I'm home ...
9 March 2008 14:01![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyntir_knight... And if I never take another plane it will be too soon!
On Thursday we get get to Ottawa at 4:30 for a 6:00 flight. We check in, we go through security and customs, and be board the plane (with Northwest). And sit there ... and sit there ... and sit there. Meanwhile the flight attendant walked the aisles, looking at us all carefully and counting. And then the gate attendand did the same thing, and the flight attendant started plying with the cabin lights. Then the captain came over the PA and informed us that there was some mechanical problem with the plane and that we couldn't leave Ottawa.
So we get off the plane and explain to the lady at the gate that we had to get to JFK or Laguardia or Jersey or Hartford so that we could make a funeral. Se pulls a rabbit out of her hat and gets us into Montreal via Air Canada and then into JFK via Delta. So we call our driver and explain the situation. There's no problem because even though Vinnie's already at Jersey, he drives into New York to visit his mother and pick up some cannolli and biscotti for the after-funeral dinner. After we've confirmed everything with Vinnie, we head out to our gate where we meet up with a young man from Sao Paulo, Brazil who is on an exchange program with a family in Alfred (middle of nowhere Ontario for those of you who don't know) and is heading off to Jersy to visit with his Godmother. Anyway, we get to talking with him and he's in the same boat as we are, but he has the added problem that he can't really communicate with the attendants as they have no patience for his broken English and French. Mom, being mom, takes him in and he followed us like a puppy all the way into New York.
We get into Montreal with no problems (except that once again the city tries to kill me -- some guy nearly hit me with his luggage as we were going up the escalator), get up to the Delata desk and are informed that the flight has been overbooked and we are SOL. He suggests that we check into the gate and maybe (big maybe) if someone fails to show or is willing to give up their seats we can get onto the flight. When we explain the situation of the funeral to him he says (and I quote): "Yeah, well, we all have problems."
So we go to the gate and we wait. We explain the situation to the attendant and she tries to help us, but there's really nothing she can do. So we wait. Finally both mom and I are famished (since we didn't dare go get lunch) and I leave to get us a coffee and a muffin. The moment I leave, they call my mom up. It turns out that seats have come open. So we're thanking all the gods we can think of for this fortuitous event and we get on the plane (that's me, mom, and the Brazillian lad). We fly into JFK with no problem, we say goodby to the boy, and we get picked up by Vinnie.
He drives us the two hours into Madison, and we chat, and it's all good, and we get in just in time to eat a quick something, get changed, and get to the second viewing. The next day was the funeral and burial. It was all beautiful. Bill would have been pleased, and Julienne was faring far better than I would have thought. And a miracle occurred that was just the icing on the cake. My mother and her brother made up! They haven't spoken for nearly ten years thanks to a vicious fight over my grandmother's inheritance, but now they made up. So it was good. There was much happiness and many smiles, and I really do think that Bill would have been incredibly happy!
So Saturday rolls around and Vinnie's cousin comes to pick us up at 4am to get to Jersey in time to catch our 9am flight. We were smart this time and we got our boarding passes on line so we could fly through it all. We get there, we get checked in, we board, and we take off. We land in Detroit with no problems, we have a light lunch, we get on the plane ... and we wait ... and we wait ... and we wait. Apparently there is a massive storm in Ottawa and we need permission to land before we can take off. We get permission, we have a short little window in Ottawa and we get ready to leave, but our wings now need to be de-iced, and now we have missed our window.
So we get off the plane and are informed that we can only get out on a 10am flight this morning. We're given what we think is a boarding pass (I'll get back to this, I promise) and a phone number for who to call about hotels (no voucher thanks to Act of God). We call the number on Mom's cell and are left on hold for 8 minutes. I try to use the pay phone but the number is not available by those pay phones ... Finally mom gets through only to discover that there are no hotals available at all. Nearly every flight has been cancelled because the connecting airports are unusable.
At this point I lose it. I have been so good all week, but this is just too much and I lose it. I'm crying and cursing up a blue streak (and apparently being more creative than they've heard in a long time). Mom talks me down and we decide to go get dinner somewhere. I needed a drink and we needed food. So as we're walking the terminal we pass the Westin. Mom's looking at the restaurant menu when I notice they're reservations phone number and I convince mom to call it. I figure the worse they can say is that they're booked solid and we're back to sleeping in ther terminal.
Mom calls, and lo and behold they have rooms! They're 260 and night, but it's a bed, and more importantly, a shower. So I foot the bill (it's the least I can do since mom covered my airfare). We had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant, and a good, long sleep. The next morning we go through the security checkpoint to get back into the airport and discover that the "tickets" we go at the desk yesterday were just an iternary and we had to get our boarding passes. So we go to the check-in terminal and find that there is a two hour lineup just to check in because Northwest cancelled every single one of their flights (our flight was leaving in a little over an hour). Because we have no baggage to check we're told that we can use the machines to check in and get our passes. The first machine refused to read our passports, but the second machine worked, so it was all good. We headed back to the hotel and passed through security there, got to our gate, and discovered that the flight was overbooked. And, to top it all off, everyone who had slept in the terminal did not know that the piece of paper was not a boarding pass and had no seat assignments. About 10 people found themselves stuck in Detroit until tomorrow night. ...
I feel sorry for those folks, but I needed to get home, so it was them or me. Sorry ...
We just got into Ottawa about an hour ago, and I am finally home. My mom has decided that she is never flying back to connecticut again. I can't blame her. I never want to do this again ...
On Thursday we get get to Ottawa at 4:30 for a 6:00 flight. We check in, we go through security and customs, and be board the plane (with Northwest). And sit there ... and sit there ... and sit there. Meanwhile the flight attendant walked the aisles, looking at us all carefully and counting. And then the gate attendand did the same thing, and the flight attendant started plying with the cabin lights. Then the captain came over the PA and informed us that there was some mechanical problem with the plane and that we couldn't leave Ottawa.
So we get off the plane and explain to the lady at the gate that we had to get to JFK or Laguardia or Jersey or Hartford so that we could make a funeral. Se pulls a rabbit out of her hat and gets us into Montreal via Air Canada and then into JFK via Delta. So we call our driver and explain the situation. There's no problem because even though Vinnie's already at Jersey, he drives into New York to visit his mother and pick up some cannolli and biscotti for the after-funeral dinner. After we've confirmed everything with Vinnie, we head out to our gate where we meet up with a young man from Sao Paulo, Brazil who is on an exchange program with a family in Alfred (middle of nowhere Ontario for those of you who don't know) and is heading off to Jersy to visit with his Godmother. Anyway, we get to talking with him and he's in the same boat as we are, but he has the added problem that he can't really communicate with the attendants as they have no patience for his broken English and French. Mom, being mom, takes him in and he followed us like a puppy all the way into New York.
We get into Montreal with no problems (except that once again the city tries to kill me -- some guy nearly hit me with his luggage as we were going up the escalator), get up to the Delata desk and are informed that the flight has been overbooked and we are SOL. He suggests that we check into the gate and maybe (big maybe) if someone fails to show or is willing to give up their seats we can get onto the flight. When we explain the situation of the funeral to him he says (and I quote): "Yeah, well, we all have problems."
So we go to the gate and we wait. We explain the situation to the attendant and she tries to help us, but there's really nothing she can do. So we wait. Finally both mom and I are famished (since we didn't dare go get lunch) and I leave to get us a coffee and a muffin. The moment I leave, they call my mom up. It turns out that seats have come open. So we're thanking all the gods we can think of for this fortuitous event and we get on the plane (that's me, mom, and the Brazillian lad). We fly into JFK with no problem, we say goodby to the boy, and we get picked up by Vinnie.
He drives us the two hours into Madison, and we chat, and it's all good, and we get in just in time to eat a quick something, get changed, and get to the second viewing. The next day was the funeral and burial. It was all beautiful. Bill would have been pleased, and Julienne was faring far better than I would have thought. And a miracle occurred that was just the icing on the cake. My mother and her brother made up! They haven't spoken for nearly ten years thanks to a vicious fight over my grandmother's inheritance, but now they made up. So it was good. There was much happiness and many smiles, and I really do think that Bill would have been incredibly happy!
So Saturday rolls around and Vinnie's cousin comes to pick us up at 4am to get to Jersey in time to catch our 9am flight. We were smart this time and we got our boarding passes on line so we could fly through it all. We get there, we get checked in, we board, and we take off. We land in Detroit with no problems, we have a light lunch, we get on the plane ... and we wait ... and we wait ... and we wait. Apparently there is a massive storm in Ottawa and we need permission to land before we can take off. We get permission, we have a short little window in Ottawa and we get ready to leave, but our wings now need to be de-iced, and now we have missed our window.
So we get off the plane and are informed that we can only get out on a 10am flight this morning. We're given what we think is a boarding pass (I'll get back to this, I promise) and a phone number for who to call about hotels (no voucher thanks to Act of God). We call the number on Mom's cell and are left on hold for 8 minutes. I try to use the pay phone but the number is not available by those pay phones ... Finally mom gets through only to discover that there are no hotals available at all. Nearly every flight has been cancelled because the connecting airports are unusable.
At this point I lose it. I have been so good all week, but this is just too much and I lose it. I'm crying and cursing up a blue streak (and apparently being more creative than they've heard in a long time). Mom talks me down and we decide to go get dinner somewhere. I needed a drink and we needed food. So as we're walking the terminal we pass the Westin. Mom's looking at the restaurant menu when I notice they're reservations phone number and I convince mom to call it. I figure the worse they can say is that they're booked solid and we're back to sleeping in ther terminal.
Mom calls, and lo and behold they have rooms! They're 260 and night, but it's a bed, and more importantly, a shower. So I foot the bill (it's the least I can do since mom covered my airfare). We had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant, and a good, long sleep. The next morning we go through the security checkpoint to get back into the airport and discover that the "tickets" we go at the desk yesterday were just an iternary and we had to get our boarding passes. So we go to the check-in terminal and find that there is a two hour lineup just to check in because Northwest cancelled every single one of their flights (our flight was leaving in a little over an hour). Because we have no baggage to check we're told that we can use the machines to check in and get our passes. The first machine refused to read our passports, but the second machine worked, so it was all good. We headed back to the hotel and passed through security there, got to our gate, and discovered that the flight was overbooked. And, to top it all off, everyone who had slept in the terminal did not know that the piece of paper was not a boarding pass and had no seat assignments. About 10 people found themselves stuck in Detroit until tomorrow night. ...
I feel sorry for those folks, but I needed to get home, so it was them or me. Sorry ...
We just got into Ottawa about an hour ago, and I am finally home. My mom has decided that she is never flying back to connecticut again. I can't blame her. I never want to do this again ...
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