In seattle? nope.
I've been avoiding talking about my trip since...well since the day we were supposed to leave for seattle. This is mainly because I've never been so disappointed in my life. We didn't go. We're still here in Arkansas, and we're not having a great roadtrip with an amazing few stops at hotels along the way. I don't get to take pictures of us after we've been driving for a week, I don't get to taste that great seattle cuisine, or see Jon's dad or just enjoy myself with his family.
And it's all thanks to Frontier Airlines. Frontier who overworked their employees and as such had to delay all their flights out of arkansas by over 2 hours. Frontier Airlines, who had a woman who obviously was still in training working the counter -alone- (and who also showed up around 20 minutes late from her shift i might add, which left us with far, far less time to plan what to do).
I should start at the beginning.
We drove an hour to the airport, My mum dropped us off, and we went inside. Now, we already knew our plane had been delayed by 2 hours and as a consequence, we were going to miss our connecting flight. We expected to have to shuffle things around. we were okay with that. these things happen. We go to the counter at about 315 pm, and the man standing there hesitates. "you're with frontier? They dont open their counter till four. Sorry." Fine, fine, it was only a small delay and our plane didnt take off for hours yet. We coudl wait till four. which we did. Four came and went, no employee. Four fifteen came and went, no employee. By four twenty we were starting to get antsy and went to talk to the original gentleman again. He was hesitant but looked up our info anyway (why he couldnt have done that initially is beyond me but whatever) and told us that we should go ahead, check in, go through security and talk to someone at the gate. He said that once we got to denver, they'd probably fix everything. I said, I'd rather everything be fixed -here- before we were hundreds of miles from home. He understood and again told us to talk to the woman at the gate.
The problem was, after we got fondled and passed through security, there -was- no gate yet. Frontier hadn't been assigned one for our flight yet. So it was another hour and a half of waiting. While this was going on we ate ou rlunch and talked to jon's dad on the phone who was trying to sort things from his side. He told us to tell the gate about a flight that he got from the 800 number which would be the quickest way to get to seattle. I wrote it down, verified it, and called the 800 number myself because goddamn we still didn't have a gate number.
About halfway through being on hold (which was about 20 minutes) we finally got a gate. So we head over to number nine. OUr call is finally answered and a woman talks to us about our problem. She has no flights but she talks to a manager and says she can get us rerouted through la and to seattle from there, but we'll have to stay overnight in denver. I say that would be great but i need to call jon's dad back and talk to him and jon both. it'll take about five minutes. She assures us that it'll be fine, gives us the flight numbers and tells us the lady at the gate can book it for us. She also says that it'd be good to inquire on if the flights in denver are going to be delayed because she's heard they will be, but isn't positive. "They'll know all that at the gate." she assures us. I call jon's dad back and talk to jon and decide this is hte best thing to do. It takes all of five minutes.
So I walk over to hte woman at the gate. The first thing I ask her is if the flight from denver to seattle is going to be delayed. She gives me the oddest look and actually says "I...I'm not sure which thing is for which on this screen." I dont even know what that means but I'm gobsmacked. It's kind of her job to read the screen. Her -only- job. So I stammer through that the 800 number lady said they could reroute us through LA and from there go to seattle. I state she said we'd have to stay the night in denver first. She can't find the flights im talking about. She can't even figure out what flight is going to LA. Finally she says she can get us to seattle but we'll need to stay over 3 days in denver. Three. Days. Unacceptable. I thank her for her time and we, very sadly call jon's dad back. We all decide to cancel the whole trip.
We call my mother, and she has to drive another hour up to get us and an hour back home. We promise to give her gas money because by now...just wtf.
We then go to the front desk to demand a refund where we run into, i kid you not, the same. fucking. woman. from the gate. I thought for a second she had a twin. she HAD to have a twin. We were -across- the airport from the gate. I don't even know how she got there before us but it was her.
With a very resigned sigh I stand in line behind 3 other families who were all taking their money back. We all stood with a resigned solidarity that only this much disappointment could bring, talking about the situaiton....and I kid you not this is when we all find out that it's not got anything to do with weather, but instead with Frontier's inability to manage it's workers and give them reasonable time off. That's all this was. Entirely their fault.
Anyway we get to the front of the line and talk with the gate woman again. She seems to be having trouble figuring out how to give us a refund. She has to call someone to walk her through the screens, and as we find out by listening to her she has had to call them -several times today- for help. She has very -obviously- not been trained. I have no -idea- what the fuck is up with Frontier but they apparently don't think it's important to teach their employees how to do their jobs. Toss em in and see if they can swim, that's the Frontier way. She asks us if the ticket is refundable or nonrefundable because if it's nonrefundable she can't do anything. At this point I've had it. I tell her as politely as i can, but as firmly as i can, that I don't care -what- the ticket is, Frontier dropped the ball, not us, and she -will- be giving us a refund, or I -will- be talking to whomever is on the other end of that phone myself. Loudly.
We get the refund (rather jon's dad got the refund as it's his money) and we leave the airport annoyed, upset, but no worse for wear aside from that.
And now we're home. Ive got 4 days to work this week, but next week I"m entirely off and I"m doing nothing. i'm considering talking jon into going away maybe somewhere in little rock for a few days. Something. That way we can relax and still get out of the house. It's an idea, anyway.
We wont get to try again until at least july. Probably nearer august or september.
So...that's our trip. There you have it. And if i seem a bit upset this week, that's precisely why.