Sunday, February 19, 2006
Chapter 3: If at First You Do Not Succeed
The airlines will try to screw it up for certain.
Car rental agencies can help.
After trying to rest much of the day, it was on early Saturday evening that the thought of revising our rental car arrangements in Denver occurred. I called Alamo, and the agent politely informed me that for changing our reservation to Sunday, the rate would be recalculated at current market rates, which was now $230 more for the week. Why did I bother making a reservation in October? Silly me. Even though there was no possible way to pick it up because the airline cancelled our flight, which is beyond our control? Yes.
Thank you so much!
Lesson to file: Make nonbinding car reservations for every day of travel in case you need one of them.
Memo to self: Make a call to AOPA. There are 400,000 pilots that need to know if they cancel their trip in the interest of safety, this car rental agency will gouge them silly.
Time to start shopping for cars.
Sunday morning. We have all caught up on our sleep, and it is time to go to Dulles. At 0930 the flight is still scheduled and on time for a 1220 departure, the cab is coming. I have another rental car option if Alamo won’t reconsider honoring its previous rate commitment when I get there in person.
1005. We are at Dulles. The porter takes us and our bags inside. This was a good idea. He knows how to bypass the 50 person line and check us in. Except he can’t – of course!
We try again, and again the computer says no. We look to the ticketing agent. Her first response is that we are in the self-service line… in a tone that definitely implies that she can’t or won’t help us. I explain that we have tried twice and the computer has spit out rejection letters both time – here!
1015. The ticketing process starts again. I’ll cut to the chase.
1100. Marybeth spends several minutes working with TSA to make sure the ski poles are actually hollow and that stainless steel skies won’t spontaneously combust. For a minute, I had no idea what was going on. I thought Marybeth knew the TSA agent and was unaware that I had actually finished.
1105. We head to the gate. All of our boarding cards have SSSS printed on them. We are all on the Watch List.
Sidenote: At Dulles, we have to take off our shoes. I keep wondering why Orlando and some others don’t have the same requirement. Well, I don’t protest.
The security agent manning the magnetometer informs the supervisor that Robby has been selected for additional screening. The supervisor looks up to heaven and sighs – this makes our weekend. Then they learn that all four of us are selectees. We stand in the holding cage as a family unit – violating the max 3 person rule.
1115. We are screened, but the kids luggage is not so easily put back together. The agents make a couple of jokes with the kids to keep it light – we appreciate their efforts and just get on our way
1120. We are at the gate. The temperature in Terminal D21-24 is about 47 degrees. We are amused that American is concerned about are climatic pre-conditioning for skiing considering temperatures in Denver have been below minus 11 for the last two days.
1145. Our flight is now showing a status of delayed until 145pm. The plane was del;ayed leaving St. Louis. Here we go again.
1155. An agent finally shows up to make an announcement in the gate area. The kids start watching Ice Age – a fitting title considering the temperatures. The agent can’t help us. He wants to let us know that the agent that can is on the way. I note that United has a flight leaving at 1235. I call United. There are 20 seats available for a one-way cost of $270 each. American would just cancel our flights if we show up in Chicago without any kind of coordination.
1200. I ask the agent why the gate agent was not at the gate one hour before departure. He admits that he can only say he doesn’t know. I make the observation that they are clearly short-staffed. He concurs. I ask about getting on the flight to O’Hare at 1235. He can’t help us.
1210. The gate agent arrives. I already know that the chances of getting tickets signed over to United and actually getting the family to gate G17 in 15 minutes is unlikely. There is a fellow who claims he is in front of me. I invite him to go ahead. The guy behind me starts whining that this his second schedule change today – his flight out of DCA earlier was cancelled. I offer him some perspective. Realization that it can get worse changes his demeanor to something best described as resigned comradery.
1217. It’s our turn again. Start the 30 minute ticket issuance clock. I don’t even ask about the United flight. The agent asks if we would like to go through Dallas. I promptly decline unless absolutely necessary and the weather is confirmed to have improved. She calls someone and asks that seats on the Chicago Denver flight be released to her for handling rebookings.
1240. She finishes ahead of my estimate, but not by much. We are now on the 235pm to Chicago.
135. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
136. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
137. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
137. “Ops, go head.”
“We’re 15 minutes out and going to need a Ground Power Unit at the gate. Our APU is deferred. We’ll need that to get going again.”
138. “We’re kind of busy down here, make that request once you are blocked and at the gate.”
Another chance to pick up some lost time abandoned.
145. Ice Age finishes. Thank God for portable DVD players.
200. Boarding begins.
240. We’re airborne and climbing. The CRJ climbs like a brick suspended from a birthday balloon. I really don’t care.
330. We have finally made it to the next time zone.
445. We start boarding. A 505 departure is not happening.
500. We are loaded and ready to go, but there is a board meeting of 6 in the cockpit.
509. “Turn off all portable electronic devices, including cell phones.”
510. “This is your captain speaking. I know the flight attendants just told you otherwise, but please go ahead and continue using cell phones if you wish. I can see that they just pulled up another tug to load more cargo. We should be ready to go in 10 minutes.”
525. “This is your captain speaking. I know I told you 10 minutes, and while I really can’t say for certain, I am hoping it will only be another 10 minutes.”
I am so numb to this, but I know my Big ‘N Tasty isn’t getting any warmer. I dig in.
540. “This is your captain speaking, I think we’re almost ready to go.”
550. I see the hint of blinking of anticollision and strobe lights. We start moving. This is O’Hare. We keep taxiing. There have been no new messages from the cockpit.
600. We are airborne. The lastest message from up front is a 135 knot headwind, a 330 knot total groundspeed, and 777 miles to go.
800. We land. We stop. At least we are in Denver.
Car rental agencies can help.
After trying to rest much of the day, it was on early Saturday evening that the thought of revising our rental car arrangements in Denver occurred. I called Alamo, and the agent politely informed me that for changing our reservation to Sunday, the rate would be recalculated at current market rates, which was now $230 more for the week. Why did I bother making a reservation in October? Silly me. Even though there was no possible way to pick it up because the airline cancelled our flight, which is beyond our control? Yes.
Thank you so much!
Lesson to file: Make nonbinding car reservations for every day of travel in case you need one of them.
Memo to self: Make a call to AOPA. There are 400,000 pilots that need to know if they cancel their trip in the interest of safety, this car rental agency will gouge them silly.
Time to start shopping for cars.
Sunday morning. We have all caught up on our sleep, and it is time to go to Dulles. At 0930 the flight is still scheduled and on time for a 1220 departure, the cab is coming. I have another rental car option if Alamo won’t reconsider honoring its previous rate commitment when I get there in person.
1005. We are at Dulles. The porter takes us and our bags inside. This was a good idea. He knows how to bypass the 50 person line and check us in. Except he can’t – of course!
We try again, and again the computer says no. We look to the ticketing agent. Her first response is that we are in the self-service line… in a tone that definitely implies that she can’t or won’t help us. I explain that we have tried twice and the computer has spit out rejection letters both time – here!
1015. The ticketing process starts again. I’ll cut to the chase.
1100. Marybeth spends several minutes working with TSA to make sure the ski poles are actually hollow and that stainless steel skies won’t spontaneously combust. For a minute, I had no idea what was going on. I thought Marybeth knew the TSA agent and was unaware that I had actually finished.
1105. We head to the gate. All of our boarding cards have SSSS printed on them. We are all on the Watch List.
Sidenote: At Dulles, we have to take off our shoes. I keep wondering why Orlando and some others don’t have the same requirement. Well, I don’t protest.
The security agent manning the magnetometer informs the supervisor that Robby has been selected for additional screening. The supervisor looks up to heaven and sighs – this makes our weekend. Then they learn that all four of us are selectees. We stand in the holding cage as a family unit – violating the max 3 person rule.
1115. We are screened, but the kids luggage is not so easily put back together. The agents make a couple of jokes with the kids to keep it light – we appreciate their efforts and just get on our way
1120. We are at the gate. The temperature in Terminal D21-24 is about 47 degrees. We are amused that American is concerned about are climatic pre-conditioning for skiing considering temperatures in Denver have been below minus 11 for the last two days.
1145. Our flight is now showing a status of delayed until 145pm. The plane was del;ayed leaving St. Louis. Here we go again.
1155. An agent finally shows up to make an announcement in the gate area. The kids start watching Ice Age – a fitting title considering the temperatures. The agent can’t help us. He wants to let us know that the agent that can is on the way. I note that United has a flight leaving at 1235. I call United. There are 20 seats available for a one-way cost of $270 each. American would just cancel our flights if we show up in Chicago without any kind of coordination.
1200. I ask the agent why the gate agent was not at the gate one hour before departure. He admits that he can only say he doesn’t know. I make the observation that they are clearly short-staffed. He concurs. I ask about getting on the flight to O’Hare at 1235. He can’t help us.
1210. The gate agent arrives. I already know that the chances of getting tickets signed over to United and actually getting the family to gate G17 in 15 minutes is unlikely. There is a fellow who claims he is in front of me. I invite him to go ahead. The guy behind me starts whining that this his second schedule change today – his flight out of DCA earlier was cancelled. I offer him some perspective. Realization that it can get worse changes his demeanor to something best described as resigned comradery.
1217. It’s our turn again. Start the 30 minute ticket issuance clock. I don’t even ask about the United flight. The agent asks if we would like to go through Dallas. I promptly decline unless absolutely necessary and the weather is confirmed to have improved. She calls someone and asks that seats on the Chicago Denver flight be released to her for handling rebookings.
1240. She finishes ahead of my estimate, but not by much. We are now on the 235pm to Chicago.
135. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
136. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
137. “Chattaqua 5299 to Ops.”
137. “Ops, go head.”
“We’re 15 minutes out and going to need a Ground Power Unit at the gate. Our APU is deferred. We’ll need that to get going again.”
138. “We’re kind of busy down here, make that request once you are blocked and at the gate.”
Another chance to pick up some lost time abandoned.
145. Ice Age finishes. Thank God for portable DVD players.
200. Boarding begins.
240. We’re airborne and climbing. The CRJ climbs like a brick suspended from a birthday balloon. I really don’t care.
330. We have finally made it to the next time zone.
445. We start boarding. A 505 departure is not happening.
500. We are loaded and ready to go, but there is a board meeting of 6 in the cockpit.
509. “Turn off all portable electronic devices, including cell phones.”
510. “This is your captain speaking. I know the flight attendants just told you otherwise, but please go ahead and continue using cell phones if you wish. I can see that they just pulled up another tug to load more cargo. We should be ready to go in 10 minutes.”
525. “This is your captain speaking. I know I told you 10 minutes, and while I really can’t say for certain, I am hoping it will only be another 10 minutes.”
I am so numb to this, but I know my Big ‘N Tasty isn’t getting any warmer. I dig in.
540. “This is your captain speaking, I think we’re almost ready to go.”
550. I see the hint of blinking of anticollision and strobe lights. We start moving. This is O’Hare. We keep taxiing. There have been no new messages from the cockpit.
600. We are airborne. The lastest message from up front is a 135 knot headwind, a 330 knot total groundspeed, and 777 miles to go.
800. We land. We stop. At least we are in Denver.
# posted by Bob @ 1:52 PM 
