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This is a narrative based on the traveler experiences I’ve read on internet forums and blogs, as well as personal experiences. Names of people and airlines have been changed. Hope you enjoy reading it.
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It was John’s parents 50th wedding anniversary and he had meticulously planned a surprise bash for them in their London family home. The last step was to book the flights for his two year old son, Tim, his wife, Lucy and himself, from Toronto to London. This seemed simple enough with expedia.com.
Within seconds, the search results showed over ten pages of results, with prices differing by less than $10 in some cases. He ruled out the cheapest options, Air India and SAS, based on the poor experiences of his friends who had flown these airlines before. He was debating between British Airways and United Airlines. Though he was a member of both their frequent flyer programs, it didn’t make much difference to him as they were equally difficult to redeem miles from and had similar benefits. He had flown United before and didn’t quite enjoy the experience. He finally decided to go ahead with the British Airways flight, via New York.
On the day of the flight, he checked-in online and was surprised to find out reading his boarding pass that his flight was a code-shared flight run by American Airlines. He proceeded to the American terminal for baggage drop, but was told at the counter the flight was actually being operated by American Eagle. With the entire luggage being pulled by Lucy and Tim in his own arms, John rushed to the other terminal, where regional flights operated from.
After a hasty baggage drop (they were charged $15 for their first bag, and $25 each for their other three), it was time to pass through the grueling security counters. Lucy was asked to taste the baby milk from the bottle and was forced to carry only one extra diaper on-board, even though she mentioned that she’s flying all the way to London. Though, once on the small regional jet, they were glad to be finally on their way.
Alas, the bliss was short-lived. Half-way into the flight, the pilot announced that due to severe weather conditions at JFK Airport, all flights were being diverted to Boston. Once they landed in Boston, the plane sat on the tarmac for a couple of hours without any food or water being served. Understandably, Tim was wailing by now. Soon after, the passengers were able to alight, as the weather in New York showed no signs of easing. At this rate, John would certainly miss his connecting flight to London. At the terminal, the airline served them some food – some unknown meat topped with a squishy brown liquid and neon green vegetables. Just as they were finishing their meal, John realized that there was a British Airways flight leaving for London from Boston in an hour.
He rushed to the gate agent to explain his situation, and requested to be put on the flight. But all his pleas went in vain. That flight was already overbooked. In the end, he ended up waiting another two hours before his flight took off for New York. The flight to London was long gone. The next one was in eight hours, and John, Lucy and Tim had no choice but to wait it out. It wasn’t the ideal start to their London trip.
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Sadly, this is no longer an exception and becoming the norm in air travel these days. Please do share your personal experiences of a similar nature in the comments section.
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Reference: iEurope Blog