Your first flight was not bad at all. The first time I went and saw my
fiance she was working in Lisbon Portugal. I was taking off on Christmas
day since it was a cheaper flight and I figured less people.
I get to Detroit metro airport early to make sure not to miss my flight.
The flight is delayed a little, it was snowing so we have to wait. They
finally board us which was not to late only 30 mintues past schedule but
we couldn't get on the runway because of backups. When it was finally
our turn they decided that we should get de iced first and this should
have been done the first time we were ready. We take off finally and I am
doing the calculations in my head to see if I will make my connection in
Newark to Portugal.
Well it seemed I would have no trouble since I scheduled myself for a 3
hour wait in Newark when I first bought my tickets. As we got close to
Jersey we were forced to circle the airport a few times because of the
weather. I still felt no problem since I had 90 minutes, but the pilot then
says the runway is still being cleaned and we need to go to Washington
DC for fuel. My exact words were @#$%^ @#^%$#@ idiots of course I
didn't say this out loud but I knew that I missed my one and only flight to
Portugal. We refuel and head for Newark, no problem we were the last
plane to land at the airport so everything was easy except when you are
travelling and so many flights get canceled you know the next hard thing
is finding a hotel.
Before I leave the airport I make sure that I have a ticket for tomorrow
night. NWA ticket clerk says no problem they rescheduled me for the new
flight. Next day I go back to the airport and when I am checking in they
say that I do not have a reserved seat so I have to go on standby. I was
really fed up by now. I tell her to hold the standby but I will go look for
another airline company to fly me to Lisbon. I find a flight with KLM but it
goes to Amsterdam first then Lisbon. I decide to take it not knowing if I
would get the standby seat. I never been to Amsterdam so I figure it
might be nice to see and there was a 5 hour layover anyway. The only
thing was that I just barely got this ticket and the plane was leaving in
about 20 minutes. I had to be rushed through security by cutting in the
line. I walk fast to make it on time and it was at the far end of the hub. I
get to the plane and the flight is postponed. They needed to replace a
part before taking off but they did not have the part there it had to be
flown in from Chicago.
We ended up taking off 4 hours later and again I was doing calculations
in my head to see if I would make my next flight. It was going to be a
very close call. I pulled out the airline magazine to see the map of the
Amsterdam airport. When I looked at the gates I couldn't believe it they
were right next to each other so I was happy. As we pull up to our gate I
actually see the plane I will be taking but there was a catch. It was not
next to me at all. The Amesterdam airport has two levels. I had to leave
the plane and run to the customs booth, go thru customs and up a flight
of stairs. As soon as I was upstairs I can't remember exactly if I had to do
customs again but I needed to run to get to my next flight. This was
shaped like a horseshoe with the customs at the bottom of the shoe. I
did make it but barely, they closed the gate less than five minutes later
and most of the passengers had already been on the plane. I had been
up over 24 hours with no shower or shave and I was meeting my fiance
for the first time. Last thing, when I got to Lisbon my bag never made it
which I pretty much knew it wouldn't with the way I had to run.
At the end of my two weeks vacation I had the same thing happen again.
I missed my Newark flight and I had to wait for a later flight. It was three
hours later but it was freezing rain outside so a half hour before my
flight they canceled it and I had to go get another hotel room again. I
have not flown Northwestern since!
