Everyone has airplane stories, lost luggage, screw ups and so on and this is just another story along those lines with a few added twists or so I think!!!
We departed Tampa as scheduled and would arrive in JFK around noon on Tuesday. It’s hard to leave 78 degree weather and know you’re coming back to high 50s or low 40s but hey, this is where I live, so you grin and accept it.
Now we arrive at JFK, a bit foggy and overcast but a nice landing and the pilot and crew thank us for flying with them and wish us a nice day. We stroll into the lounge knowing we have approximately four hours to kill as our flight to Syracuse won’t depart until 5 and it’s just noon.
Whoa! My sister notices the “arrival and departure” monitor and our flight for Syracuse has been cancelled. What the hell? Why? What’s happening here? So we head to one of those JUST ASK counters and wait our turn. When our turn happens we are looked upon and treated like some horrible disease and we haven’t even pitched a fit yet!
“Yes, your flight has been cancelled and is now scheduled to leave at 6 tomorrow morning.”
Excuse me, why is the flight cancelled?
“Weather, it’s foggy.”
We landed in foggy weather, what’s the real story here?
“Lady, there was a horrible rain storm here last night and it’s just bad and flights are not landing at Syracuse.”
You mean your airline is not landing, not all airlines, right?
“Look, the best I can do is put you on high priority standby for the 10 pm flight but its currently booked solid. However you do have confirmed seats for the 6 a.m. flight tomorrow morning.”
So where is your airline putting us up for the night for this inconvenience?
“We don’t control the weather and we are not putting you up in a hotel nor are we giving you a food voucher.”
So you expect us to hang around here all night, in this lounge and take the 6 a.m. flight and there is absolutely no compensation for this inconvenience? Wait, how about checking with another airline?
“We do not do business with other airlines. Now please, I have told you everything I can, you have confirmed seats on the 6 a.m. flight, now move along, I need to help the folks behind you!
Needless to say we were not happy campers. We needed to sit down, get some food, a drink and think. Our minds were whirling with all sorts of thoughts, top of the list was to strangle the bitch who treated us like last week's garbage, then went to “don’t planes have radar and when in hell did rain stop flights?”
Well, one thing was damn certain; we were NOT spending this night in this damn airport. Nope, a call was made to my niece, asked her to get with Greyhound and if there was a bus headed to Syracuse, book us two seats. Yes, we would get a taxi to Port Authority and find the bus station.
That taxi ride cost us $60 and although we both love NYC we’d much prefer to stroll about and see the sights, not ride in a taxi cab. Then we get to Port Authority, get our tickets and the bus will depart at 4:45 p.m., so we have a couple hours to kill here – Bus stations haven’t improved much over the years but you somehow manage to find a seat or stand around until boarding…life is good!
I cannot begin to tell you how long it has been since I rode a bus – suffice to say it has been many, many years. So when we did board I was somewhat surprised – pleasantly and discovered I could plug in my cell phone charger and if I had my laptop, I could have plugged that in too…I doubt I would of have Internet service but one young man was playing a movie on his laptop, using head phones and quite content. As for the seats, they were quite comfortable and the bus was not crowded.
NYC during rush hour is amazing and it’s a time when you are damn
glad you are not driving, but our bus driver was crawling along like everyone else and we watched from our seats and sure enough, the ole sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon and this is why planes can’t fly – are you blind as well as nuts?
Finally we reach some toll booth and the driver says; “Folks I’m sorry but unless someone can loan me two dollars, I’ll need to turn this bus around and go back because I have no money.” You got to be kidding me? You would turn this bus around and go back into the city for two lousy dollars. No way, everyone was digging for dollar bills and within short order, he had the money, paid the toll and we were on our way!
As we got closer to Binghamton, our first stop, it was getting dark and now raining, one traveler thought she saw snow but no one else would confirm that sighting (thank goodness). Quick stop, then on our way and next stop Cortland and again, just a quick stop. At 9:45 we pulled in the Syracuse bus station and damn happy to be home. A 10- minute taxi ride and we were at my sister's house and damn glad to be done traveling!
We were hungry; having been gone over a week, there was damn little food in Good Baby’s house, so we tried to order a pizza. Would you believe the big ole citay does not deliver after 10 pm? So we look through the fridge, found eggs and bread, so we can make egg sandwiches and as we had beer and scotch, we were once again happy campers. Still highly pissed at Jet Blue tho – friggin airline just lost two customers for damn sure!
The next morning, that would be Wednesday; we went to breakfast and then out to the airport to get our suitcases. Well, honey, there were piles of suitcases on the flight that never left JFK until 6 a.m. and as my sister moved suitcases to get her’s some clown yelled; “excuse me, there is a system here, we don’t stack suitcases on top of each other, be careful!” Oh shit, this guy said the wrong thing, Sissy gave him the look that makes your heart stop and said, “My suitcase is on the bottom so you system sucks and you’d best stand far from me or I’ll stack you!” He crawled back into his hole and left her alone.
The forecast for Wednesday was rain but later in the day, so I put my stuff in my jeep and headed north – lovely drive, sunny and nice. Watertown was where I ran into some wet stuff but nothing all that exciting. I was damn glad to get home, unpack, shower, put on clean clothes, get some lunch and started looking the mail and promptly fell asleep in my chair. Life is good!
Now my next trip will begin April 30th and I’m headed to Washington, DC but no flying this time –a lovely drive. And you think retirement is boring – not my retirement – it’s full of adventures!
We departed Tampa as scheduled and would arrive in JFK around noon on Tuesday. It’s hard to leave 78 degree weather and know you’re coming back to high 50s or low 40s but hey, this is where I live, so you grin and accept it.
Now we arrive at JFK, a bit foggy and overcast but a nice landing and the pilot and crew thank us for flying with them and wish us a nice day. We stroll into the lounge knowing we have approximately four hours to kill as our flight to Syracuse won’t depart until 5 and it’s just noon.
Whoa! My sister notices the “arrival and departure” monitor and our flight for Syracuse has been cancelled. What the hell? Why? What’s happening here? So we head to one of those JUST ASK counters and wait our turn. When our turn happens we are looked upon and treated like some horrible disease and we haven’t even pitched a fit yet!
“Yes, your flight has been cancelled and is now scheduled to leave at 6 tomorrow morning.”
Excuse me, why is the flight cancelled?
“Weather, it’s foggy.”
We landed in foggy weather, what’s the real story here?
“Lady, there was a horrible rain storm here last night and it’s just bad and flights are not landing at Syracuse.”
You mean your airline is not landing, not all airlines, right?
“Look, the best I can do is put you on high priority standby for the 10 pm flight but its currently booked solid. However you do have confirmed seats for the 6 a.m. flight tomorrow morning.”
So where is your airline putting us up for the night for this inconvenience?
“We don’t control the weather and we are not putting you up in a hotel nor are we giving you a food voucher.”
So you expect us to hang around here all night, in this lounge and take the 6 a.m. flight and there is absolutely no compensation for this inconvenience? Wait, how about checking with another airline?
“We do not do business with other airlines. Now please, I have told you everything I can, you have confirmed seats on the 6 a.m. flight, now move along, I need to help the folks behind you!
Needless to say we were not happy campers. We needed to sit down, get some food, a drink and think. Our minds were whirling with all sorts of thoughts, top of the list was to strangle the bitch who treated us like last week's garbage, then went to “don’t planes have radar and when in hell did rain stop flights?”
Well, one thing was damn certain; we were NOT spending this night in this damn airport. Nope, a call was made to my niece, asked her to get with Greyhound and if there was a bus headed to Syracuse, book us two seats. Yes, we would get a taxi to Port Authority and find the bus station.
That taxi ride cost us $60 and although we both love NYC we’d much prefer to stroll about and see the sights, not ride in a taxi cab. Then we get to Port Authority, get our tickets and the bus will depart at 4:45 p.m., so we have a couple hours to kill here – Bus stations haven’t improved much over the years but you somehow manage to find a seat or stand around until boarding…life is good!I cannot begin to tell you how long it has been since I rode a bus – suffice to say it has been many, many years. So when we did board I was somewhat surprised – pleasantly and discovered I could plug in my cell phone charger and if I had my laptop, I could have plugged that in too…I doubt I would of have Internet service but one young man was playing a movie on his laptop, using head phones and quite content. As for the seats, they were quite comfortable and the bus was not crowded.
NYC during rush hour is amazing and it’s a time when you are damn
glad you are not driving, but our bus driver was crawling along like everyone else and we watched from our seats and sure enough, the ole sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon and this is why planes can’t fly – are you blind as well as nuts?Finally we reach some toll booth and the driver says; “Folks I’m sorry but unless someone can loan me two dollars, I’ll need to turn this bus around and go back because I have no money.” You got to be kidding me? You would turn this bus around and go back into the city for two lousy dollars. No way, everyone was digging for dollar bills and within short order, he had the money, paid the toll and we were on our way!
As we got closer to Binghamton, our first stop, it was getting dark and now raining, one traveler thought she saw snow but no one else would confirm that sighting (thank goodness). Quick stop, then on our way and next stop Cortland and again, just a quick stop. At 9:45 we pulled in the Syracuse bus station and damn happy to be home. A 10- minute taxi ride and we were at my sister's house and damn glad to be done traveling!
We were hungry; having been gone over a week, there was damn little food in Good Baby’s house, so we tried to order a pizza. Would you believe the big ole citay does not deliver after 10 pm? So we look through the fridge, found eggs and bread, so we can make egg sandwiches and as we had beer and scotch, we were once again happy campers. Still highly pissed at Jet Blue tho – friggin airline just lost two customers for damn sure!
The next morning, that would be Wednesday; we went to breakfast and then out to the airport to get our suitcases. Well, honey, there were piles of suitcases on the flight that never left JFK until 6 a.m. and as my sister moved suitcases to get her’s some clown yelled; “excuse me, there is a system here, we don’t stack suitcases on top of each other, be careful!” Oh shit, this guy said the wrong thing, Sissy gave him the look that makes your heart stop and said, “My suitcase is on the bottom so you system sucks and you’d best stand far from me or I’ll stack you!” He crawled back into his hole and left her alone.
The forecast for Wednesday was rain but later in the day, so I put my stuff in my jeep and headed north – lovely drive, sunny and nice. Watertown was where I ran into some wet stuff but nothing all that exciting. I was damn glad to get home, unpack, shower, put on clean clothes, get some lunch and started looking the mail and promptly fell asleep in my chair. Life is good!
Now my next trip will begin April 30th and I’m headed to Washington, DC but no flying this time –a lovely drive. And you think retirement is boring – not my retirement – it’s full of adventures!
Hey, keep smiling, okay?
2 comments:
Wow! I'm surprised that Jet Blue treated you so crappy!! I would've waited at the airport for the next plane...I don't go on greyhound anymore! I went cross country back in the mid-70s & it was SCARY!!!
Glad you got home safe!! :0)
Oh, & THANK YOU for bringing back the warmer weather!! :0)
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