Pam & Donna's Excellent Adventure

Ok. I wasn't going to post anything about dad until we got there to see how he's doing…but I am SO frustrated right now.   I need to right this while everything is fresh….

Dad has not had a good couple of weeks.  In and out of the hospital twice, now in rehab.  So I decided to visit, and possibly bring him home.  So I needed someone to go with me, and Donna wanted to go. (I needed someone to help me take care of dad on the way home).  Not sure that is happening now - but this is about our trip.

Waited to make reservations to see if he was going home, rehab, or what.  Last week decided to wait until this week.  Good fares today. (well, better than last week).  Didn't know a snowstorm was going to hit the south, from Atlanta to Ohio.

Left home around 4 for a 6pm flight.  I thought there would probably be a delay because of the weather.  One hour delay turned into a two hour delay.  got out of Dayton around 8:30.  Flight was very bumpy (pilot actually said 180mph winds were hitting the right side of the plane-Jet Stream).  Kind of scary.  When we were about 60 miles from Atlanta, said we couldn't land because of bad weather.  Circled multiple times before we could land.

Forgot to say that in Dayton, the clerk at check in booked our flight for Tuesday morning just in case we missed our connection.  That was the nicest thing Delta did all night.  In fact, they were pretty accommodating in Dayton.   The clerk also said they changed our flight to Atlanta as our final destination, and to "pick up your bags at baggage claim when you get there.  Go to the desk to get a voucher for a hotel."

Ok. So we get a free hotel if we miss our connection. (only because our flight was delayed because of mechanical problems.  No comps if delays are weather related).

So we finally land in Atlanta, rush to get to Customer Service desk for Delta, only to find about 100 people ahead of us.  After waiting about 10 minutes, the girl who seemed to be in charged shouted "CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. WE HAVE NO MORE HOTELS AVAILABLE. SORRY.  YOU CAN FIND YOUR OWN HOTEL OR STAY IN THE AIRPORT."

That's it.  The end.  We caused this problem, now go find your own place to stay.

So now we have to go get our luggage, which in the Atlanta airport is about a mile from your gate.  WE get there and our wait for about 45 minutes, and our luggage never shows up.  So we go wait in ANOTHER line - The missing luggage line.  Only to be told by the gentleman there, who scanned our luggage receipt- your luggage is going to Melbourne tomorrow.  "NO.  They told us in Dayton to pick it up at baggage claim."  "NO.  It is not showing up here. It will go to Melbourne tomorrow."  There were several other people whose luggage didn't show up either.  They were checking other carousels.  After talking to the luggage guy, we decided to go back to check if our luggage ever came out…just to find more luggage coming out of the carousel…OUR luggage.  SOAKING WET.  Evidently they took it off the plane and left it on the tarmac.  In the pouring rain.  Donna's checked bag was a duffle bag.  EVERYTHING in her back is soaking wet.

From there, we finally found a desk for DELTA that was open.  I went up and asked what we were supposed to do.  Where are we supposed to sleep.  "Well. We can get you a hotel, but its not very nice. It's about 15 minutes from here. "  Well, I'd rather sleep on the airport floor than some seedy hotel.  At least there's airport security riding around.  And about 100 other people sleeping on the floor.

Last year we flew SOUTHWEST when we went on our cruise.  We got bumped from our flight (twice) and got vouchers for being bumped.  That's how you keep customers.  When something happens (like a mechanical problem)…you compensate your customers SOMEHOW.  You don't say.  SORRY.  Your problem.

I will NEVER fly DELTA again.  No vouchers for food (everything's closed anyway), no vouchers for future travel (that would at least get me to fly Delta again, and MAYBE consider flying with them again) and a promise of a hotel, only to be sleeping on the floor.

They did say we could check our bags at 4:30… A.M.  I guess that was there way of appeasing us.

But you know what…know matter how bad you have it, there is always someone who would love to be in your shoes…

A mom with a baby just walked by me, trying to get her baby to sleep (looks like about a year old).  At least I don't have a baby to take care of too.

Delta, you should be ashamed of your customer service.  OR LACK OF.

Ok.  Im done.  80 degrees and sunshine should help tomorrow… I mean today.  It's after midnight.

 This reminds me of a trip I had with Melissa, Sue and Matthew a few years back.  Donny called it "Pam and Sue's Excellent Adventure."  But that's a story for another day…

Good night.