August 3, 2013

What a crazy day I had at the Houston airport. All seemed to be going well. Well it seemed, We boarded the flight to Newark and pulled back from the gate and the captain informed us that the plane was having mechanical difficulties and they were trying to find out the problem and quickly get it fixed. Alarms, bells, whistles and red flags started going off in my brain and I knew it was going to be nothing but trouble and I had a tight connection from Newark to Istanbul. I am sitting there sweating it out in the back of the airplane. (Note to self, when selecting seats get as close to the front as possible.) It wasn't much longer and they unloaded us all and told us that had international connections to go to the service desk and reroute our flights. By the time I got off the flight and to the service desk I was last in line and I really needed to go to the bathroom, but that wasn't happening soon. After about a half an hour I got up to a service agent and she looked up everything and told me that the original flight was reboarding and if it took off on time I could make my flight. She upgraded me to first class on the first row so I could be first off the airplane. I took off running for the gate and got on the plane and we sat and we sat and we sat. I knew by the time we took off I was in big trouble. We landed at 7:10pm and the Istanbul flight took off at 7:15pm. I got off the plane and ran down three hallways to the gate and they said too bad you missed your flight. Go to customer service. I was not a happy camper. I stood in another line and finally got up to an agent and she was not gong to help me at all. She was gong to put me on a plane to Istanbul tomorrow and that was all she was willing to do to help me since my other flights were not booked on United she kept telling me that they were not responsible. What!!! I insisted that because it was their fault that the plane was delayed 2 hours that they were responsible. She kept admitting that she understood that it was their fault, but they were not responsible for me missing my other connections. She also said that they were willing to compensate me for my troubles by putting me up in a hotel and giving me meal vouchers. Uh, No. That is not compensation that is pasifying me. The last thing I want is to spend the night in a cheap airport hotel and the next day tooling around the airport waiting for another evening flight to Istanbul where I would just be stranded. I said I needed to talk to a supervisor so they called someone and pushed me aside to wait. Finally someone came and we went through the whole thing again and I kept getting told that they were not responsible. I kept pointing out to them that because they were at fault they were responsible. I was told I would have to make my flight changes myself just standing over to the side where there was a phone on the wall that I could use to call and rebook everything. I told them no. I needed their help to get all my flights rebooked and they had at least that much responsibility to help me with that. That wasn't happening either so I asked for the supervisors supervisor and they made another call and I waited for someone else to show up. Now we had three people telling me that they couldn't help me and that they were not responsible past Istanbul. I also kept telling them that I just needed to get to Athens. Some one has to fly into Athens. I said I could fly to London or Frankfurt and then on to Athens. That was no good either because they couldn't transfer flights. Finally the fourth customer service agent came along and she knew what she was doing and said of course lets book you on a flight to Athens. There is a flight to London leaving in an hour and then on to Athens. No problem. FINALLY! They messed around and messed around and called on my bag and messed around and messed around and minutes before the flight closed they put me on a cart and drove me to the gate while announcements for Heather Saunders to report to the gate immediately were broadcast on the PA system. I ran in sat down called you and then we took off. What a mess. I am now sitting in Heathrow airport waiting for my connecting flight to Frankfurt and then on to Athens. I should arrive in Athens tonight around 11:00pm. Only 5 and a half hours late, but in good time to make my flight to Santorini tomorrow. I wish you were here with me. 

I am now sitting in the big waiting area and hoping the free internet works so you will get this email when you wake up. I can't wait to get a good night sleep, but it might be a couple more nights before that.