United Doesn't TAP to the Star Alliance

Ron had to go from Newark to Lisbon to Frankfurt to Budapest and arrived home at 8:30 PM last night. When he went to check in at Newark, it seems that United had him booked on a TAP flight that was discontinued in May. However, he did not find this out at the check-in desk until they had checked his luggage and sent it off on the belt. They had re-booked him on a flight that now had him over nighting in Lisbon, but no one had forewarned him about this. Needless to say, no one offered to pay or supply a hotel voucher either. This scheduled plane was six hours later than his originally planned flight.

When he told TAP he was never informed of these changes and due to EU rules, he knew he was entitled to be put on a different flight if there were an earlier one out of Lisbon, they said he would have to deal with United. Because this was a frequent flyer ticket, TAP was not able to make the changes. He had the good sense to ask if they were all part of the Star Alliance, why they could not do it themselves, but the TAP rep tap danced around the question, saying they could not.

He went to the United desk in a different terminal, spoke with a rep there, who said she would make the changes, but that TAP should have done this themselves since they are part of the Star Alliance, confirming Ron's thoughts. She then suggested he go back to TAP to retrieve his luggage and recheck it with United.

After returning the the original terminal where TAP is located, he asked for his luggage to be searched for, but the young man who had originally took it gave him the run-around about getting it back. After Ron pressed the issue, the young man supposedly went looking for it, but came back empty handed. Ron claims he was a bit surly about the request, so chances are the man disappeared just to say he did it when he return, but really having done nothing at all.

Ron arrived in Lisbon, had a wait and then had to fly to Frankfurt, before continuing on to Budapest.

The irony of the whole situation is that I had convinced him to bring me home some Italian sausage. I had him deep freeze it, wrap the package in aluminum foil and then in plastic bags, thinking that in the cargo hold, it would make it back partially frozen or ready to cook immediately. Also in the luggage were bagels.

In his carry-on suitcase is a new Windows Home Server, which I paid $700 for, but all of the peripherals, the cords, software, etc are in the big suitcase, along with the ten books on how to teach online and how to be a life coach. Is this a message from the universe?

Needless to say, Ron's luggage did not arrive home with him. There was another flight in last night at midnight, but the luggage was not on it. The next flight is today at 2:00.

I will be in mourning as I throw the sausage into the trash.

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No TAP Dancing for Ron

Originally, Ron was supposed to leave Newark, NJ yesterday afternoon on a TAP flight, the Portuguese airline, but the Continental Airliner with the dead pilot were given priority at the airport causing flights out to be delayed. Major storms all down the NJ coast had further impact on delaying flights.

The last time I had checked last night on his flight, it was delayed for four hours out of Newark. Fortunately, I had reminded him of the EU rules. His change in Lisbon from TAP to TAP was only 2 hours, so I knew he would not make the transfer in time.

This morning, I received a message from my sister-in-law. He called her to say he was rerouted via Lufthansa going to Frankfurt and then back here.

He was originally scheduled back at 2:30 PM. Now he will not get back until about 6:30 PM. I had made dinner reservations, but will need to change them. I am sure it will take him a few days to recover. He does not do well with jet lag when he returns from the States.

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We Are Sorry to Say, Your Pilot Has Died

I just spoke with Ron. He will be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours. I don't know how he found this out, but he told me that a Continental Airlines jet coming in from Brussels has priority landing at Newark Airport in NJ, because the pilot died during the flight. Yikes!! I cannot even imagine that crew announcement. Fortunately, overseas flights have three crew members in the cockpit.

His other joyful news included the weather report that Newark and the Jersey coast are experiencing storms causing flights outbound to be delayed. If you read this, keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for a safe journey. I hope he is able to make his connections in Lisbon without any issues, but I would rather he have an overnighter in Lisbon and get home safely. For those flying to any EU country, even from North America, the EU rules for passenger rights are in effect.

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Say It Ain't So

Last night, my student Balazs wanted to go out for a good-travels dinner since Ron leaves for the States on Wednesday morning. Using a frequent flier ticket, he had to go from Budapest > Warsaw> Toronto > Denver with all but the last leg on Polish Airline LOT. He will Amtrak from Denver to Iowa and when he leaves there, will be flying from Cedar Rapids > Chicago > Newark. On the way home, he is routed on TAP the Portuguese airline Newark > Lisbon > Budapest. I have him primed for the NJ stint, working on the storage POD from here as much as I can and putting as much in place as possible. I have been trying to arrange for a disposable mobile phone for his arrival too. This morning, I found this e-mail from my brother: Hi, We had some excitement over the weekend, we had the cops over to daddy's house. Stuff was ransacked, the door was busted open to your storage room. I don't think any of your stuff was stolen, but whoever it was cut open boxes looking for something. We padlocked the back door and locked everything else up. We're going back next weekend to start the cleaning up process. We'll call you guys this Thurs - last week was very busy for me at work and it got away from me. Talk to you later.... The fact that Ron is leaving for the States on Wednesday has totally escaped him. My greatest concern now is Ron's sleeping at the house alone. We will have to see what we can work out.

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On the Road Again

On the Road Again

We left my brother Kevin’s house with plenty enough time to get to the airport, not knowing what traffic may be like. Newark is considered a New York airport, even though it is in New Jersey. The airport was only an hour away under normal traffic conditions, but nothing has been normal since September 11^th. There was a pensive feeling in the car as we drove. Although I love to fly, this time was different. This time was preempted by a black cloud; a black cloud that would like a long time to clear. This time, there were more reasons to be apprehensive about air travel than the recent articles about air rage. Air rage I could handle. Ron was quiet too. He was more quiet than usual and he usually has some concerns about flying under normal circumstances.

There were no traffic problems and we retuned the car within minutes, seven hundred and forty dollars for a three-week rental. Initially, we had not planned on needing it for three weeks, and this may be the last time I have to drive for a long time. At Newark, rental cars are all on the airport campus. When you leave the car rental company, you take an escalator to a Monorail station and that transports you to the concourse where your airline is located. We had a two stop ride on the Monorail before arriving at Concourse A.

I have flown in and out of Newark a number of times in the past. Today was different than all of the rest. It was so empty, a tennis match could have been staged in the ticketing area and not be interrupted or impeded. Each airline had at least one employee working their desk with the optimistic hope that they would have customers to serve. U.S. Air had three employees ready to be of assistance. The usual corrals barriers were in place to maintain proper lines without pushing and shoving, since most Americans do not know how to queue. There was no need and no waiting. Three employees and only one could have handled the client traffic and still have time to provide excellent customer service.

“Sir, there is one problem, your one piece of luggage is overweight by fifteen pounds. Your other piece is over by six. You will have to get rid of some of it or pay an extra tariff of $90.00” said the ticket agent. A cornucopia of thoughts stormed my mind “I have had a weight problem all of my life, why should my baggage be any different. Besides after the experience with my father, I have even more extra baggage to cart around. You think it is a problem for you? What do you think I have to deal with? You only need to get it to London, but I have had to carry it around for years. God only knows when I will be able to dump some of it.” My more rational mind looked at Ron and said, “We are reading furiously and dumping books along the way. It will be cheaper to replace them than it will to ship them back home.” He never thought he would hear those words pass my lips that I would want to leave books behind. Then we set to lighten six pounds from one suitcase. If it was going to cost $90 extra, we wanted to really get our monies worth from the one heavy bag.

The agent continued with “Sir, we can get you on an earlier flight to Charlotte and not that it matters, but I would suggest you take it.” If it did not matter, why did he suggest we take it? Ignorance is bliss sometimes and I did not want to know. I don’t think Ron did either, since he did not question it until we had our tickets in our hand. We agreed to take the earlier flight and went out for a cigarette. My mind was again racing. I just e-mailed everyone with the flight information. Was this the right thing to do or not. Would we be saved from disaster by changing or were we putting ourselves in harm’s way by taking this flight. So many things left to chance and no one to give a definitive answer. What if our plane was a dangerous situation and everyone thought we were okay because I said we were on a different one? What if no one noticed that I had stopped writing? That was a worse thought.

No one at the airport was smiling: not the airline employees, not the travelers, not the security personnel. While we were outside, all of the curbside check-in stands were void of employees, though there probably would not have been enough passengers to warrant their salary anyway. There were three skycaps standing by the door talking. Their new role was questionable, as we did not see them doing any work. Their repeated concerns about this being one of the airports where an airline was hijacked from, did not add to our sense of security. Ron and I just looked at each other wordlessly. They were worried they would be cross-trained as security personnel.

When it was time to board, the ticket agent called for those that needed extra assistance boarding and the First Class passengers. This consisted of three people. The frequent flyers with Gold, Platinum or Silver status were next, but no one budged. Rows 25 to 31 were next and again the line was short. Then she called for all other passengers to please board. The plane was a MD-80. Thirty-one rows back with three seats on one side and two on the other. There were no more than 50 people on the plane. Confidence is not returning with any rapid speed in the airline industry.

We arrived in Charlotte, now with four hours to spare, we decided to stop at a Chili’s Restaurant for a meal, not knowing if you would get anything substantial on the next flight. There have been talks about cutting meals on the airlines, due to the risks of using silverware and to save money since they are all hurting financially. Ron ordered a large hamburger and I had a Philadelphia steak sandwich. Both were dripping with juice, onions and mine had roasted peppers. Both were left uncut and fully unmanageable in this state. We flagged the waitress for a couple of knives to cut our sandwiches, but were informed they no longer had knives, not even in the kitchen. It was a challenge to say the least to heave a 12 inch roll to one’s mouth when the hinged side of the roll was saturated with juice and filling was free falling to the platter. Fortunately, they trusted us with forks. The second challenge was to cut the fries that had to have come from the world’s largest potatoes. We had never seen fries so long before, or maybe it just seemed so since we did not have a knife to cut them. I couldn’t help but wonder what Miss Manners would do in this situation?

The flight to London’s Gatwick airport was uneventful. They did provide meals and the silverware was plastic. Although there was a knife, there was no spoon, which made eating the yogurt at breakfast a real trial. We arrived on time at 8:10 am local time on September 27^th. It took longer to get through Passport Control then it has in any other country we have been to. It seems that those that were of color were kept at the counter longer than others and there were a large number of people of color. After having a large coffee in the airport, we gathered our things and took a train to Victoria station. From there we had to take the tube or subway to Brixton. The hassles were where there were no escalators or elevators. We each have a bag that is at least 70 pounds, plus each of us has our 30 pound carry-on and I had my computer equipment on a backpack. Even with wheels, these things are a chore. At Brixton, we walked about 10 blocks to the bed and breakfast. We are certain our arms have been stretched at least two inches in the process.

Our bed and breakfast is a lovely converted house and very nicely decorated with a small sofa, bed, private bath and breakfast bar in our room. The neighborhood does not seem to be the most upscale, but it will be safe during the daytime hours. We needed a two hour nap after getting settled in and thought we would try to stay up to assimilate to the local time. There was an e-mail waiting for us from our new friends, Nick and Yolande. They are one of the couples that we met on our cruise on the Nile. They wanted to get together in London since they had invited us to stay with them an hour outside of London, but had declined their kind offer, or to be more honest, with all the problems lately had completely forgotten about it. Mental note to selves: Call them tomorrow.

Around the corner from our B&B is the Hobgoblin Pub and Wychwood Brewery. This was our first authentic pub experience. We sat out in the beer garden, the weather was lovely and in the mid 70’s. Of course, we had our first homeless person sit with us and chat. He seemed to be a very intelligent young man of Jamaican and English background. He story went that he was studying fine arts when he found his girlfriend in bed with someone else and lost his will to continue. Same Social Workers, different setting. Does it ever end? : ) He did offer his condolences when he found out we were Americans, then gave us the low down on what exhibits were available at what galleries around town. He also gave us advice about theft in the area. His name is Dean and he was very entertaining to speak with, but the pub owner did not think so and asked him to leave the property. We spoke in his defense that he was not bothering us, but it seems he has a history there, so has not been welcomed. Across the street is a little Jamaican restaurant that was inexpensive, so we decided to try a meal there. We each had Jerk Chicken, which was quite good, but this was the first time I had ever eaten in a restaurant where I have never been spoken to by the staff. No one said one word from the time we walked in to the time we left. We knew they had voices as they spoke with each other. When we walked by the first time, the restaurant was empty and it was the same when we ventured in. One would have thought that they would be grateful for the business. They may have been, but we will never know it.

We went back to the room where Ron watched a movie and I fought off the Sand Man. At around 9:00, the phone rang. I thought for sure it was our first wrong number in England, but a pleasant surprise, it was Nick and Yolande. We are meeting them for dinner tomorrow night.

Relaxation time starts now!

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