Next time I'm driving.

[Blake]

This week I flew out to Madison, WI to check out the university (I got in to their PhD program in computer science). I have to say, I am never flying US air again. I didn't have any problems getting out there. I flew from Newburgh to Philly to Milwaukee, and took the bus from Milwaukee to Madison. Coming back was a nightmare.

The first piece of bad news was that my flight from Philly to Newburgh was canceled because of the snow storm that hit the northeast this weekend. However, the airline told me that if I didn't take my flight into Philly, I would not get out of Milwaukee until Monday at the earliest. That left my with little choice. The problem was that the next flight from Philly to Newburgh was at 9 pm tonight (in other words, 30 hour layover).

I checked in, went to the gate, and waited. My flight was scheduled to leave at 3:45. Shortly after I checked in, though, my flight was pushed back to 5 pm. I've seen worse delay than that, so I wasn't too annoyed yet. Then, when it was getting close to the time that we should have boarded (and the plane wasn't at the gate yet), they changed it 6:40. At that point, my blood pressure began to climb.

While I was waiting, I reserved a rental car at the Philly airport. I did not want to wait that long to get a flight.

My flight finally boarded around 6:35. It was 7 by the time we took off, and 9:45 by the time we landed. My blood pressure dropped a little at that point, since I thought that I would be in my rental car on the way home by 11. I couldn't have been more wrong. After we landed, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes while the airline tried to figure out what gate to bring the plane into. By the time I got off the plane, my blood was near the boiling point.

Once again, I made the mistake of assuming that I would be on the road soon. I got to the baggage claim, and not only was my flight not on the monitors, no one knew where our bags were. My only choice was to stand in line to ask someone at the desk where by bag was.

I never made it to the end of the line, because the line did not move in the hour (roughly) that I was standing there. The wait ended when the conveyor started and our bags finally came out unannounced.

Once again, I assumed I would be on the road soon. I was wrong. I took the shuttle to the car rental place, only to discover another stagnant line. I had to wait another 45 minutes (my blood boiling the entire time) to pick up my rental car.

By the time I got on the road, it was going on 1 am. I paid the extra $10 to get a GPS navigation system, so at least I knew where I was going. It's a long drive, though, and by the time I made it home it was 4:30 am.

I left Madison around 10:30, and stopped for an hour before I went to the Milwaukee airport. Taking that break and time difference in to account, that's a total of 16 hours of traveling.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FASTER TO DRIVE! I am never flying on US air again.

[thetestingsite]

It is for that reason why I drive everywhere I go instead of flying. The only time I fly is if going out of the country, but that doesn't happen too often. Hope your blood preassure is alright now

[Blake]

On the news this evening: Most of the major airlines are now back on schedule, accept for US air. 100,000 US Air passengers are still stranded. And the worst of it is at the one and only Philadelphia airport.

I'm really glad I rented that car now. It's a good thing I made the reservation before I left Milwaukee, too, because there weren't any rental cars left by the time I landed in Philly.

[pcbrainbuster]

They should really let you know in advance (the details) if your flight will be cancelled or whatever...

[Sikky]

Well I guess you are wise now - through experience we become wise but through collection of information we become knowledgable.

You are one of the wise guys now thanks to your experience.

[Blake]

Yep, I'm wise now--I know better than to fly on US Air ever again.

[techno_race]

I recommend United Airlines, they don't get confused very often.