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Thursday, 12 August 2004
Airline luck ::
My luck with the airlines continued on Tuesday:
- 6:30 am flight from San Jose to Chicago was cancelled (mechanical problem). I call United Reservations rather than wait in line with the other 150 people trying to make new plans. Seats on an afternoon flight from San Jose disappear while I ask about the possibility of leaving from San Francisco earlier. So I reserve a seat on the flight from S.F.
- 9:00 am - my keyboard does not show up on the baggage carousel. It was mistakenly put on the Denver flight. The woman is very apologetic. I tell her it’s actually great, I don’t have to carry the keyboard with me to San Francisco!
- 1:50 pm flight from S.F. to Chicago: Pilot tells us that a passenger with checked baggage has skipped the flight and they are going to have to pull his bag. I sleep. Pilot tells us that they are having trouble re-closing the cargo door. I sleep. We finally take off an hour late. A strong tailwind and possibly favorable treatment from air traffic control get us to O’Hare only 15 minutes late.
- 11:50 pm EDT: arrive Syracuse to learn that we must wait on the tarmac for another plane to get in front of us. 12:05 am: We finally park. 12:15: They finally bring stairs to the plane. 12:20: They finally find someone on the ground to be present while we walk from the stairs to the terminal. 1:05 am: My suitcase finally arrives on the baggage carousel. 1:10 am: Someone finally arrives to unlock the room where my keyboard has beaten me to Syracuse, probably by 5 hours according to the prediction of the woman in San Jose.
On my last 3 one-way trips (each involving 2 flights), there have been 3 cancelled flights. 4 cancellations on my last 7 trips (going back to February).
There was a news item recently about how O’Hare had more scheduled flights per hour than could be accomodated, resulting in rippling delays throughout the national air system—it’s operating above capacity. I wonder how much of that played into the delays.
Thu, 12 Aug 2004, 02:05 EDT
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