getting there

Back in April, I was convinced by Bay Area friends to purchase a 3 day pass to Outside Lands, a music festival I had never heard of. In early July, I used a well-known travel site to book a lodging and flight combo. I usually book separately and preferably direct from airline and hotel. Really, really prefer to do that, but figured this was easier for a summer trip to a popular destination during a busy weekend.


The site I used is one I've used before. It's easy to navigate and put an itinerary together, but its shortcomings are these: ugly to look at, accommodations are lacking in accurate detail, have poorly written user-reviews (true for most user-generated content), confirmation emails are rife with ambiguity. I still use it because the rates are pretty good.

There's something about bundling your bookings. Through a third party. It makes your itinerary that much more... I don't know. Treacherous? What if there's a problem? Do you call the airline directly? The hotel? Perhaps if I were a more experienced traveler. I've realised that with age, I've become a more anxious person even when I become more comfortable with "rolling with it." It sounds contradictory. For instance, I didn't look forward to any part of my trip, saying annoying things like, "I'll be fine once I get back and this trip is OVER." I keep expecting something to go wrong. I'm sorry Ms. Empirical, but we've lost your reservations and payment info. We cannot issue a refund. Not that anything that bad has ever happened to me ever. (Not including rail travel. Amtrak is invariably horrible.) At worst, a flight delayed due to inclement weather—that's it.

Before I pulled the trigger on my bookings, I had an online chat with a representative to ask for more detailed information about my hotel amenities. None of which ended up being accurate. Nothing major, but seriously, not a single detail. It ended up saving me a few dollars, but I did not get the room I wanted.

I had a real problem with my airline. UNITED AIRLINES. I went in to the office Friday morning intending to leave 1130 a.m. to make a flight at 313 p.m. The day before, I received an automated phonecall asking me to check in, but I was in the middle of something and asked to reschedule the call; the voice prompts weren't understanding anything I was saying so I wanted to do this frustrating task later. The second call never came, so I did my check in at the office by internet. At about 1120, 10 minutes before I was to begin my journey, I was chatting with a few friends in San Francisco about my plans through GTalk. I was beginning to feel excited about meeting up with them over the weekend. My phone rang. It was another automated call from United, not to check me in, not to confirm my check in, it was to tell me my flight was canceled and to call an 800-number for assistance, "goodbye."

What?! I let my three friends know of what had just happened then called this 800-number. More voice prompts that didn't understand me. I finally was put in a queue to speak with a human. On hold for an estimated "three minutes" which was really more like 40 minutes. My boss was concerned, but not very busy, and offered to drive me to LAX to see if rescheduling in person would be easier than getting a person on the phone. Then I'd be ready to fly; I'd already be there and at the ready.

We were on the freeway en route to LAX. I finally got a person to speak to me. He wasn't rude, but not sympathetic to my deal. Which is strange, I thought, because he probably reschedules people all day due to Airline problems—the one thing he should be is sympathetic. No, if I had to choose one quality for this guy to have, it would be common sense! He didn't have that either. On top of our language barrier, this guy wanted to put me on a flight to San Francisco on SUNDAY AFTERNOON. This is after a lot of hem and haw on his end. At which point I lost my patience. I lost my patience for him, the customer service guy. I didn't yell, I didn't berate, but I did say firmly, "No, Sunday is absolutely unacceptable. This is LAX to SFO, a common flight, you put me on a flight TODAY." Each search for a new flight took a long time. He then followed up with a flight for Friday, later in the afternoon. "So, why didn't you offer that to me first? That's still a little late. Do you have something earlier?" Followed by more waiting, then yes, I have a flight here that leaves 10 minutes before your original flight. Is this guy suffering a head injury?

I arrive at the airport, thanks to my boss. My flight has been switched to American Airlines. Finally, competence! At check in, the airline cannot issue me a seat assignment. This begins to worry me. Also, the flight that was supposed to be 10 minutes earlier, is instead delayed something like 50 minutes. I'm hours early. I begin the usual task of looking for a free outlet to charge my phone. I decide to call United to ask if my return flight reservation is intact. More time spent navigating phone prompts, waiting for a human, only to be told, well...

(read bottom to top)


Well, that's not what you want to hear. Another unsympathetic person abruptly saying there is no record for a return flight. "There is no record," the very phrase I feared from the get go.

The flight outbound with American Airlines was ultimately delayed over two and a half hours. For various reasons including, we don't have a flight crew, the pilots just landed a plane from Chicago and need to make their way over here. When they did arrive, eventually, you could tell they were just as annoyed with their bosses. Saying things like, we didn't know we were flying to SFO. They just told us. We weren't scheduled to do this. Oh. Thanks. Nice to see you too. And you know, you don't just grab keys and get the engine running. Pre-flight takes nearly 45 minutes. Even before boarding, the employees responsible for putting us on the plane were obviously overworked, understaffed, and taking it out on the customers. Are there any good airlines left?

Consider this, LAX to SFO is about an hour and a half flight. I arrived at my hotel at about 9 p.m. This was a domestic flight from one part of California to another so even security checks didn't take very long. Consider the amount of time I spent just getting there. If I drove, I might have gotten there faster.

I missed the entire first day of a 3 day music fest. I called a couple friends, my mother, took a shower, bought some Japanese takeout at a fave place on the next block, and ate it in bed while watching cable. Please let the rest of the weekend go smoothly...

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When my trip was over and I was safely home, I decided that while American Airlines was no picnic, it was United that had crossed some lines with me. Poor communication. Poor customer service. Lack of common sense. I decided I will not fly with them again. I would rather pay more money to fly with one of their competitors. And what timing, this week, Bob Sutton published this entry on his blog about United's management problems citing an example of a lost little girl to illustrate. Please head over and give it a read. Don't forget to skim the comments area; some of the complaints will sound very familiar to my own. Oh, and when I asked for a reason as to why my flight was canceled, "mechanical problems." The catchall phrase to explain any number of real reasons. The "irreconcilable differences" of the air industry.