Alaska Trip Diary 2016: Day 1: Chicago O'Hell
Here follows the account of my Alaskan Inside Passage Cruise, which departed Vancouver on Monday, May 30 and ended in Seward, Alaska on Monday, June 6. The original plan was that I would fly out of Tampa to Vancouver on Saturday, and have a couple of days ahead of time in Vancouver, which was reputed to be a great city for siteseeing. I was interested in visiting Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, and maybe Granville Island, among others. Sadly, things got off to a rather rough start…
Saturday, May 28, 2016: Chicago O’Hell
7:45 am EDT: Arrived at TPA extra early in anticipation of heavy holiday traffic. Airport wasn’t nearly as busy as I anticipated, but United Airlines had maybe 7 representatives working all 20-something of its check-in counters, which meant a very long wait to check my bag. But once that was done, the flight to Chicago was easy, and we actually landed early.
11:45 am CDT: Had a leisurely lunch and browsed the shops. Flight from O’Hare to Vancouver was scheduled for 4:14 pm CDT.
2:30 pm CDT: It all started going to hell. The first delay announcement text came saying we would be leaving at 5:02 pm. Well, darn, but no biggie. Then the next - 5:33 pm. About twenty minutes later, another: 6:03 pm. Then 6:33. And so on. We were switched to a new gate.
At the new gate, the agent told us that the plane currently at the gate had a maintenance issue, so we would be taking a different plane that had arrived at Terminal 5. We were in Terminal 1. Another 30 minutes, then an hour crept by, and the plane occupying our gate stayed put. We all watched for it to leave, or figured that maybe we’d be sent to Terminal 5.
Neither. Another two hours passed. At last, they moved the other plane, and ours arrived. It was about 7 pm that they finally began boarding us. What a relief! It would be a late night, but we figured, shit happens.
7:30ish pm CDT: Shit was still happening. After about 20 minutes on the plane, I noticed that boarding had stopped, which was odd because the flight was full. Then the announcement came - the flight was being taken out of service due to a maintenance issue and we all had to get back off.
By now, tempers were flaring, and the agents insisted that another plane was on its way from another gate. We switched gates for the second time, but I wound up seated near a member of the flight crew - possibly the captain. He said that often the crew is the last to know and that he had no idea what the problems were with the previous two flights until he found out the maintenance with the second plane wouldn’t be fixed. He said the aborted boarding was “his fault” because he’d believed the issue could be deferred, and started boarding before getting confirmation from the maintenance crew that it couldn’t be.
And… new problem! He and the flight crew were only about four hours away from when they would be timed out! (And the flight to Vancouver would be about 5 hours long.)
There we sat at the gate. No plane, no plane. Finally, around 8:30, the plane arrived. Everyone cheered, but I had my doubts about the crew, as did others. They boarded, and we waited. And waited.
Every 30 minutes, we got another text announcing an additional 30 minute delay. Then more and more agents assembled at the counter, with no explanation of what was going on. One of them started looking down the concourse, and many of us guessed that they were awaiting the arrival of security before they broke the bad news. Nothing else.
Finally, another passenger started yelling. I’ve never understood air rage or people melting down in airports - until that night. The man asked (loudly) for the agents to just tell us SOMETHING, stop putting us off and blowing us off! The suited agent who was clearly looking around for backup said they were trying to get a new crew.
So now we had a plane, but no crew. (Oh, and it fell to the rumor mill to explain why we had no crew - the timing out - because the gate agents never actually told us.) They announced next that we were being given $10 meal vouchers for our trouble. Most of us burst out laughing in sheer disgust.
Sometime after 10 pm, the news arrived via text - not announcement from the gate agents all standing right there. The flight would now be departing at 6:00 am...tomorrow.
Afterward, the gate agents announced that they had none of the “allocated hotel rooms” available, but we could try to book our own and get reimbursed. Worse, other passengers were already trying to get booked on tomorrow’s 9 am flight to Vancouver, but it was full, and there was only one additional flight via United tomorrow. Ridiculous - I’d left for Vancouver more than 48 hours before my cruise was scheduled to leave, and was now seriously wondering if I would make it in time. Never mind that my extra pre-cruise time in Vancouver was looking to be totally shot.
Given how utterly United Airlines had botched this, many of us were thinking it was time to seek out other airline options to Vancouver. So I waited in a line of exhausted, frustrated people and asked if I could get my checked bag. The agents had to confer for another 10 minutes to get an answer. Then they announced, no, we couldn’t reclaim anything.
So here we were. I remembered I had family in town and could possibly stay with them, but I didn’t want to leave the airport and have to deal with security, and leave a checked bag here only to rush back at 4 am. (I admit, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight by this point.) I also had to call my hotel in Vancouver and explain why I hadn’t checked in.
There were no rooms at the Hilton on-site at the airport. No rooms in other hotels nearby. They mentioned that there was a room in the airport set aside for stranded passengers, but nobody directed us to where it was.
After another long series of phone calls to my Vancouver hotel to ensure that I’d be able to check in tomorrow and not lose tomorrow night’s reservation, I sat at the gate with a few dozen others and wondered how the hell we were ever going to sleep.
Annie D was the only United Airlines agent who stuck around helping us through all this, alone as all her coworkers vanished. She directed me to section in Terminal 3 that would have cots to sleep on and said it was about a 10-minute walk.
I got ahold of Adam, my awesome travel agent, online and told him what was going on. I thought again of calling my aunt Pam, but was afraid that some new change would cause me to miss the flight and my ever-decreasing window to get to Vancouver. Could I even trust Annie’s assurances that we would have a crew and be able to leave in the morning?
Adam suggested that I request a ticket to the first class lounge, but at midnight, no agents remained, and the employees still around had no idea what I was talking about (so they claimed). So I went in search of the “room” Annie described where the lights were dimmed and there would be cots to sleep on. Better than trying to sleep on the floor or winding myself around the armrests of the gate chairs.
After a long walk to Terminal 3 (I got lost twice) I found it. It was actually a whole section of terminal full of cots and blanket-wrapped people. I tracked down a custodian dispensing pillows, since it was too damn warm for a blanket.
I know, I told myself, I’m freaking about missing a cruise. Such a first world problem. Yet if this had been a weather delay or some other disaster, I could have dealt with it better. All this was just totally unnecessary.
I wondered if I’d manage to sleep for the next five hours; I’m insomniac at the best of times. The place looked like a morgue. File that under “could be worse.” But it still sucked.
Saturday, May 28, 2016: Chicago O’Hell
7:45 am EDT: Arrived at TPA extra early in anticipation of heavy holiday traffic. Airport wasn’t nearly as busy as I anticipated, but United Airlines had maybe 7 representatives working all 20-something of its check-in counters, which meant a very long wait to check my bag. But once that was done, the flight to Chicago was easy, and we actually landed early.
11:45 am CDT: Had a leisurely lunch and browsed the shops. Flight from O’Hare to Vancouver was scheduled for 4:14 pm CDT.
2:30 pm CDT: It all started going to hell. The first delay announcement text came saying we would be leaving at 5:02 pm. Well, darn, but no biggie. Then the next - 5:33 pm. About twenty minutes later, another: 6:03 pm. Then 6:33. And so on. We were switched to a new gate.
At the new gate, the agent told us that the plane currently at the gate had a maintenance issue, so we would be taking a different plane that had arrived at Terminal 5. We were in Terminal 1. Another 30 minutes, then an hour crept by, and the plane occupying our gate stayed put. We all watched for it to leave, or figured that maybe we’d be sent to Terminal 5.
Neither. Another two hours passed. At last, they moved the other plane, and ours arrived. It was about 7 pm that they finally began boarding us. What a relief! It would be a late night, but we figured, shit happens.
7:30ish pm CDT: Shit was still happening. After about 20 minutes on the plane, I noticed that boarding had stopped, which was odd because the flight was full. Then the announcement came - the flight was being taken out of service due to a maintenance issue and we all had to get back off.
By now, tempers were flaring, and the agents insisted that another plane was on its way from another gate. We switched gates for the second time, but I wound up seated near a member of the flight crew - possibly the captain. He said that often the crew is the last to know and that he had no idea what the problems were with the previous two flights until he found out the maintenance with the second plane wouldn’t be fixed. He said the aborted boarding was “his fault” because he’d believed the issue could be deferred, and started boarding before getting confirmation from the maintenance crew that it couldn’t be.
And… new problem! He and the flight crew were only about four hours away from when they would be timed out! (And the flight to Vancouver would be about 5 hours long.)
There we sat at the gate. No plane, no plane. Finally, around 8:30, the plane arrived. Everyone cheered, but I had my doubts about the crew, as did others. They boarded, and we waited. And waited.
Every 30 minutes, we got another text announcing an additional 30 minute delay. Then more and more agents assembled at the counter, with no explanation of what was going on. One of them started looking down the concourse, and many of us guessed that they were awaiting the arrival of security before they broke the bad news. Nothing else.
Finally, another passenger started yelling. I’ve never understood air rage or people melting down in airports - until that night. The man asked (loudly) for the agents to just tell us SOMETHING, stop putting us off and blowing us off! The suited agent who was clearly looking around for backup said they were trying to get a new crew.
So now we had a plane, but no crew. (Oh, and it fell to the rumor mill to explain why we had no crew - the timing out - because the gate agents never actually told us.) They announced next that we were being given $10 meal vouchers for our trouble. Most of us burst out laughing in sheer disgust.
Sometime after 10 pm, the news arrived via text - not announcement from the gate agents all standing right there. The flight would now be departing at 6:00 am...tomorrow.
Afterward, the gate agents announced that they had none of the “allocated hotel rooms” available, but we could try to book our own and get reimbursed. Worse, other passengers were already trying to get booked on tomorrow’s 9 am flight to Vancouver, but it was full, and there was only one additional flight via United tomorrow. Ridiculous - I’d left for Vancouver more than 48 hours before my cruise was scheduled to leave, and was now seriously wondering if I would make it in time. Never mind that my extra pre-cruise time in Vancouver was looking to be totally shot.
Given how utterly United Airlines had botched this, many of us were thinking it was time to seek out other airline options to Vancouver. So I waited in a line of exhausted, frustrated people and asked if I could get my checked bag. The agents had to confer for another 10 minutes to get an answer. Then they announced, no, we couldn’t reclaim anything.
So here we were. I remembered I had family in town and could possibly stay with them, but I didn’t want to leave the airport and have to deal with security, and leave a checked bag here only to rush back at 4 am. (I admit, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight by this point.) I also had to call my hotel in Vancouver and explain why I hadn’t checked in.
There were no rooms at the Hilton on-site at the airport. No rooms in other hotels nearby. They mentioned that there was a room in the airport set aside for stranded passengers, but nobody directed us to where it was.
After another long series of phone calls to my Vancouver hotel to ensure that I’d be able to check in tomorrow and not lose tomorrow night’s reservation, I sat at the gate with a few dozen others and wondered how the hell we were ever going to sleep.
Annie D was the only United Airlines agent who stuck around helping us through all this, alone as all her coworkers vanished. She directed me to section in Terminal 3 that would have cots to sleep on and said it was about a 10-minute walk.
I got ahold of Adam, my awesome travel agent, online and told him what was going on. I thought again of calling my aunt Pam, but was afraid that some new change would cause me to miss the flight and my ever-decreasing window to get to Vancouver. Could I even trust Annie’s assurances that we would have a crew and be able to leave in the morning?
Adam suggested that I request a ticket to the first class lounge, but at midnight, no agents remained, and the employees still around had no idea what I was talking about (so they claimed). So I went in search of the “room” Annie described where the lights were dimmed and there would be cots to sleep on. Better than trying to sleep on the floor or winding myself around the armrests of the gate chairs.
After a long walk to Terminal 3 (I got lost twice) I found it. It was actually a whole section of terminal full of cots and blanket-wrapped people. I tracked down a custodian dispensing pillows, since it was too damn warm for a blanket.
I know, I told myself, I’m freaking about missing a cruise. Such a first world problem. Yet if this had been a weather delay or some other disaster, I could have dealt with it better. All this was just totally unnecessary.
I wondered if I’d manage to sleep for the next five hours; I’m insomniac at the best of times. The place looked like a morgue. File that under “could be worse.” But it still sucked.