I went to St. Paul, MN for our annual church convention and had a wonderful time with all those fabulous people, some of whom I only see once a year. They're like an extended family to me.
My trip home was absolutely the most horrendous airline experience I've ever had in my entire life. When the Delta baggage agent remarked to me, "Hartford the hard way", he either knew how hard it was going to be for me to get home or he really had no idea how hard it was about to be.
I had a flight on Delta airlines on Sunday afternoon from Minneapolis/St. Paul at 3 p.m. that got into Milwaukee at 4 p.m. From there I had a connecting flight to Detroit that was delayed due to weather. If I took that flight I would have missed my connecting flight to Hartford. I got on a different flight to Cincinatti with a connecting flight to Hartford. Then it was announced that the connecting flight to Hartford from Detroit was also delayed so I'd be able to get home, even if it was 1 or 2 in the morning so I re-booked for that flight. The plane that was going to Detroit got in and it was announced that the flight attendants had been working 13 hours already and it was "illegal" for them to fly so that flight was eventually canceled. I spent the night in a hotel in Milwaukee. Got a mediocre night's sleep and got up at 3:30, showered and got the shuttle to the airport by on Monday morning by 4:45 for a 6:00 flight to Memphis and (supposedly) connecting to Boston (not my 1st choice but a decent 2nd). Got to Memphis and on the flight to Boston. The flight was about 1 hour into its 3 hour trip when it was announced that there were mechanical problems and the plane had turned around to Memphis. Landed in Memphis and was re-booked on a flight to DC (any city on the east coast, preferably where I know someone and there was an Amtrak station was my attitude at that point) with a connecting flight on US Airways to Hartford at 6:30 p.m. that would have gotten to Hartford Monday at 7:45 p.m. The flight leaving Memphis was late and got into DC at 6:00 p.m. There was no ground crew to meet the plane and they were having technical difficulties with the jetway so we didn't actually get off the plane until 6:40 p.m. at which point my connecting flight on US Airways to Hartford had left. There were no Delta customer service agents anywhere so I called the 800 number and within no time turned into an hysterical, crying, sobbing mess. I had been traveling for over 24 hours and was still not home. Had I driven a car from Minneapolis/St. Paul I would have already been home. The next flight for Hartford was sometime on Tuesday via Detroit. There were NO direct flights to Hartford, Boston or JFK. At which point I decided I didn't want to take a chance on getting stranded in another airport and called Amtrak and made a reservation on the next train going to New Haven, CT (2 hours from home). I took a taxi to Union Station in DC (which is gorgeous, by the way), and got on a train at 10:50 p.m. (leaving 50 minutes later than scheduled) The train got to New Haven, CT ON TIME at 4:20 a.m. Tuesday morning. Unfortunately I had to wait until about 5:10 a.m. for Trevor to pick me up since we thought it was getting in late around 5:00 a.m. He took me to a near-by diner for breakfast and by 6:05 a.m. we were on I-91 North headed for home. Got home at 7:45 a.m. and was in bed by 8:15 a.m. Slept until noonish. Got a call from US Airways at 12:30 p.m. saying they had my suitcase so we drove to Hartford to pick it up.
In total I was on 4 flights in 28 hours and was still not home. I made it as far as Washington DC on Delta. If I stayed on Delta I would have gotten home sometime on Tuesday, having left Minneapolis/St. Paul on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Amtrak was WONDERFUL! I made my reservation over the phone, printed my ticket at the station, didn't have to go through any long lines for TSA security, boarded the train, found a seat and we were off and moving. The seats are way more spacious than airplane seats, more leg room, more head room, electrical outlets to plug in your phone and/or laptop. Although the train left DC almost 50 minutes late we arrived in New Haven ON TIME! I will definitely consider taking Amtrak on my next long trip.
I will never fly Delta again.
3 comments:
What an ordeal! I'm not on delta but already anticipating flight headaches for our quick hop to DC later in July and really hope that isn't the case! I'm a big fan of train travel myself and love that Amtrak was able to get you closer to home!!!
Like I said, love Amtrak. I highly recommend the Acela from D.C. to New Haven.
If they are having a sale it's cheaper than flying. Plus you can get to the station 10 minutes before the train leaves and still have time for a Dunkin Donuts muffin.
And they have free Wifi!
Amtrak has really improved the timetables and even if the train is late they make up time. I've been on only 2 trains that were late out of Boston and didn't make up the time. Not bad overall.
Good thing I don't have time/money to go anywhere but I do remember my one train trip Philadelphia PA > I-95 Norwood MA as being really pleasant, VERY comfortable, really a nice way to relax and catch scenery.
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