Travel Woes

On Twitter I promised to talk about the trip over. Everything went smoothly driving the moving truck from Denver to Kansas to Oklahoma, the flight from Oklahoma back to Denver and then the train to Sacramento. The rental car from Sacramento back to Carson City, up to Virginia City and Reno, down through Yosemite to Fresno, over to the coast and the Hearst Castle and up to San Francisco went smoothly as well. In fact, everything was great right up to the point the United flight was supposed to leave. Then it all went very south, but not in a good way as in progress to "Oz".

Let me preface this with letting you know that all my life I've wanted to fly aboard two planes: a 747 Jumbo Jet and a Concorde. I took a 777 to London in 2002, so that one is already crossed off my list, besides which it's a relatively new model and therefore not such a big deal. The Concorde has long been out of service (for bogus reasons that I won't go into here), so that will never happen. This trip to Australia was my first chance to fly on the airliner that to this day is still the most recognizable and iconic of them all.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:57 pm on Sunday, 16 September and arrive at Sydney 6:25am on Tuesday, 18 September. (The flight is about 13.5 hours and Sydney is 14 hours ahead of San Francisco at that time of year, so you lose a day. Coming back, you get to live the same day twice, or at least part of it!) We arrived four hours early to make certain we had time to deal with anything that might come up. Well, international flights have their own terminal and associated ticketing and security areas, so we had to walk about three times as far, lugging huge unwieldy bags, I with an extra one because I packed not for a few days or even a few weeks, but for a year. We had a couple of bags that were 1 & 2 pounds over weight, so they made us take some stuff out of those two cases and put it into a nylon back that I fortunately had packed. I already had to pay $70 for my extra checked bag, but fortunately no one questioned me about my newly surplus carry-on bag. We finally boarded the plane, but nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry, and there was not a single peep out of the crew. Two and a half hours later, they finally told us there was something wrong with the airplane (but wouldn't specify what), and told us to deplane and that there was another one at the adjacent gate that we would take instead. After about a half hour back at the gate, they had the first class and business passengers board the second plane. Then came another wait of a half hour or so, after which they told us there was a problem with the second plane as well and that they had 15 or 20 minutes to rectify it. Of course that didn't happen, so they finally gave up and had us go back to ticketing where they would try to get us all on new flights.

Even though we were near the front of the rush to the ticket counter, by the time we got there we somehow ended up at the back as they went from three open counters to about a dozen. After some time had passed, they went around handing out little slips of paper with a toll-free number to call and get re-ticketed without having to wait for the line. Claude, my travel partner, called the number, but although they were happy to take care of my ticket they wouldn't to anything reasonable for him because he had used frequent flyer miles to purchase his ticket. We gave up and stayed in line.

I guess at this point I should mention that we had not purchased our tickets together and our seats were not together, so there was nothing linking us in their system. A couple of hours later I got an email from United detailing a new reservation for me, on Air New Zealand from San Francisco to Auckland, then Auckland to Sydney starting at 9:45pm on Tuesday and arriving at Sydney at 8:30am on Thursday. That would have been okay if Claude could have taken the same flights, but since they were saying that he wouldn't be able to get a flight for four days, that would leave me stranded alone in Sydney for two days. A half hour later, about five am, we finally made it to the counter.

The lady behind the counter was friendly and helpful, and overcame numerous obstacles to get us on the same flights together. The result was a voucher for a shared hotel room at the Hilton Garden near the airport, two $10 food vouchers apiece for airport vendors, and tickets on a United flight 6:30 pm from San Francisco to Los Angeles and 11:50 pm flight on QANTAS from L.A. to Sydney arriving about 7:40 am.

That was all fine, but what happened next was infuriating beyond belief.

We arrived at the Hilton, which cost United $260 and we were assured included breakfast, just before 6 o'clock am. We checked in, only to be told that check-out was at noon, and they were "doing us a favor" by letting us check out at 1 pm. Meaning they got full price for rooms that had sat empty that night, and still could get another full price on the same rooms the next night! And while United was getting ripped off left and right by the hotels, hapless customers were being kicked out into the cold (literally - San Francisco had been blustery and cool enough to require jackets the whole time we were there). They would not budge on the matter. After giving up on getting a reasonable amount of sleep and being informed that breakfast was at six (it was only five minutes til), we lugged our bags upstairs (ourselves, since there was no bellhop on duty) and I showered to relax and give them a little time to get set up.

When we arrived back down at the lobby about a quarter past, they were just beginning to set up the breakfast bar, and we were informed that it was $15 extra for the hot breakfast. By this time we were so tired and so resigned to the situation - and determined not to give them one more penny - that we just had a couple of unappetizing cold rolls and a little fruit and went up to bed.

Once again, when we checked our luggage for the flight to L.A. we were hassled and had to redistribute our luggage. We then used a couple of vouchers for a late lunch, and it was smooth sailing from there on out.

The flight on QANTAS (it's spelled that way because it's an acronym - Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services) was a stark contrast to any flight I've ever had on United or any other American airline. Each seat had its own individual video monitor, and the service was much better. The food was actually hot and tasty, and I even had a (very small) glass of wine with my ample dinner. Snacks were available on demand, and breakfast was also ample, hot and tasty. As is usual for me on an airplane, I got little sleep, but watched three movies, which were on demand, not on a set schedule. The attendants were efficient and friendly. That said, my United "Economy Plus" upgrade was converted into QANTAS' "Premium Economy" fare, so I had a whole lot more room, a larger retractable monitor, a 110v power outlet to charge my devices and presumably better service. (In case you're wondering, here and here are a little more info. It remains to be seen if I will pay for QANTAS' upgrade in the future, but I certainly enjoyed it this time, and will not be flying United in the foreseeable future. I've been seeing some nightmare accounts of United experiences from celebrities lately and didn't want to believe it was a trend, but now I do.

This post has been more of a complaint and cautionary tale than anything else and doesn't directly relate to my experiences in Australia, so I'm going to quietly publish it and make my first Oz update notification for the next one.

Change Is In The Air

I'm just about to embark on the greatest adventure of my life, and I intend to use this blog to document it. For the last two years I've been planning to go to Australia. I'll be there for a year, and what will happen after that is anyone's guess. My plane takes off from San Francisco's SFO at 10:47pm Pacific USA time. The flight is ~14 hours.

This is why I haven't posted lately, and haven't been very good about keeping in touch with my friends and family. Not that I've ever been great at that, but the stress and sheer amount of work of whittling down a 4-bedroom, 2-car garage house with a big yard and shed to fit into a 10x10 foot storage unit along with grieving the passing of my lifemate and dealing with many other life changes has made it nearly impossible.

I still have a lot to learn regarding blogging, but hopefully as I go along I'll learn all the things necessary to achieve my goals. Check this space for updates in the coming days and weeks, and I hope you'll find it interesting.

Wish me luck!