So here we are – England. New England that is.
Where shall I begin this sorted tale. Let’s start were all great stories start…at the beginning.
We got to the airport yesterday 5 hours before our flight. Most of that was due to the anticipation of heavy traffic driving into New York City. Thankfully, we didn’t hit any such traffic. The other concern was the fact that it was the Friday after the 4th of July (vacation season) and we are at a heightened security level. Thankfully, we breezed through security with only myself getting yelled at for not putting my laptop in a separate box to go through the X-Ray machine.
My bad.
So, our little plane that was to take us from JFK International Airport to Logan Airport (Boston) was to board @ 4:00pm, take off @ 4:30pm, and land at Logan @ 5:07pm. (37minute flight. Go Smith!!) After we landed, our luggage was to be automatically transferred to out nice, big 767 at Logan, and we would board out big plan at 7:40pm, and be taking off at 8:10pm, on our way to Jolly ol’ England.
As I write to you now, I am in Boston. Yes, Boston. Let me tell you why.
We boarded the plane almost an hour late because they over-booked the flight and were looking for 5 volunteers to take a different flight. As fate would have it of course, everyone needed this flight so they needed to bring in a different plane to take us to Logan. So, we eventually board the plan around 4:45, and are taxied out onto the runway. This is where it got ugly. Apparently, there were a few thunderstorms in Connecticut, which was right in the middle of our flight path. The captain asked for permission to fly around the storm and he was denied. So, we waited. And we waited. After 3 hours of just sitting on the runway, we were told that now the thunderstorms had moved into Boston, and Boston was not allowing anyone to land. We were told we had enough fuel to sit there another hour and that we were going to do just that. 45 minutes later, we get news that the thunderstorms are moving into New York, and JFK isn’t allowing anyone to take off. 15 minutes later, we were ordered back to the terminal. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 4 hours of sitting on the airplane, (very tiny I might add) just sitting on the runway, doing absolutely nothing. By now, it’s almost 9:00pm, and we have officially missed out flight out of Logan to England.
Wait…it gets even better.
So, they take us back to the terminal. Everyone is cranky and starving, so we all want to stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. The people at the ticket counter at the gate tell us they should have an update in 10-15 minutes to let us know what is going on. Jess is starving and wants to get a pizza which is about 10 gates away. I convince her to stay put, and we’ll grab some snack from a little bakery new our gate. She agrees, and we buy some eats. I kid you not, not even 10 minutes goes by after we deplane when they make an announcement for our flight to re-board. Apparently, all of the sudden, we’re good for a takeoff. Ok, so we shove all the food and drinks we just bought into our jackets and rush for the gate. Staying the night at JFK airport, sleeping on the floor or chairs did not appeal to either of us. We figured if we could get one step closer, we would be in better shape. Plus, we figured that if we were delayed for 4 hours, maybe our connecting flight to England was delayed as well. Well, as we were walking down the gate and to the plane, the captain started chatting with us. Apparently, this is the new norm for JFK. Delays of 3-4 hours have become commonplace as of late. This is just fan-freakin’-tastic. Anyway, we all board the plane and are in the air by 10:00pm.
As a side note here, I have never flown at night. I do have to say that flying over New York City at night, especially one as clear as it turned out to be last night, was really a breath taking sight. Even though we were both miserable, sweaty, and stressed, that all seemed to fade away once I saw the city from the air. It was truly an amazing size. Plus, while we were flying over Connecticut, a lot of people were setting off fireworks, which was really cool to see from up there.
So, we land at Logan at around 10:30pm. We find out that from the agent meeting us at the plane that out connecting flight to England was in fact perfectly on time and left over 2 hours ago. They were over the Atlantic Ocean at the point, eating my dinner. *sigh* So, we were told we would have to go pick up all of our luggage and find an agent to talk to. That’s was fine, except for the fact that all the ticket agents had gone home at 9:00pm. This is where we started to get really cranky. So, we go to the lower level to get our luggage, and I talk to the guy at the luggage desk. He tells me that there are no agents available, and that maybe I should ask for a supervisor at the baggage claim on the ground level. We grab our shit and head down there. I find a baggage claim guy there and tell him the same story. I tell him we were delayed for 4 hours at JFK, and we missed our connecting flight to England. I tell him that we need and agent to re-book us and a place to wait for the morning. He has no clue what to do and asks for our boarding passes for the flight we misses and tells me he’ll give my info to his supervisor. He takes the passes and disappears for about 5 minutes. He then comes back and tells me that they are making some calls to see what they can do for us. Finally, this girl comes out who has a bit of an attitude. She tells us that since we flew in on American Eagle, not American Airlines, we need to go back upstairs and deal with those people. I tell her that there is no one up there, and why should I deal with them when our connecting flight is with American Airlines. She tells me that since we flew in on American Eagle, we need to go op and deal with them. I re-iterate that there is no one up there. She tells me she just got off the phone with a guy who will meet us up there. So, Jess and I grab all of our baggage and head back up. Low and behold when we get up there, there is a lonely guy, standing at a completed dark ticket counter waiting for us. Even though all the lights were out, this was the bright spot of our day. We tell him our situation, and he apologizes and tells us he will take care of us. This dude was amazing! I kid you not, within 5 minutes we were re-booked on a flight to England leaving tomorrow at 8:10pm (only 24 hours lost), we had a complementary room at the Hyatt Harborside in Boston, free transportation from the hotel to get there (nice little shuttle bus), and 2 meal vouchers to eat. WOW! This guy did not complain once, kept a smile, and took care of everyone of our needs. I really wish I had gotten his name because even though I have never done it before, I really would have written a letter to corporate commending him. I really regret not getting his name, but at that point it as 11:30pm, and we had been up for almost 18 hours. We were a little burned out.
So, we get to the hotel and they are pretty booked up, but the front desk guy takes total care of us. He even tells us that he’ll give us a room with a kick ass view. And let me tell you, he made good on his promise. We have a direct view across the harbor to downtown Boston. I tried to take a few pics last night, but I was tired and some of them came out blurry. I may try to take some before we pack up this morning. The room itself is amazing. I honestly can’t see a room like this not going for around $200+ a night. We got into the room at about 11:50pm, which gave us 10 minutes before room service closed. Keep in mind, we haven’t eaten really since noon. We ordered a ‘New England Pizza’ (lobster, tomato, onion and lettuce) and went to bed around 1:30am. It was a shit day that had a surprise, happy ending.
So, here we are in Boston. Check out is at noon, and we may try to see some of the city before we have to go to the airport to start checking in for our flight. We may however just end up going back to the airport after checkout. We’re really not sure yet. Either way, come hell or high water, we should be in England tomorrow.
And with that, my next post should be from across the pond.
