mike , in the airlines defense , most of the carriers are having major problems due to the storm that just went through the east coast . They all have had a large part of their fleet grounded for 3 to 4 days . In the NY area alone they had over 5000 canceled flights which stranded thousands of people at the airports . It is going to take several days to dig out their planes and get the stranded people to their destinations . There is nothing they can do about it , it is frustrating but it's not their fault .

 

[Russianwolf]

ah but the plane was coming from Florida.

Well, left at 11PM to go get her. Got to the airport and waited about an hour and a half while they worked on the problem. Found her a ticket from BWI to LAX that left at 7AM (which I had to pay the extra cost), so packed her up and drove from Dulles to BWI, then home. Got in at 5AM.

She's with her mom now.

My real complaint is that if they cancel your flight you basically have no options. You find out last minute and either have to pay a last minute fare (if you can find one) or you are delayed for days regardless of the reason for the cancellation. They used to have to accommodate you on another carrier at no additional cost when available, but since they deregulated the Airlines, they don't have to do squat.

I go through similar situations all too often on the train. My train is scheduled to leave at 5:40, but if the train that runs the 6PM schedule doesn't get back from Baltimore in time, they make us wait and run their schedule (when we already run a full train). The never ask them to wait and catch the next train, they make us wait and pack us in. The airlines could bump each flight to the next and not cause such major delays for people (everyone would be screwed a little instead of one group getting it majorly). I don't know.

 

[Smitty37]

Lucky

ah but the plane was coming from Florida.

Well, left at 11PM to go get her. Got to the airport and waited about an hour and a half while they worked on the problem. Found her a ticket from BWI to LAX that left at 7AM (which I had to pay the extra cost), so packed her up and drove from Dulles to BWI, then home. Got in at 5AM.

She's with her mom now.

My real complaint is that if they cancel your flight you basically have no options. You find out last minute and either have to pay a last minute fare (if you can find one) or you are delayed for days regardless of the reason for the cancellation. They used to have to accommodate you on another carrier at no additional cost when available, but since they deregulated the Airlines, they don't have to do squat.

I go through similar situations all too often on the train. My train is scheduled to leave at 5:40, but if the train that runs the 6PM schedule doesn't get back from Baltimore in time, they make us wait and run their schedule (when we already run a full train). The never ask them to wait and catch the next train, they make us wait and pack us in. The airlines could bump each flight to the next and not cause such major delays for people (everyone would be screwed a little instead of one group getting it majorly). I don't know.

You were lucky...be thankful that you weren't trying to get in or out of NY....they had folks sit 9 hours on the tar mack because they had no gates available. Others wound up sleeping over. From Martinsburg I'm supprised you weren't going out of Pittsburgh. Seems that would be closer than Dulles or BWI.

 

[sbwertz]

I flew from AZ to OK last year and got stranded by hurricane Hugo. My return flight went through Houston and the Houston airport was hit hard and was closed for several days, then took several more days to clear the backlog. Nothing anyone could do.

Sharon

 

[gketell]

I have a friend who works for United. He's been sending updates regularly this week talking about the weather delays. He had one day, from 7am to 5pm where he was working just ONE FLIGHT to try to get people on their way. Oh, we are in San Francicso... Day before yesterday EVERY FLIGHT to/from the east coast was cancelled.

You can't blame the airlines for weather. And since it is all a "system", if one plane doesn't depart NY then there is a missing plane at its destination city (maybe Florida). Missing planes mean cancelled flights there too. And their cancelled flights mean missing planes at the next stop (WV?).

I'm sorry for your difficulty but it wasn't the airlines fault any more than they can take credit for the gorgeous sunsets we get to see.

 

[glycerine]

The last few times I have flown, there have been delays or cancellations. And it had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe this time that can be their excuse, but the airlines have become very slack and uncaring about their customers these days...

 

[gketell]

Interesting "twist". They are canceling more flights now because, in an effort to help passengers, the FAA has implemented a $12,000 per passenger penalty if people are stuck on the plane on the tarmac for any reason. So if it looks like there is a long line for takeoff and they might take more than 3 hours to get in the air?: cancel the flight.

So, did the FAA help?
Probably. There was a flight this week from out of the country (where this rule doesn't apply) and they landed but couldn't get to a gate for 11 hours. Yikes!

 

[JerrySambrook]

The last few times I have flown, there have been delays or cancellations. And it had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe this time that can be their excuse, but the airlines have become very slack and uncaring about their customers these days...

Andy, The weather at the other end of the flight can also cause delays.
There was a report where peolple were ticked off about a bunch of flights being cancelled or delayed, until people found out that Chicago was closed due to 80 mph gusts.

Imagine the uproar if people flew into that, and there was a crash.

Maybe more people ought to look at trains and busses as alternative forms of transportration.

 

[Russianwolf]

I'm not concerned with why the flight was canceled (though someone said a stewardess in FL walked off the plane and they had to cancel) or even that it was canceled. My problem is I paid $400+ for a ticket for that day more than 2 weeks ago. The fare for the replacement flight out of BWI the next day was over $1000+ because it was a last minute fare. (Greyhound and Amtrack don't change the fares based on timing, why do the airlines get away with it)

I did my part by booking early, they screwed me and there is no recourse. The other option on Jetblue was a flight on the 3rd (another passenger got a ticket for that flight while we were waiting). Lillian's return flight is the 3rd so she would have had a couple hours with her mother if that (my vacation ends on the 4th).

They should at least have to comp us for making us buy a last minute ticket with another line. Or is this their new marketing plan. Cancel all the flights last minute and the 10% of people that HAVE to get where they are going in short order will buy last minute fares. Are all the carriers in cahoots on this?

 

[gketell]

I certainly can't argue with that. If you have a ticket for a flight that they cancel then they should honor that ticket on any other flight(s) that get you to your same destination.

 

[glycerine]

I'm not concerned with why the flight was canceled (though someone said a stewardess in FL walked off the plane and they had to cancel) or even that it was canceled. My problem is I paid $400+ for a ticket for that day more than 2 weeks ago. The fare for the replacement flight out of BWI the next day was over $1000+ because it was a last minute fare. (Greyhound and Amtrack don't change the fares based on timing, why do the airlines get away with it)

I did my part by booking early, they screwed me and there is no recourse. The other option on Jetblue was a flight on the 3rd (another passenger got a ticket for that flight while we were waiting). Lillian's return flight is the 3rd so she would have had a couple hours with her mother if that (my vacation ends on the 4th).

They should at least have to comp us for making us buy a last minute ticket with another line. Or is this their new marketing plan. Cancel all the flights last minute and the 10% of people that HAVE to get where they are going in short order will buy last minute fares. Are all the carriers in cahoots on this?

I agree. Last time I had a flight cancelled on me was back in August. Me, my wife and both daughters were in Dallas needing to get to Little Rock. Flight was cancelled. They said the next available flight was the next day, but they would not pay for a hotel. That's rediculous! Thinking a family of four (the youngest being not quite two years old) could spend the night in an airport. They did say they would give us vouchers for dinner. Oh WOW, awesome. I give you over $1,000 for plane tickets and you give me free dinner! Let's do that again!
Anyway, the weather was fine in both cities and everywhere in between. So, we forked over more money to rent a car and drive the rest of the way.

 

[glycerine]

The last few times I have flown, there have been delays or cancellations. And it had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe this time that can be their excuse, but the airlines have become very slack and uncaring about their customers these days...

Andy, The weather at the other end of the flight can also cause delays.
There was a report where peolple were ticked off about a bunch of flights being cancelled or delayed, until people found out that Chicago was closed due to 80 mph gusts.

Imagine the uproar if people flew into that, and there was a crash.

Maybe more people ought to look at trains and busses as alternative forms of transportration.

I've been curious if they have the same issues as airlines. I've only traveled by train or bus once or twice in my life when I was younger. I certainly never hear of problems...

 

[Russianwolf]

The last few times I have flown, there have been delays or cancellations. And it had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe this time that can be their excuse, but the airlines have become very slack and uncaring about their customers these days...

Andy, The weather at the other end of the flight can also cause delays.
There was a report where peolple were ticked off about a bunch of flights being cancelled or delayed, until people found out that Chicago was closed due to 80 mph gusts.

Imagine the uproar if people flew into that, and there was a crash.

Maybe more people ought to look at trains and busses as alternative forms of transportration.

I've been curious if they have the same issues as airlines. I've only traveled by train or bus once or twice in my life when I was younger. I certainly never hear of problems...

trains a buses tend to be more reliable, I take a train to and from DC nearly daily. In 7 years, they have only canceled service on a handful of occasions and for only two reasons 1)massive snow fall and 2)a fatality involving a train due to the 3+ hour investigations. Delay happen more often, but you almost always get home in the same day.

Now the problem is time. I looked at taking the train from TX to SC when I was coming home fore Christmas one year. Well, the only carrier is Amtrak and service runs in days for a trip that long at a cost equal to airfares. Their coverage areas are also horrible. PDF available here http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer/Page/1237405732511/1237405732511

Buses run days also. I can imaging suggesting Lillian take greyhound from here to San Diego.

 

[RDH79]

I have only flown 5 or 6 times with no problems. But my question is why do they keep the people on the plane that long? I read here that there was no terminal to unloaad the people. Why dont they take out one of those portable stais get the people f the planes and take the people to the terminal by bus or 4 wheel drive vehicles?
Like I said I havent flown that much so there might be something Im missing

 

[gketell]

Why dont they take out one of those portable stais get the people f the planes and take the people to the terminal by bus or 4 wheel drive vehicles?
Like I said I havent flown that much so there might be something Im missing

No, not really. They are starting to do that too. Especially for in-bound planes. But if the airline doesn't have a "bus" or isn't licensed with the airport to operate one...

 

[Papo]

I got a plan to put a jet engine on my back and I'll get there head first without any delays or cancellations.Is not funny being stuck at an airport for whatever reason.