So for the second consecutive time when traveling, I have had some major travel issues. This time it was US Air/America West. I had to travel from LA to Boca Raton this weekend to help out Carol and her sister with their grandmother. I had taken a 1/2 day on Friday so I could get there around 10:00pm. Enough time to get in, get some food and drinks and still get a good night sleep.
So my connection from LA to Phoenix went very well, and everything seemed to be going well on my flight to Phoenix to Boca. But when the plane got out to the runway, we had to turn around. The pilot stated that he needed maintenance to come on board to check out something really small that concerned him. We taxi back to the gate and within 5 minutes they make us deboard the plane since the problem seemed bigger than expected. I start to hem and haw in my seat while they make this announcement and the older lady and the business man next to me start to talk to me about their past travel problems. I tell them that United sucks ass and since they cancelled my flight on New Years Eve from Baltimore to LA and that I had to spend the night in Chicago two weeks ago. The guy tells me a story that American screwed him 2 times in a row and that it took him close to 24 hours to get back to St. Louis from Frisco, and the lady tells me that she dumped Delta due to the same type of shit. We all start laughing since there really isn't a good option for air travel anymore since all the airlines are terrible right now. The only thing that we could agree on is that Southwest seems to be the only reliable option right now. But the problem now with Southwest is that they have jacked up their prices so much that they are more expensive that United, Delta, and American. And not just by a little, but in some cases they are twice as much. For example, I need to fly from LA to Baltimore in August and September. The cheapest Southwest flight (two stops) I can get is $565, while I can get on a non-stop United flight for $325. Hmmm, do I pay the extra $200 to make sure that my flight gets there on time? Do I reward a shitty airline once again? Nope. Not anymore. I'm done with that. I'll pay the extra money just so I know that I'll get there ontime.
Now, back to US Air. So they take only 30 minutes to find another plane and then another 45 minutes to load the luggage and passengers. Not too bad I think, and now I'll get into Boca around midnight. For some reason I decide to double check my math (leave at 5:20 and its a 4 hour flight to Boca plus the 3 hour time change) and I ask the ticket agent what time we will be getting in. He responds that we will be getting in at 2:00am. Um...what? I stand there for maybe 5 seconds before I respond with a "What? That doesn't make sense." He responds that the plane will make a stop in Dallas for gas. Do we not have gas in Phoenix? Some people overhear this and it spreads like wildfire and everyone breaks out into a near riot. People are pissed. I mean extremely pissed. I'm now in a weird state where I'm not pissed because its all too common, and I find this happy medium where I've decided to not get pissed or angry on items that are out of my control. I go call Lee and have a beer, while he trys to get me riled up, but it really doesn't work. I'm beginning to like this new attitude.
And finally to top it off, after a 14 hour commute to Boca, Carol is still sleeping in the hotel room since she forgot to wake up to pick me up. I finally get back to the room and in bed around 3:30am. Nice. I'm done with traveling after this. Seriously. I'm making my two trips back to Baltimore and canceling all other trips except for the ones that Ben and I drive out to Vegas.
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