Travel Gripes

[tcu2003]

So I normally love travel, but as I'm sitting on an airplane still not at the gate on a flight that is 4+ hours delayed and bored, I'm in a whiny mode, so share your travel gripes.

For me, it's that at never just one thing that goes wrong. For instance, bad weather in DFW caused my flight to leave late because all planes were grounded (I was headed home to DFW and we weren't allowed to take off until given the all-clear). Discovered on the plane that my Kindle that worked on my outbound flight this morning now won't turn on, then plane circled for an hour before diverting to Austin for refueling. An hour plus later (starving and having already eaten the snack I had in my bag), we finally take off again for DFW. I decide to do the Sudoku in the in-flight magazine, except the overhead seat light is broken and the cabin lights are dimmed so I can't see. Now we've landed, but of course no gate is available...so who knows how long we get to sit here now.

On the bright side, I at least had my car charger so I can charge my phone during the never ending trip. And tomorrow I'll like traveling again.

[GilliC]

My flight home from the World Cup was delayed overnight due to poor planning, and the airline couldn't rebook our connecting flights until we reached our connecting airport. So after our 8-hour flight the next day, we all had to wait in a dedicated rebooking line, since everyone on the flight missed their connections. I was close to the front, so I only had to wait 45 minutes to get to the counter, where they told me that they didn't have my rebooking information there, so I'd have to go to the main rebooking counter. There were about 6 groups of people in front of me, so that wait took 90 minutes. By the time I reached the counter, the last connecting flight of the day was long gone, so I had to spend another night in a hotel. Also, by that point another dozen groups of people from our flight were in the line behind me.

My gripe is that they decided they wanted to process everyone from our flight and then arrange the hotel transfer as a group. So we had to sit around on the floor next to the connection desk for two more hours while we waited for them to process everyone, and every time someone asked how long it would be, they said "about 10 minutes."

I wouldn't have minded if it was a weather delay or a strike or something else exceptional, but it was simply operational issues. Something went wrong and they couldn't get a plane for the incoming flight, so they had no plane to fly back. And this was not a one-off problem.

On the plus side, I learned that you can search for your flight number at www.airportia.com to find the flight history for the last month. When your flight has an on-time arrival rate of 15% and has been delayed over 8 hours more than four times in one month, it's probably a good sign that you need to have flexible travel plans!

[iammalcolmx]

The 3oz liquid rule in the US sucks especially if you wear your hair natural. Getting hair cair products for Black hair in other countries( even Brasil) is damned near impossible* and/or very expensive.

Sometimes the TSA Pre-check line at Atlanta airport is really slow. The checked luggage belt at GIG airport its pretty much the slowest one I have ever seen.


*If you walk the main street near Gare L'est in Paris there are TONS of places to get hair care products for Black hair.

[mdgirl]

Jul 16, 2014 10:56:30 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Sometimes the TSA Pre-check line at Atlanta airport is really slow. 

I hate this. The whole point of having those lines is to have FAST LINES. When you send random families through who don't know how to use them it screws up everything.

[iammalcolmx]

Jul 16, 2014 11:14:31 GMT -5 mdgirl said:

Jul 16, 2014 10:56:30 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Sometimes the TSA Pre-check line at Atlanta airport is really slow. 

I hate this. The whole point of having those lines is to have FAST LINES. When you send random families through who don't know how to use them it screws up everything.

The last time it was OK. However when H and I were flying to Brussels and H said we should meet up in the Domestic Terminal and then take the train all the way to F the Precheck line wasn't that fast.

[msamyfarrahfowler]

I was flying international with H and two checked suitcases. The weight limit was 50 lb each, and of course, our suitcases each weighed in at 52 and 47. We were forced to either re-distribute the 2 lbs or pay additional fees. WTF?? All that does is hold up the line and cause unnecessary aggravation.

[GilliC]

Jul 16, 2014 10:56:30 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

The checked luggage belt at GIG airport its pretty much the slowest one I have ever seen.

Oh so true!

[librarygirl]

It's somewhat stupid but I hate connecting flights. And no, I'm not talking about the ones to more remote destinations which yes, are the norm. I live in Pittsburgh where the airport is crap and the number of direct flights to cities besides hub cities (Chicago, Philly, Atlanta, NYC) is limited. In theory, connecting flights are fine but there are almost always delays so you can never count on traveling for x number of hours b/c it usually ends up being longer than that. What further peeves me is that delays are almost always on the connecting flight back to Pittsburgh when all I want at that point is just to be home. And it's not as if Pittsburgh is a two hour drive from Dulles, JFK. The nearest "big" city is Cleveland and their airport is not really any better.

P.S. I'm jealous of anyone that can make a long weekend trip to Europe...

[iammalcolmx]

Jul 16, 2014 13:05:16 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

P.S. I'm jealous of anyone that can make a long weekend trip to Europe...

I live in Atlanta. I can( and have) also do a long weekend to Rio

[librarygirl]

Jul 16, 2014 14:06:06 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Jul 16, 2014 13:05:16 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

P.S. I'm jealous of anyone that can make a long weekend trip to Europe...

I live in Atlanta. I can( and have) also do a long weekend to Rio

That's just cold by pouring salt on the already open wound with talk of weekend trips to South America

[mich1]

Yesterday, my SO had a one day business trip to Denver for some meetings. He took off Tuesday night out of Seattle. His 7 pm flight, which was supposed to put him into Denver around 11 pm was delayed until 11 and didn't get out of the gate until 12. He got into Denver at 3 am, and by the time he picked up his car and got to his hotel, it was 4 am.

Some time between the time that he placed his hotel reservation and got there, his corporate card that he left on file with the hotel was compromised, so they canceled it. Since he was arriving after midnight, the hotel tried to run his card and it was declined....so they gave his room away. Hotel tried to find another room, but was not successful so they let him hang in the lobby and use a bathroom so he could get ready for his meeting.

Meeting ended early and the airline had a flight that left 2 hours earlier than the one he was scheduled on. He got to the airport, only to find that there were no seats left. At this point, he's been awake over 36 hours. He gets on his scheduled flight that leaves at 7, gets into Seattle at 11 but he still has a 2 hour drive home.

Realizing that driving 100 miles north with no sleep, I agreed to take the shuttle down to SeaTac, wait for him, pick up his car and drive him home. His flight lands on time (11 pm), but by 12:30 am I've not seen hide nor hair of him and the airport is emptying out in baggage claim and no one else is coming down the escalators. I've got these visions that by now he's in zombie mode and has forgotten that I was going to drive him home and has pressed on to the car lot to pick up his car and is halfway home. By 12:30, the last shuttle has left SeaTac, so if he's done this I would get to hang in the airport until the first shuttle today.

He finally showed up at 12:45 am. They sat on the runway for 90 minutes because the jetway was broken and rather than send them to another gate, they had to wait until it was fixed. We rolled in at about 3 am this morning.

[tcu2003]

Jul 17, 2014 14:51:32 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Yesterday, my SO had a one day business trip to Denver for some meetings. He took off Tuesday night out of Seattle. His 7 pm flight, which was supposed to put him into Denver around 11 pm was delayed until 11 and didn't get out of the gate until 12. He got into Denver at 3 am, and by the time he picked up his car and got to his hotel, it was 4 am.

Some time between the time that he placed his hotel reservation and got there, his corporate card that he left on file with the hotel was compromised, so they canceled it. Since he was arriving after midnight, the hotel tried to run his card and it was declined....so they gave his room away. Hotel tried to find another room, but was not successful so they let him hang in the lobby and use a bathroom so he could get ready for his meeting.

Meeting ended early and the airline had a flight that left 2 hours earlier than the one he was scheduled on. He got to the airport, only to find that there were no seats left. At this point, he's been awake over 36 hours. He gets on his scheduled flight that leaves at 7, gets into Seattle at 11 but he still has a 2 hour drive home.

Realizing that driving 100 miles north with no sleep, I agreed to take the shuttle down to SeaTac, wait for him, pick up his car and drive him home. His flight lands on time (11 pm), but by 12:30 am I've not seen hide nor hair of him and the airport is emptying out in baggage claim and no one else is coming down the escalators. I've got these visions that by now he's in zombie mode and has forgotten that I was going to drive him home and has pressed on to the car lot to pick up his car and is halfway home. By 12:30, the last shuttle has left SeaTac, so if he's done this I would get to hang in the airport until the first shuttle today.

He finally showed up at 12:45 am. They sat on the runway for 90 minutes because the jetway was broken and rather than send them to another gate, they had to wait until it was fixed. We rolled in at about 3 am this morning.

Oy, that's a horrid chain reaction of bad travel events. Glad you both finally made it home safely!

[Alyssa]

Jul 16, 2014 12:16:52 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

I was flying international with H and two checked suitcases. The weight limit was 50 lb each, and of course, our suitcases each weighed in at 52 and 47. We were forced to either re-distribute the 2 lbs or pay additional fees. WTF?? All that does is hold up the line and cause unnecessary aggravation.

I've run into this too.  It's like who gives a fuck how much is in both....both are going on the same flight. 

[babsbunny]

AA needs to fix their software. I had a trip with 4 legs and needed to change the last leg, but couldn't, because the 2nd leg was sold out, and when you change a reservation, it basically rebooks the whole thing, which the software wouldn't let it do. I waited until I flew the first two legs, then called before the 3rd and 4th leg and made the change. This made it look like I had booked a one-way flight from Europe to the US within 24 hours of departure, so guess who got SSSSS on their boarding card and had to go through secondary security screenings on the 3rd and 4th leg (since we had to clear customs in the US)? That's right, little old me who just paid the government $200 for DH and I's Global Entry membership.

Now that I think about it, I'm surprised we didn't get personally visited by Homeland Security. I imagine it would be a million red flags for a person to be granted TSA PreCheck/Global Entry and then they immediately book a one-way ticket into the US from Europe. Ha!

Like the OP, I will groan and gripe, but as soon as I'm back home, I'm immediately looking forward to my next visit to the airport.

[iammalcolmx]

Jul 23, 2014 17:55:04 GMT -5 Alyssa said:

Jul 16, 2014 12:16:52 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

I was flying international with H and two checked suitcases. The weight limit was 50 lb each, and of course, our suitcases each weighed in at 52 and 47. We were forced to either re-distribute the 2 lbs or pay additional fees. WTF?? All that does is hold up the line and cause unnecessary aggravation.

I've run into this too.  It's like who gives a fuck how much is in both....both are going on the same flight. 

Because a person has to physically lift that bag. That bag is someone's back, as someone who worked at the airport and hurt their bag lifting a bag how much is in each bag means a fucking lot. 

[frlcb]

Jul 26, 2014 22:02:24 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Jul 23, 2014 17:55:04 GMT -5 Alyssa said:

I've run into this too.  It's like who gives a fuck how much is in both....both are going on the same flight. 

Because a person has to physically lift that bag. That bag is someone's back, as someone who worked at the airport and hurt their bag lifting a bag how much is in each bag means a fucking lot. 

Agreed. The rules are in place for a reason, they aren't arbitrary,

[GilliC]

I have another after my flight this morning. I hate when the gate agents say they're boarding rows X and higher and then never make another boarding announcement. Why bother even making the row statement if they a) don't care who boards when and b) never announce boarding for all rows. It just makes me feel guilty for boarding out of turn or annoyed if I wait and the entire gate area clears out while I'm just sitting there.

[msamyfarrahfowler]

Jul 27, 2014 9:57:33 GMT -5 frlcb said:

Jul 26, 2014 22:02:24 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Because a person has to physically lift that bag. That bag is someone's back, as someone who worked at the airport and hurt their bag lifting a bag how much is in each bag means a fucking lot. 

Agreed. The rules are in place for a reason, they aren't arbitrary,

I would understand the concern for injury and workers' comp claims, IF my airline had a hard and fast rule against items that weigh over 50 lbs. In my case, the airline allowed for a 52 lb item, as long as I paid a $50 surcharge. The fact that a 52 lb item was allowable as long as I paid an extra $50 doesn't paint the airline as a do gooder looking to save the backs of its workers.

[sunnysally]

Bags over 50 lbs usually are marked with a heavy sticker and may require a team lift. Part of the fee may be used to make up for lost productivity.

[thebulldog]

My gripe is having to go back through the general tsa line after going through customs on a connecting flight.
I just got off a plane...picked up my bag and someone looked at my passport why on earth do i have to go back through security with everyone else just getting to the airport. Total waste of tsa and my time.

i be typing from me phone. typos and grammer dont count.

[GilliC]

Jul 29, 2014 9:10:41 GMT -5 thebulldog said:

My gripe is having to go back through the general tsa line after going through customs on a connecting flight.
I just got off a plane...picked up my bag and someone looked at my passport why on earth do i have to go back through security with everyone else just getting to the airport. Total waste of tsa and my time.

i be typing from me phone. typos and grammer dont count.

For US customs, I can understand it, since you have to recheck your l. You could have taken something out of your checked bag at customs (like a bottle of shampoo! Quelle horreur!) and put it in your carry-on.

I don't really get it for international transit passport control. You don't pick up your bag. You just walked from one part of a secure airport to another. And now you have to go through security again. Are they afraid the immigration people slipped you a weapon to hijack the plane?

Or even better - Heathrow, where you get to go through security just for transiting! No passport check. No customs. Just, "Hey! You got off a plane at Heathrow! How about a full body scan before you run half a mile (literally) to your next flight?"

[Deleted]

My gripe is travelling with my DH. Every time we travel together something goes wrong. (Nothing on my own, it really is when we travel together).

Australia: 3 trips, bags delayed by several days each time
Finland: lost his front tooth eating a sandwich on the flight
Iceland: beached a 4WD in snow, needed rescue
Svalbard: boat hit rocks, nearly tipped over 2 hours sail from shore, had to get evacuated, got interviewed by police and made the news.

It's a longer list than that - but I'll leave it there.

[alleinesein]

Jul 29, 2014 10:41:02 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Jul 29, 2014 9:10:41 GMT -5 thebulldog said:

My gripe is having to go back through the general tsa line after going through customs on a connecting flight.
I just got off a plane...picked up my bag and someone looked at my passport why on earth do i have to go back through security with everyone else just getting to the airport. Total waste of tsa and my time.

i be typing from me phone. typos and grammer dont count.

Or even better - Heathrow, where you get to go through security just for transiting! No passport check. No customs. Just, "Hey! You got off a plane at Heathrow! How about a full body scan before you run half a mile (literally) to your next flight?"

What terminal?  T5 always checks my passport and then sends me through security to make my connection.

My gripe is BA specific.  Every single time I fly them they run out of the one non-veg option in WTP.  It doesn't matter what row I am sitting in; they will run out and the Veg option will always contain mushrooms.  They also have a tendency to load the wrong meal on my flights--LHR-BOM was supposed to have lamb as the non-veg item and we ended up with some weird ass chicken. 

[GilliC]

Aug 7, 2014 20:37:49 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Jul 29, 2014 10:41:02 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Or even better - Heathrow, where you get to go through security just for transiting! No passport check. No customs. Just, "Hey! You got off a plane at Heathrow! How about a full body scan before you run half a mile (literally) to your next flight?"

What terminal?  T5 always checks my passport and then sends me through security to make my connection.

My gripe is BA specific.  Every single time I fly them they run out of the one non-veg option in WTP.  It doesn't matter what row I am sitting in; they will run out and the Veg option will always contain mushrooms.  They also have a tendency to load the wrong meal on my flights--LHR-BOM was supposed to have lamb as the non-veg item and we ended up with some weird ass chicken. 

T5 has that pseudo passport check at Flight Connections, but they don't always check my passport. Sometimes they just check the boarding pass.

When I fly TAM to Brazil, I have to change terminals to T3, and I don't recall anything (besides the bus ride) before T3 security.

[babsbunny]

Aug 7, 2014 17:28:21 GMT -5 @cheshire said:

My gripe is travelling with my DH. Every time we travel together something goes wrong. (Nothing on my own, it really is when we travel together).

Australia: 3 trips, bags delayed by several days each time
Finland: lost his front tooth eating a sandwich on the flight
Iceland: beached a 4WD in snow, needed rescue
Svalbard: boat hit rocks, nearly tipped over 2 hours sail from shore, had to get evacuated, got interviewed by police and made the news.

It's a longer list than that - but I'll leave it there.

This sounds like a book I would read. I think you need travel insurance for the trips you take together.

New gripe... Airline pricing is now just like playing the stock market. For the second time in the past few years, a ticket price has changed within 4 hours (and not overnight... Just noon compared to 4 PM).