Cross Country Trip- Day 1

Aug 1st

Today started out great. Woke up on time, got ready and finished packing on time. Drove to my parents house so my mom could take me to LAX. Made great time getting to the airport, and security was pretty easy (just one couple ahead of me that was too busy talking to pay attention and get out of the way).

My plane out of LAX

The plane took off 1 minute late, and while we did encounter some turbulence, it was very slight. My seatmates were a young Jewish couple with the cutest 5 week old baby boy, who was wonderful on the flight. As we approached Philadelphia, where I had a layover, we saw some spectacular lightening. We landed safely and proceeded to gate A12 where we parked.

Sky Blue Pink, my favorite color

Beautiful clouds and sunset from the plane

And the trouble began!!! We sat for a full hour waiting for the jet bridge to be moved out to our plane so we could get off. They had apparently parked us at an unmanned gate, though the ground crew was there and expecting us. As we waited for the bridge I watched the baggage handlers remove all the luggage from the plane and leave. While this hour passed, my connecting flight boarded and left, without me!

We finally got off the plane, did I mention we were in the very last row?? I asked the gate agent what to do, and she said to go to the special services counter by gate B18, and that took about 20 minutes to walk there. Now, I was able to find the counter very easily....because there were TONS of people waiting in line. Apparently the weather had stranded quite a few flights. We then waited in line for 2 hours. With no food, or water, or chairs. Or polite customer service people for that matter. When it was finally my turn to get booked on a new flight the guy wants me to go from Philly to Raleigh, via DC. I mean seriously???? So he finds a 1 pm direct flight for me. Then tells me that there are no more hotels available, here's a voucher. He told me that the delay was due to weather and wasn't their fault. Uhhh NO. It was their fault. Jet bridges work in storms, so long as someone is there to work it. Then he tried to say that the ground crew couldn't work in the weather and that was the problem. I them proceeded to tell him that I had seen the wing walkers take our plane in, and watched the baggage being removed. So obviously people were working. I told him the CAPTAIN had told us that he couldn't get the bridge to the plane because no one was at the gate and that was the problem. The captain wouldn't lie. Needless to say the customer service guy was a complete jerk. And yes I got his name. And yes there will a letter going out about this.

So I try and find a hotel at almost 2 am, from the voucher they gave me. There were no more rooms available. And all I can find on my own is a hotel with a smoking room. While making these arrangements, other customer service reps were helping me and my seatmates find better flights. They find me one departing at 930am. The other couple weren't scheduled till 710pm. And I mentioned they have a newborn right?? Well they were out of diapers for him. The original agent said it wasn't his problem. They also eat a strictly Kosher diet, and can't eat anything in the airport. So we have a nursing mom who can't get food or water, and a newborn with dirty diapers, and they have to wait till 7pm. And its not the airlines problem. Uh, yes it is. These nice new customer service agents find them a 7 AM flight, which they happilly take. At this point we decide to forgo the hotel because I did the math and realized even if I did go, I would be lucky to get 4 hours of sleep.

So we found a place that had bunches of seats that didn't have armrests between them. And some kind worker told us we could get pillows and blankets and water at the information booth. Boy did we run there! So we got our pillows and blankies and slept for about an hour. But it was freezing, and we couldn't find where the air was coming from, so we couldn't get away from it. Eventually we gave up and went to our respective gates to try and get on even earlier flights so we can sleep in real beds. And that is where I sit typing this, gate C18 at Philadelphia International Airport at 530am local time.

God willing, I have gotten all the troubles out of the way and this will be a fun, exciting, uneventful adventure!!!