Planes, trains, and automobiles.
Yesterday was a complete travel disaster. I was so exhausted when I arrived in Vegas from my five and a half hour flight from Philadelphia, where I spent Christmas visiting my parents, and all I wanted was to get on a plane for 45 minutes and go home to San Diego. Right after I sent Corey an email and called my mom, the Southwest agents told us that there was a slight possibility that our flight could be diverted from San Diego into Ontario due to low-laying fog. They said the chances of that happening were very low as the weather wasn't supposed to move in until two hours after we had already landed. Well, we sat on the tarmac in Las Vegas for almost an hour and when we finally did launch and make it to San Diego, we spent almost another hour stuck in a circling pattern with lots and lots of other aircraft trying to land. The fog was already right over the airport and we made two attempts to land. On the second attempt, we were to so close to the runway that we could see the landing lights, but the pilot pulled up at the last second. From there, we were diverted to Ontario, but before landing, we found out that the airport was full. We were then sent to the Burbank airport, which is north of Los Angeles, or an almost 2-3 hour drive to San Diego.
Our flight crew had us get off of the plane after about 15 minutes of sitting in Burbank on the ground and we were sent into a tiny Jet Blue terminal. We were told that someone would be sent to talk to all of us, but that never happened. We heard an announcement over the speakers that Southwest was going to try to get us buses to ride down to San Diego, but being New Year's Eve, they were having trouble. We were all told to get our baggage and that the people who wanted to go back to Vegas could go back there if they had accommodations set up with friends or family. We could also go back there and wait on stand-by for a flight tomorrow, but that wasn't announced and I heard that much later in the night. After many of us spent a long time waiting in baggage claim, which was outside, Southwest made an announcement that no buses were available and that all of us that were scheduled to go to San Diego were "on our own". Burbank doesn't offer flights to San Diego.
I was sitting next to a 16-year old girl on the plane who was flying alone, so I was trying to watch out for her. When the announcement was made about Southwest not providing any transportation to San Diego, I had no idea what to do. I was in a place I'd never been and I was too exhausted to drive a rental car for three hours. I finally went into the Southwest customer service office after all of the people going to Vegas got out of there and asked what I was supposed to do, especially with the 16-year old. The two representatives in there had no idea, but one of the other passengers diverted from San Diego told me that there was an Amtrak station right across the street. He had called them and they had a train leaving at 9:10pm. He gave me the 1-800 number and I made reservations for both me and the 16-year old girl. The cost was $46 per person and we got no reimbursement for that. We had to take a bus across the street and then wait near train tracks for the train. There were probably a good 15-20 people going on that train that were diverted from San Diego from either Vegas or Sacramento. We all did our best to make light of the situation and made friends out of strangers, with ages ranging from 16 to about 70. We even took pictures!
Once we were on the train, we stopped in Los Angeles and the train had to have an engine and caboose change and we ended up having over a half an hour delay. Once we got moving again, morale improved and most of the other Southwest abandonees got some drinks to celebrate the new year. There was a countdown over the loud speaker and we all rang in 2012 together. Drinking games were played, people got to know one another, and we all made plans to develop a class action lawsuit against Southwest. ;) It was actually kind of fun and it was a little sad when everyone started to get off at their stops. After talking to some of the other passengers, I decided to get off at the Old Town stop rather than the one in Downtown as it was closer to the house. I also made sure the 16-year old girl had a ride from the Downtown stop. Sometime after 1am, we got to the Old Town stop and there were no cabs anywhere. One of the other Southwest passengers I was traveling with didn't want to leave me alone at that time of night, so she asked her ride to drop me off too. I was very appreciative and gave them $20 for their trouble. I finally made it home around 1:30am, after I was scheduled to arrive in San Diego at 5:50pm. Needless to say, I was tired, especially since I was awake since 4am Pacific time.
The most depressing part of this story is that Southwest just abandoned us. On a holiday. In the middle of nowhere. We got no reimbursement for anything, and while I understand that we were diverted for uncontrollable weather issues, we should have gotten some help. I really appreciate all of the other passengers who were so helpful with making sure that I made it home. It's nice to know that people can still be nice.
Our flight crew had us get off of the plane after about 15 minutes of sitting in Burbank on the ground and we were sent into a tiny Jet Blue terminal. We were told that someone would be sent to talk to all of us, but that never happened. We heard an announcement over the speakers that Southwest was going to try to get us buses to ride down to San Diego, but being New Year's Eve, they were having trouble. We were all told to get our baggage and that the people who wanted to go back to Vegas could go back there if they had accommodations set up with friends or family. We could also go back there and wait on stand-by for a flight tomorrow, but that wasn't announced and I heard that much later in the night. After many of us spent a long time waiting in baggage claim, which was outside, Southwest made an announcement that no buses were available and that all of us that were scheduled to go to San Diego were "on our own". Burbank doesn't offer flights to San Diego.
I was sitting next to a 16-year old girl on the plane who was flying alone, so I was trying to watch out for her. When the announcement was made about Southwest not providing any transportation to San Diego, I had no idea what to do. I was in a place I'd never been and I was too exhausted to drive a rental car for three hours. I finally went into the Southwest customer service office after all of the people going to Vegas got out of there and asked what I was supposed to do, especially with the 16-year old. The two representatives in there had no idea, but one of the other passengers diverted from San Diego told me that there was an Amtrak station right across the street. He had called them and they had a train leaving at 9:10pm. He gave me the 1-800 number and I made reservations for both me and the 16-year old girl. The cost was $46 per person and we got no reimbursement for that. We had to take a bus across the street and then wait near train tracks for the train. There were probably a good 15-20 people going on that train that were diverted from San Diego from either Vegas or Sacramento. We all did our best to make light of the situation and made friends out of strangers, with ages ranging from 16 to about 70. We even took pictures!
Once we were on the train, we stopped in Los Angeles and the train had to have an engine and caboose change and we ended up having over a half an hour delay. Once we got moving again, morale improved and most of the other Southwest abandonees got some drinks to celebrate the new year. There was a countdown over the loud speaker and we all rang in 2012 together. Drinking games were played, people got to know one another, and we all made plans to develop a class action lawsuit against Southwest. ;) It was actually kind of fun and it was a little sad when everyone started to get off at their stops. After talking to some of the other passengers, I decided to get off at the Old Town stop rather than the one in Downtown as it was closer to the house. I also made sure the 16-year old girl had a ride from the Downtown stop. Sometime after 1am, we got to the Old Town stop and there were no cabs anywhere. One of the other Southwest passengers I was traveling with didn't want to leave me alone at that time of night, so she asked her ride to drop me off too. I was very appreciative and gave them $20 for their trouble. I finally made it home around 1:30am, after I was scheduled to arrive in San Diego at 5:50pm. Needless to say, I was tired, especially since I was awake since 4am Pacific time.
The most depressing part of this story is that Southwest just abandoned us. On a holiday. In the middle of nowhere. We got no reimbursement for anything, and while I understand that we were diverted for uncontrollable weather issues, we should have gotten some help. I really appreciate all of the other passengers who were so helpful with making sure that I made it home. It's nice to know that people can still be nice.