Air travel, part one--the logistics

When traveling from Ottawa to Hawaii, you can't get there from here in one hop. It is possible to fly directly from from some major cities. Chicago to Hawaii, for example, is roughly a ten-hour flight. The more usual route would be: Ottawa to --your airline's hub here-- followed by a stop-over in a west cost hub (LA, SF, or Vancouver) and then on to Hawaii. One short flight, followed by two 5-hour flights, plus airport time between flights.

Anyway you slice it, that's a full day's travel, both coming and going.

Since we have relatives in California, we usually try to include a few days there too. Besides maximizing travel dollars this breaks up the flights. (It's nice to adjust to different time zones in three-hour chunks, instead of leaping 6 hours all at once.)

We arrived in Chicago to find many subsequent flights, including ours, delayed after a thunderstorm. We settled in to wait the extra hours, trying to keep up with three gate changes along the way. I'd have to agree with a comment from another traveler: "Why don’t they just say 'no gate yet assigned' instead of bouncing everyone around like this?"

The delayed Chicago-San Francisco flight was fine, until the end. At the SFO airport, we ran split missions, hoping to save time. Craig went off to collect the rental car, Wili and I stayed to await the bags. After so many flight changes and delays, there was considerable confusion on the receiving end. Our entire flight's baggage went missing. Increasingly angry customers ended up chasing down luggage at 4 different pick-up points, with almost no correct information from employees.

We were lucky. It took over an hour to collect our bags, but at least we got them all. Meanwhile, the car agency was swamped, completely out of cars. Craig agreed he'd take anything available which turned out to be a souped-up SUV for the price of a compact/economy car. ("Sweet!" said our 15-year-old-male, when he saw what drove up. "Ugh!" is what we parents said later at the gas pumps--the SUV averaged 19 mpg.) Craig's mission took so long we began to wonder what became of him and if splitting up had been such a good idea after all. Finally, by 2 am, we were done and able to collapse on real beds.

Air travel, part two--a rant

The next morning our sleep-deprived son was still so mad about the airline delays that he wanted to send same flaming emails. We discussed the finer points of complaining, like clarifying purpose and expectations. Is the goal compensation? Punishment? Reform? Who was really responsible for what we experienced? I spent many years waiting tables while working my way through school. I refuse to blame the collateral victims of bad situations, the poor front-line saps stuck manning the barricades.

Weather happens. That part was no one's fault. Could the airline's response system be improved? Absolutely. But it would probably cost a lot to have the staffing flexibility to step up to such blips along the way. And, in a way, we consumers bring this on ourselves. Insisting on the lowest fares possible necessitates decreased service.

I feel for those who work in air travel these days. Between possible bankruptcy, the reduction of wages and benefits and having to go eyeball-to-eyeball with large numbers of truly pissed-off customers, it's probably become one of the most thankless and stressful industries around. Hey, airline employees! Thank-you! And I'm sorry you have to take it on the chin so often. Hey, airline management! We're angry, with justification. Have mercy! We need better outcomes than ones that leave everyone sputtering in frustration. Is that too much to ask?