Day 11 & 12 – The Trip Home

Well, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings….or so they say. She definitely was not singing for me yesterday. We got up early to make our flights out of Germany. Our in-bound flight was delayed out of Canada due to thunderstorms. Knowing that the pilots could make time up in the air those of us that had a four hour layover we weren’t very concerned . Then we get on our plane and it gets delayed due to storms in Germany. Not much you can do about the weather, but now we are questioning whether or not we’ll make it on time.

After 10 hours on the flight, they parked us on the tarmac and wouldn’t let us off the plane because there weren’t any gates available. We finally get in only to find that ALL of the flights have been cancelled….supposedly due to weather.

Now as most of you know I travel quite a bit. And I am certainly empathetic to weather delays. But why were ALL the flights cancelled so early in the afternoon? If the weather was so bad, why wasn’t Air Canada getting extra flights ready to go and getting some additional agents at the airport to help everyone?

I was on hold for over 20 minutes to finally find out I couldn’t get home until July 1st….roughly 2.5 days out. Unbelievable. No apologies, no assistance with hotels or anything just a nice “do you want the flight or not?”

So I took it and tried to find alternate ways home. I finally got into the hotel in Canada about 1:00am after traveling for 20-some-odd hours. I was beat. So what happens? Tex, a guy that was part of our group and on the same flights, gets a flight out 1st thing in the A.M.!!!!! I called Air Canada back only to hear the “it was luck of the draw” bullshit and then I started calling them every hour until they got me setup on a 6:45pm flight back to DFW. Now I am in the airport typing this and my flight is yet again delayed.

In all of this time not ONE time has an Air Canada agent apologized for the inconvenience (even after telling them this), offered a meal voucher or anything. I have heard this is not unusual for this airline. My advice to you is to avoid them like that neighbor that always borrows tools and never returns them. Avoid them like the barfly chick you see every weekend and mysteriously always seems to have a cold sore. Avoid them at all cost. I will have to write a letter to them when I get home (if I ever make it) and see what, if anything, they will offer up to compensate for the hassles.

Seeing as how I had to kill time in Canada, I slept in very late and then went to the Lose Moose (what a great name) for a beer and some lunch. The FILA World Cup was on and the bar was packed at 11:30am. I didn’t know the Canadians were so into football / soccer, but that is cool.

As I said, here I sit….at the airport….killing time and drinking beer while waiting to see if my flight is ever going to leave. Wish me luck!