My ridiculous Northeast blizzard travel saga (honestly, it could have been worse)
So there I was, making small talk with guests and dealing with classic post-holiday letdown on the night of December 25, when I got a call from RBG ... "I'm watching The Weather Channel, and they're predicting 10-15 inches of snow for the Northeast tomorrow."
Um, crap.
So that turned into a fun one. With weather prognosticators saying the storm would be focused on Sunday and my flight set for Monday afternoon, I figured I would be able to make it, even if I got pushed back to a later flight. When the Sunday reports said EWR would open Monday morning, I thought I and my 1350 flight were good to go.
Wrong.
When I woke up on Monday, I eventually got around to finding out that the airport was not opening until 1500, and my flight had been canceled. Enter premium status payoff. I called the number on the back of my OnePass card and got placed on a later flight. Terrific! Huge relief. All good.
False.
Blissfully killing time by reading old sports books for teenagers, I checked for my new flight and found that it, too, had been canceled. Seems those 40-mph winds (which took down a major limb in our yard a few inches from the house) aren't so good for take-off or landing. My brother, meanwhile, had his own cross-country flight (on a different airline) canceled and spent most of the day trying to talk to a real person.
So with both flights canceled, multiple agents kindly informed me that everything from Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, or Austin (and yes I made each one try each different combination) was booked solid for the next few days. My next chance to get out would be December 30. True story.
Since RBG and I were meeting up in Houston to drive her car to MD in the few short days before embarking on a fifth-anniversary trip, this was unacceptable.
After talking to about five agents, we determined the best solution would be for me to take a train to Washington on Wednesday, fly to Houston, and fly to New Orleans, meeting RBG there after she took the first leg of the trip solo. Needless to say, this was not great. It put a crimp in time spent together, prevented me from paying my rent, and forced RBG to pack for me for a three-week trip involving cold weather, warm weather, work, and somewhat formal attire. Not fair.
However, I kept at it and, late in the afternoon, managed to find a direct DCA-IAH flight on Tuesday night, allowing me to get in late Tuesday to pay my rent and pack my own bags before we left early Wednesday. However, I got an incompetent agent (a rarity for me on this day) on the phone who said she could book the flight but not re-issue the ticket. Even though all the other reps had no problem re-issuing tickets. Seriously? After this rep left me on hold for 15 minutes trying to track down a supervisor to OK the re-issue, I simply hung up and called back.
This time, my new rep understood exactly what I wanted (and trust me, it's not easy to explain that you have to be in Houston on Tuesday OR New Orleans on Wednesday, but the reverse is not an option) and hooked me up. E-ticket confirmed and everything. Then I got online and fairly easily switched my train ticket for no fee at all. Can't tell you how pumped I was to work out that travel deal. I may have flexed a bicep in celebration. May have.
Meanwhile, it was COLD in N.J. thanks to a significant windchill. Did not stop me and the family from going out for a great Indian dinner Monday night. Good way to close the family portion of the holiday. And as it turned out, my brother also had a travel victory, finding a Tuesday morning flight back to LA.
So on Tuesday I reached the train station in New Jersey and went to the platform, only to realize the schedule boards were still showing information from before the blizzard. Apparently the computer or cable or something was down. With no informative announcements forthcoming from the PA system, I checked my phone and found the train was 40 minutes late. Thankfully it was a much warmer day, so I waited in the sun and enjoyed the rather trippy after-effect of trains busting through snow on the middle track, which led to a snow-globe shower of small particles after it had gone through. The train wound up being about an hour late, but I had left plenty of time for that.
The train ride to D.C. was relatively uneventful, and I gave myself a walking tour of Union Station before grabbing food and taking the Metro to the airport. I managed to ruin my Metro card by putting it in a pocket with my phone, but I got through anyway. Arrived about three hours before my flight and had hopes of catching an earlier plane. The security line almost did me in. The elite line was infinitely slower than the adjacent normal line, which turned out to be because the normal line was splitting into two at the end, one competing with the elite line. In this case, status did not pay.
When I got to the gate, however, status did pay, as I jumped all the way to No. 2 on a 28-person standby list for the 1735 flight to Houston. The airline was offering a $300 travel reward for people volunteering to stay later, but the whole thing made me feel really, really guilty at just showing up and vaulting into that position over people who had been waiting all day. Still, with that offer out there, I thought I might have a chance,
Wrong again.
Didn't get the earlier flight, but I really couldn't complain. The people around me in the terminal were talking about how they had spent nights in LaGuardia on a luggage cart and just wanted to get home in any way possible, etc. Truly some rough stories out there.
Mine, therefore, is not that rough, especially the ending. On the late flight, jammed into what felt like a particularly cramped window seat, with the doors about to close, a flight attendant handed me my new ticket in first class. Awesome call. Again I felt a little bad, because the people around me were clearly a little miffed, but not too bad as I slid into my roomier seat with free TV, extra drinks, and even some semi-real food.
I eventually made it back at about 2300 on Tuesday night, less than 30 hours after I was supposed to get back. All things considered, not bad at all.
Now to see what the road trip brings ...
Um, crap.
So that turned into a fun one. With weather prognosticators saying the storm would be focused on Sunday and my flight set for Monday afternoon, I figured I would be able to make it, even if I got pushed back to a later flight. When the Sunday reports said EWR would open Monday morning, I thought I and my 1350 flight were good to go.
Wrong.
When I woke up on Monday, I eventually got around to finding out that the airport was not opening until 1500, and my flight had been canceled. Enter premium status payoff. I called the number on the back of my OnePass card and got placed on a later flight. Terrific! Huge relief. All good.
False.
Blissfully killing time by reading old sports books for teenagers, I checked for my new flight and found that it, too, had been canceled. Seems those 40-mph winds (which took down a major limb in our yard a few inches from the house) aren't so good for take-off or landing. My brother, meanwhile, had his own cross-country flight (on a different airline) canceled and spent most of the day trying to talk to a real person.
So with both flights canceled, multiple agents kindly informed me that everything from Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, or Austin (and yes I made each one try each different combination) was booked solid for the next few days. My next chance to get out would be December 30. True story.
Since RBG and I were meeting up in Houston to drive her car to MD in the few short days before embarking on a fifth-anniversary trip, this was unacceptable.
After talking to about five agents, we determined the best solution would be for me to take a train to Washington on Wednesday, fly to Houston, and fly to New Orleans, meeting RBG there after she took the first leg of the trip solo. Needless to say, this was not great. It put a crimp in time spent together, prevented me from paying my rent, and forced RBG to pack for me for a three-week trip involving cold weather, warm weather, work, and somewhat formal attire. Not fair.
However, I kept at it and, late in the afternoon, managed to find a direct DCA-IAH flight on Tuesday night, allowing me to get in late Tuesday to pay my rent and pack my own bags before we left early Wednesday. However, I got an incompetent agent (a rarity for me on this day) on the phone who said she could book the flight but not re-issue the ticket. Even though all the other reps had no problem re-issuing tickets. Seriously? After this rep left me on hold for 15 minutes trying to track down a supervisor to OK the re-issue, I simply hung up and called back.
This time, my new rep understood exactly what I wanted (and trust me, it's not easy to explain that you have to be in Houston on Tuesday OR New Orleans on Wednesday, but the reverse is not an option) and hooked me up. E-ticket confirmed and everything. Then I got online and fairly easily switched my train ticket for no fee at all. Can't tell you how pumped I was to work out that travel deal. I may have flexed a bicep in celebration. May have.
Meanwhile, it was COLD in N.J. thanks to a significant windchill. Did not stop me and the family from going out for a great Indian dinner Monday night. Good way to close the family portion of the holiday. And as it turned out, my brother also had a travel victory, finding a Tuesday morning flight back to LA.
So on Tuesday I reached the train station in New Jersey and went to the platform, only to realize the schedule boards were still showing information from before the blizzard. Apparently the computer or cable or something was down. With no informative announcements forthcoming from the PA system, I checked my phone and found the train was 40 minutes late. Thankfully it was a much warmer day, so I waited in the sun and enjoyed the rather trippy after-effect of trains busting through snow on the middle track, which led to a snow-globe shower of small particles after it had gone through. The train wound up being about an hour late, but I had left plenty of time for that.
The train ride to D.C. was relatively uneventful, and I gave myself a walking tour of Union Station before grabbing food and taking the Metro to the airport. I managed to ruin my Metro card by putting it in a pocket with my phone, but I got through anyway. Arrived about three hours before my flight and had hopes of catching an earlier plane. The security line almost did me in. The elite line was infinitely slower than the adjacent normal line, which turned out to be because the normal line was splitting into two at the end, one competing with the elite line. In this case, status did not pay.
When I got to the gate, however, status did pay, as I jumped all the way to No. 2 on a 28-person standby list for the 1735 flight to Houston. The airline was offering a $300 travel reward for people volunteering to stay later, but the whole thing made me feel really, really guilty at just showing up and vaulting into that position over people who had been waiting all day. Still, with that offer out there, I thought I might have a chance,
Wrong again.
Didn't get the earlier flight, but I really couldn't complain. The people around me in the terminal were talking about how they had spent nights in LaGuardia on a luggage cart and just wanted to get home in any way possible, etc. Truly some rough stories out there.
Mine, therefore, is not that rough, especially the ending. On the late flight, jammed into what felt like a particularly cramped window seat, with the doors about to close, a flight attendant handed me my new ticket in first class. Awesome call. Again I felt a little bad, because the people around me were clearly a little miffed, but not too bad as I slid into my roomier seat with free TV, extra drinks, and even some semi-real food.
I eventually made it back at about 2300 on Tuesday night, less than 30 hours after I was supposed to get back. All things considered, not bad at all.
Now to see what the road trip brings ...
posted by Jon at
23:55
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