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View Full Version : What's your worst airline experience ..... mine is right now!



TheCarDudes
08-24-2007, 10:35 PM
So far, I'm officially off to my worst experience ever, and I haven't even taken off from my departing city. :(
Our family is going to Chicago this weekend for my sister's surprise birthday party Saturday night. I have a baseball commitment tonight at 6pm so my boys and I are flying the red eye. More on that later.......
Wifey and 3 yr old daughter Aleksa (avatar) take off one the 3pm flight arriving Chicago 9:30 pm Chicago time. Fr$@#king American Airlines loses their luggage which has all the important clothes for the weekend. This is the first time my wife decides not to carry on at least one day's worth of clean clothes in case they lose the luggage. You guessed it......Murphy's Law bites us in the arse. Now they are in Chicago with nothing but the clothes they flew in with and AA baggage services still "no idea" where our bags are.
Fast forward. We are sitting in the airport at just a little after 10 pm and I get a phone call from American Airlines. I say, "you found our bags?" They say "No, we are calling you to tell you that you 11:55pm departures is now delayed to a 1:40am departure. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhhh!!:mad:
If that guy ws standing in fron of me, I would've .......... you know how that goes. I answered you're f%&#king kidding me right? He said no.
So now, we are sitting in this bar across from our gate #43, and I order a glass of red wine. I figure this will help me sleep better on the plane. My boys order nothing. They drop the damn check on me for $9.50 for a cheap glass of merlot that tastes like it came out of a $3.99 bottle from VONS. Is this a bad sign or what. :eek:

C-2
08-24-2007, 10:42 PM
Took my brother 12 hours to get to Chicago today. I asked him how the drive was:eek:
Hang in there.

MudPumper
08-24-2007, 10:44 PM
When flying on any airline you should plan for the worst and expect for it to happen. You could be riding a bus or driving a car across country so a little delay is no big deal. Shit happens beyond peoples control. What are you gonna do? Good luck with the rest of your trip.:)

Outnumbered
08-24-2007, 10:49 PM
At least you can post on Hot Boat...it's not all bad:D

Mattman
08-24-2007, 10:52 PM
Hope it gets better for you. As for me, the family I take care of flies everywhere either first class or on a Falcon that seats 12 with 2 pilots and 2 staff. Not so bad and no delays or security check on the Falcon.

TheCarDudes
08-24-2007, 11:22 PM
At least you can post on Hot Boat...it's not all bad:D
Yeah, good thing I decided to bring the laptop. Of course I'm sure T-Mobile willhit me up at least $20 for this little wifi system they got going on here. Oh well, you're right. It could be worse. No ***boat and pure boredom. (sp)

Garrddogg
08-24-2007, 11:47 PM
You could be in the plane sitting powered down on the runway!2 hrs! thats what I did in Millwaukee two weeks ago..:mad:

Outnumbered
08-25-2007, 01:31 AM
Hope it gets better for you. As for me, the family I take care of flies everywhere either first class or on a Falcon that seats 12 with 2 pilots and 2 staff. Not so bad and no delays or security check on the Falcon.
Baller:rolleyes:

Mattman
08-25-2007, 02:04 AM
No baller here. I'm just the help.;)

thatguy
08-25-2007, 05:52 AM
I've never been to an airport that didn't have free wifi.
2 words : "Air Card"
Car dude, That ain't a bad trip. That is the norm these days. I logged almost 80,000 air miles last year. I would take that delay any day compared to some stories I have.
You have to realize that by the time red eye flights come around the delays have been stacking all day, usually.
Have fun in Chi-town!! I know I alway have!
Tommy

photo chick
08-25-2007, 06:01 AM
2 words : "Air Card"
Car dude, That ain't a bad trip. That is the norm these days. I logged almost 80,000 air miles last year. I would take that delay any day compared to some stories I have.
You have to realize that by the time red eye flights come around the delays have been stacking all day, usually.
Tommy
My thoughts exactly, I'm at 78k miles YTD and I'm usually very lucky but if that's your worst experience be thrilled!!! I always fly American and they have never lost my baggage (I'm knocking on wood right now) but those things happen!
We were on a trip to Europe once when I was in high school and they lost my mom's baggage, only hers. They didn't find it until we got home 3 weeks later....:jawdrop: Try to buy all new stuff in Europe....Expensive!!!
Oh and most airports have free wi-fi!!
Plus Chicago is the best place to shop for clothes.....look on the bright side!!:D

topless
08-25-2007, 06:12 AM
My kids have a story for you.

Kyote
08-25-2007, 07:03 AM
I've never been to an airport that didn't have free wifi.
Well I guess that you have never been to LAX or any of the other 13 Major Airports. If you've never flown then it's a true statement. Otherwise it is BS.
What's with you guys that post stuff like this. If your a frequent flyer you can usually get complementary WiFi at the club or in an 'Elite' area.
Most folks pay for WiFi. The following was taken from the LAX website:
Price - Consumers can access the Internet with a credit card or cash. The charge is 25 cents per minute with a three dollar minimum.
Today, Neptune is the market leader for high-speed airport Internet services with over 200 stations installed across 13 major U.S. airports.

TheCarDudes
08-25-2007, 07:03 AM
Ahhh......finally here. I guess I have been lucky all these years. At 40 yrs old and having traveled to Europe, South America, Mexico, Hawaii and countless times domestic, I have never had any more than a 1/2 hour delay and never any lost baggage. Some people have all the luck I guess.
All in all, it wasn't that bad. I got one of our bags off of my flight and the other one is supposed to be here by 1pm.
The idiot at Enterprise tried to stir things up with an arguement about "which class car" I had reserved. He was so pissed by the time I left, he would not look me in the eye. I just kept my cool and kept referring back to the classification system they used to identify their cars. In the end, I drove off with my Trailblazer I reserved instead of the Ford Edge he tried to stick me in. You gotta love that term "or similar" they throw down on you. :D

TheCarDudes
08-25-2007, 07:08 AM
T-Mobile is the main service provider at LAX. I have an account so whenever I am at any major airport, I can just log in to T-Mobile.

TheCarDudes
08-25-2007, 07:13 AM
Charging for wifi sucks. Nobody should pay for wifi.
I agree. 100%.

photo chick
08-25-2007, 07:15 AM
OK, I've never taken my computer to LAX. I've recently been to Ontario, Portland, Eugene, Sacramento and San Jose. I was able to obtain free wifi at all of them.
DFW, ORD, ATL and PHX are all pretty major and it's free at all of them also!!!

Kyote
08-25-2007, 07:23 AM
Charging for wifi sucks. Nobody should pay for wifi.
I agree. Most small hotels have free WiFi as well as many small airports, Starbucks, etc.
I frequent LAX regularly as most of my flights are International. I do not agree with them charging, I was only stating the facts man - just the facts!

thatguy
08-25-2007, 07:34 AM
Glad you made it!
Cingular Edge air card. $59.00 a month on my cell phone bill. Unlimited data access. Works anywhere my cell phone does so far. Denver airport's Wifi is like 35 cents a minute OR like $15.00 hour. Don't quote me on that, can't remember exactly, but it is a bundle and you are sharing it with all the other people.
I get reimbursed for my air card through work, however, $10.00 a day. So it actually makes me money! :D :D
Tommy

Tom Brown
08-25-2007, 07:37 AM
I'm glad you made it OK, TCD. :cool:
I've never had a bad flight, although there was this one time....

photo chick
08-25-2007, 07:38 AM
I'm glad you made it OK, TCD. :cool:
I've never had a bad flight, although there was this one time....
At band camp?

Rexone
08-25-2007, 09:16 AM
"light colored dragon gravy" :yuk:

AZKC
08-25-2007, 09:47 AM
Mike just noticed your Avi,made chuckle just a bit:D
I just signed up for a T-Mobile Hotspot account at LAX on Thursday, $6 an hour, no contract. But they do charge you for the full hour:rolleyes:
Speaking of LAX, our flight back to Tucson was delayed about 1 1/2 hours then when we board the crew tells us that the bathrooms are down:eek: but they are going to fly anyway rather than cancell the flight :rolleyes: I was glad I didn't have those beers while waiting:) Got to town about 1:30am instead of 11pm. But it was good to be home rather than in LA for the night.:D

riverbound
08-25-2007, 10:11 AM
I've never been to an airport that didn't have free wifi.
very few airports have free wi-fi. most have pay. I have an aircard (which im using right now) and its a lifesaver

Burn504
08-25-2007, 10:12 AM
yea that story isnt shit for worst airline experiences.
about a year ago i was flying from san diego, ca to dallas, tx. We got to the airport early(atleast an hour). Flight was delayed an hour due to weather in TX. Flight was perfect... we landed in DFW and they said that it would be 90 minutes to get a gate. There were 50 planes ahead of us waiting for a gate. 90 mins came and went and they said it would be another 90mins.
To make a long story short. We sat for 4hrs on the tarmack after waiting 2 hours to get on the 3hr flight. And after waiting all that time they opened the back of the plane and made us walk to the terminal. :confused:
They did however open the bar for free on the plane for the wait.... but that just led to a bunch of drunken people that needed to use the bathroom.

thatguy
08-25-2007, 11:34 AM
very few airports have free wi-fi. most have pay. I have an aircard (which im using right now) and its a lifesaver
You got that right!
Tommy

Jbb
08-25-2007, 11:48 AM
You folks wanted cheap tickets...Deregulation delivered it to you....deal with it....:D

AZKC
08-25-2007, 03:59 PM
I think Magic34's Hawaii trip ranks as a contender:idea:

Magic34
08-25-2007, 04:11 PM
I think Magic34's Hawaii trip ranks as a contender:idea:
I just did the search. Read this... George, you have it easy. :)
http://www.***boat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130327&highlight=stuck+plane
To finish this story, after about 4 hours on the plane, we finally got off, and you thought it was bad ON the plane...
Once walking up the jetway, within 10 seconds I knew this was a mistake. I wanted to be BACK on the plane.
It was near 88 degrees with 80%+ humidty and NO power to the airport. That mean, no food and no A/C or fans or anything. They had water and chips. At least the plane had A/C.
We were in that airport sweating our asses off for another 8 hours before finally getting on a plane to Kona.
Then, once in Kona, it was 11 PM at night, the luggage took 90 minutes and we still had not eaten anything. No restrauants open, so we hit a supermarket.
We called our hotel once we landed, it was full, so they sent us to another hotel, not bad, at least we had a place.
The shelves were EMPTY on the supermarket. We found some bread, peanut butter and jelly, got the last 4 gallons of water and some donuts.
From the time we left PHX and got to a hotel in Kona, it was 23 hours. I had a 2 y/o the whole time.
First real meal was at breakfast the next day and they had a limited menu. Things didn't start feeling like a vacation until the following day.

Magic34
08-25-2007, 04:17 PM
To add 1 more thing... 70% of the airport employees took off home to check on their family. The staff was VERY limited and people were treating the employees like sh*t. Once they starting announcing flights to the other islands, it was madness!!!!
We actually had my in-laws act like they were disabled so they could get on the pre-board with us because only 60% of the people were making it over that night. It worked.
I could not believe how sh*tty people are. I was ready to get in a fight or 2 or 3 for some of the employees. They were getting trashed there by people.
They had NO power and very limited resources. People were expecting first class ammenties when it really was kind of like 3rd world country conditions, meaning no power, limited water supply and basically no food supply.

skisupreme
08-26-2007, 06:22 AM
Not that's a bad airline experience. I've had some screwed up one's but the worst had to be when we ran the first class cabin out of alchohol going from LAX to Philly.