My most recent adventure with US Airways
Now that I've been home for almost 3 days, I guess I'll recap my adventure home on Saturday/Sunday:
Saturday: After checking out of my room at 12:15 and surprising my RA at how quickly we cleaned our room, Sayako and I head to the Ithaca airport. Upon arrival at the airport at 1 PM, we both fall asleep outside of the waiting area because it had not opened yet. After we got inside the waiting area at 2:15, I notice that my flight to LaGuardia is "delayed," but by how much I do not know. After Sayako peaced out, they announced that my flight would be delayed from 4:05 to 4:55. My itinerary said I originally had 1 hour transfer time between flights, and since we always depart late from the gate, I figured I'd let the people know that I might not make it to my connecting flight from LaGuardia to Philly. So I go up and tell them, but despite my efforts at trying to explain to them, they keep reassuring me that I have 30 minutes to transfer, which was more than enough time.
We land at LaGuardia, and after taxi-ing around in the rain for forever and a half, I got the hell off of the prop plane and went down the terminal to the gate where my flight to Philly was supposed to leave from. Upon arrival at the gate, the people chillin' there told me that the plane had just left. The time was ~6:30, and the flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30. Go figure. There were a handful of others who were also screwed by this because of the delayed flight from Ithaca. They then take us to this behind-the-scenes counter in the terminal where they figure out that there are no more flights to Minneapolis until Sunday morning. I think there were 3 of us who ended up having to spend the night in NYC, so they reschedule our flights to other airlines on Sunday morning and give us hotel vouchers to the Clarion near LaGuardia. They then tell us to get our checked-in luggage downstairs and go to Delta/Northwest to check in for the following morning.
So here begins my journey all over LaGuardia airport with Emilda, a fellow Cornelian who was equally screwed by this ordeal. After picking up our 50-pounder check-in luggage, we realize that Delta/Northwest termial is the next building from US Airways, but since it's raining outside, we decide to take the shuttle to Delta/Northwest. The dumb thing was that the shuttle didn't travel in the direction of US Airways to Delta/Northwest - instead we looped around the entire airport before we got to our destination next door. Upon arrival at our respective airlines, we tried to check in but they're like "no. We need more info from US Airways...go back there and ask them." So we go back, all the time lugging our deadweight luggage around.
We go back to USeless Airways and get little to nothing accomplished there. They basically told us to go back tomorrow morning and check in, so we proceed down to the ground transportation area where we figure out which shuttle to take to the Clarion. We get to the Clarion at around 8:30-9, were ready to finally crash for the night, and after attempting to check in, the person at the counter said very similar to "WE'RE BOOKED FULL AND HAVE NO MORE ROOMS, WHY DO THEY KEEP SENDING YOU GUYS HERE? IMA CALL THE SHUTTLE TO TAKE YOU RIGHT BACK TO THE AIRPORT." I wondered why the hell US Airways sent us to the Clarion in the first place. So the shuttle came by again and we went back to the airport.
At the US Airways baggage claim, we told them that Clarion was booked full and they were kinda 'fused, so they called up every hotel around LaGuardia that accepts vouchers, only to find out that literally everyone's booked full and have no rooms available. We then get sent upstairs to the counter to "speak with the supervisor," but there was literally no one behind any of the counters. After standing around and saying "Hello? Anyone there?" through this open door at the end, someone finally walks out, but not before the airport cleaning lady came by and walked in to give them a heads up that we were waiting outside. The "supervisor" walks out and finally gets somewhere after about an hour. Apparently the Double Tree near JFK airport has 2 rooms available, so we get sent there with new hotel and ground transportation vouchers (no meal vouchers...even though I hadn't eaten anything since 9:30 AM that day).
At this point, I was mad hungry/thirsty/tired. I did not have anything to drink since noon (right before I checked out of the dorm), and lugging my luggage all around the airport for 4 hours was quite tiring. I kinda regretted packing all my books/papers in my duffel bag with no wheels. We get to the Double Tree at around 11 PM, and after deliberating over our vouchers, we finally get complimentary chocolate chip cookies and rooms to stay in. That cookie was the first thing I ate in 13-14 hours. I deliberated with myself about what to do until 4 AM (when I had to make the journey back to LaGuardia), and decided to order some cheap Chinese delivery and stay up watching The Office. I guess I was afraid that I wouldn't get up on time for some reason if I fell asleep.
After getting back to LaGuardia at 4:45 AM for a 6:15 flight, I tried to check in with Northwest, but they're like "no, US Airways did not do this and this..." so I had to call US Airways to explain to them what they failed to accomplish the previous evening that prevented me from checking in with Northwest. Instead of addressing the issue that I explained to them, they gave me some confirmation number. I gave Northwest that number and they were like "bah! We can't do anything!" but fortunately, there was a competent Northwest clerk who hacked into the computer or something and managed to get my boarding pass printed. After being classified as "Male, secondary" and going through a full security check, I was finally at the gate at 5:20 AM. Sigh.
Saturday: After checking out of my room at 12:15 and surprising my RA at how quickly we cleaned our room, Sayako and I head to the Ithaca airport. Upon arrival at the airport at 1 PM, we both fall asleep outside of the waiting area because it had not opened yet. After we got inside the waiting area at 2:15, I notice that my flight to LaGuardia is "delayed," but by how much I do not know. After Sayako peaced out, they announced that my flight would be delayed from 4:05 to 4:55. My itinerary said I originally had 1 hour transfer time between flights, and since we always depart late from the gate, I figured I'd let the people know that I might not make it to my connecting flight from LaGuardia to Philly. So I go up and tell them, but despite my efforts at trying to explain to them, they keep reassuring me that I have 30 minutes to transfer, which was more than enough time.
We land at LaGuardia, and after taxi-ing around in the rain for forever and a half, I got the hell off of the prop plane and went down the terminal to the gate where my flight to Philly was supposed to leave from. Upon arrival at the gate, the people chillin' there told me that the plane had just left. The time was ~6:30, and the flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30. Go figure. There were a handful of others who were also screwed by this because of the delayed flight from Ithaca. They then take us to this behind-the-scenes counter in the terminal where they figure out that there are no more flights to Minneapolis until Sunday morning. I think there were 3 of us who ended up having to spend the night in NYC, so they reschedule our flights to other airlines on Sunday morning and give us hotel vouchers to the Clarion near LaGuardia. They then tell us to get our checked-in luggage downstairs and go to Delta/Northwest to check in for the following morning.
So here begins my journey all over LaGuardia airport with Emilda, a fellow Cornelian who was equally screwed by this ordeal. After picking up our 50-pounder check-in luggage, we realize that Delta/Northwest termial is the next building from US Airways, but since it's raining outside, we decide to take the shuttle to Delta/Northwest. The dumb thing was that the shuttle didn't travel in the direction of US Airways to Delta/Northwest - instead we looped around the entire airport before we got to our destination next door. Upon arrival at our respective airlines, we tried to check in but they're like "no. We need more info from US Airways...go back there and ask them." So we go back, all the time lugging our deadweight luggage around.
We go back to USeless Airways and get little to nothing accomplished there. They basically told us to go back tomorrow morning and check in, so we proceed down to the ground transportation area where we figure out which shuttle to take to the Clarion. We get to the Clarion at around 8:30-9, were ready to finally crash for the night, and after attempting to check in, the person at the counter said very similar to "WE'RE BOOKED FULL AND HAVE NO MORE ROOMS, WHY DO THEY KEEP SENDING YOU GUYS HERE? IMA CALL THE SHUTTLE TO TAKE YOU RIGHT BACK TO THE AIRPORT." I wondered why the hell US Airways sent us to the Clarion in the first place. So the shuttle came by again and we went back to the airport.
At the US Airways baggage claim, we told them that Clarion was booked full and they were kinda 'fused, so they called up every hotel around LaGuardia that accepts vouchers, only to find out that literally everyone's booked full and have no rooms available. We then get sent upstairs to the counter to "speak with the supervisor," but there was literally no one behind any of the counters. After standing around and saying "Hello? Anyone there?" through this open door at the end, someone finally walks out, but not before the airport cleaning lady came by and walked in to give them a heads up that we were waiting outside. The "supervisor" walks out and finally gets somewhere after about an hour. Apparently the Double Tree near JFK airport has 2 rooms available, so we get sent there with new hotel and ground transportation vouchers (no meal vouchers...even though I hadn't eaten anything since 9:30 AM that day).
At this point, I was mad hungry/thirsty/tired. I did not have anything to drink since noon (right before I checked out of the dorm), and lugging my luggage all around the airport for 4 hours was quite tiring. I kinda regretted packing all my books/papers in my duffel bag with no wheels. We get to the Double Tree at around 11 PM, and after deliberating over our vouchers, we finally get complimentary chocolate chip cookies and rooms to stay in. That cookie was the first thing I ate in 13-14 hours. I deliberated with myself about what to do until 4 AM (when I had to make the journey back to LaGuardia), and decided to order some cheap Chinese delivery and stay up watching The Office. I guess I was afraid that I wouldn't get up on time for some reason if I fell asleep.
After getting back to LaGuardia at 4:45 AM for a 6:15 flight, I tried to check in with Northwest, but they're like "no, US Airways did not do this and this..." so I had to call US Airways to explain to them what they failed to accomplish the previous evening that prevented me from checking in with Northwest. Instead of addressing the issue that I explained to them, they gave me some confirmation number. I gave Northwest that number and they were like "bah! We can't do anything!" but fortunately, there was a competent Northwest clerk who hacked into the computer or something and managed to get my boarding pass printed. After being classified as "Male, secondary" and going through a full security check, I was finally at the gate at 5:20 AM. Sigh.