Around the world in 60 hours, or why you should never fly Delta.

So, here it is, October 11th, and I got to Melbourne yesterday. But wait, you say, weren't you supposed to be there on Friday?

I got to Dulles Airport, and right after I went through security, the first leg of my flight to Detroit was on time.  Right after I got off, not 10 minutes later, it was delayed an hour.  So I tried to figure out my options.  First, I asked for a flight on Virgin Atlantic, flying straight to LA, which I thought I had a chance of getting because I fixed their dot matrix printer (they still use those?). No dice, but had I already had a flight, I would have gotten free drinks. Oh well.  After chatting with two Delta agents, I was left with the idea that I should stick with the flight, I'll still have 15 minutes to transfer in Detroit, and the airport wasn't that big...

So, biting my nails, I fly to detroit, and haul across the airport. I was running, and passing all the other people trying to transfer as well... Which felt great, because I can definitely run faster than most buisnessmen in suits. I get to the gate for my Detroit --> LAX flight, and there's a huge line. I was relieved, because now it was smooth sailiing.  I would make all my flights, and I can sit back and focus on trying to sleep on the airplane. I strap in, try my best to ignore the RIDICULOUSLY chatty Korean woman talking the ear off the elderly man sitting next to me.. We taxi to the runway, and the captain comes over the loudspeaker: "We have an instrument gauge message here, 'insufficent fuel for trip,' and we're going to have to go back to the gate for this one..." Ugh.

Everyone worried about connections was let off the plane to chat with a gate agent (everyone else had to wait on the plane... security measures...) Out of the 10 of us sitting out there, 9 of us are going to Australia, and 6 of us were trying to get the same Delta flight in LA.

Now, I will make it clear here... Delta is in the process of merging with Northwest, and they are all running on the same name/uniforms/etc.. However, the airlines are still distinct. Northwest people can't use Delta machines (and vice versa), Delta service people can't help us with problems with a Northwest plane, yet in the spirit of corporate ideals, all trace of differences in signage for the benefit of the customer is gone, so you have no idea which line is the one that can help you...All for total immersion of Northwest into Delta. God Bless America.

So, my first two flights were Northwest, and going to Australia I was on Delta. The service desk in Detroit told us we would probably have to stay overnight in LA, but they would try and hold the plane in LA, because there were multiple people who would be stranded.  An announcement would be made on the plane later.  This is the shortened version. We were standing at the desk for about 1.5 hours, trying to figure out what was going on, and how to fix it.  The plane, however, was all sorts of not fixed, and we left 3 hours (!) later than scheduled. So, we landed in LA at 12:30AM, when the Sydney flight left at 10:30 PM.  Needless to say, the flight wasn't held.

But they didn't tell us that.  No announcement was made on the plane. When we got off, nobody at the gate would help us, instead sending us outside of security to talk with the ticket counter people.  When we passed outside of security, it was closed, so there was no way we were getting back in.  We were never told that the flight wasn't held.  A poor woman, who hated her job and her new bosses, stayed later than she was supposed to, with her mother in the hospital, so that she could help us get on new flights/situated with the hotel.  She was a Northwest employee.  The Delta employee stayed for 10 minutes, helped 2 of the 6 of us, and disappeared without saying a word.  We were told that we were all booked on other flights the next day, but when two girls tried to confirm that by having the Northwest woman look up the info, it was found that they were not checked in on any flights.  Those not flying Delta to Australia were up a creek, as "it was only Delta's responsibility to get the passenger to the terminal of the Delta ticket," they wouldn't help anyone with further flights get situated with the other airline.  They made me call my Australian airline connection to figure out my Sydney --> Melbourne flight. Others taking different airlines into Australia were furious.  No responsibility was taken on the part of Delta employees. No effort was made at all to help us with any of our problems. We stood at the desk for 2 hours, then were told that if we wanted to work with Delta on this, we had to come back when they opened, around 4:30AM.

So three of us did.  I situated myself with two girls, one from Melbourne (convienent!), and one from Michigan, and we took the strength in numbers approach. We checked into the hotel and then headed back to the airport, where we spoke to 3 different representatives, getting three different results. My flight was rescheduled on Air New Zealand through Auckland, and that could not be changed, until we talked to the supervisor, who put me on the Delta flight that went to Sydney (same as my old one, just a day later).  We were in the airport until 7AM, and we weren't the only ones having problems. It was almost as if there would be riots at the counter, with the way some people were yelling and causing a scene.  The Delta/Northwest counters were understaffed, and the lack of acutal service when people were being "helped" caused such distress... I've never seen anything like it, and I will never fly Delta again.

Virgin Blue (my Australian transfer) was very accommodating, having no problem changing my flight as long as I had a document proving the delay in Delta's flight.  What a difference when I got to Australia. People were nice, responsibility was taken, and people knew how to create customer rapport.

Anyways, back to LA.  The eventual flight to Sydney was overbooked by Delta by 16 people! 16 people had tickets but no seats.  It was the most amazing display of incompetence I have ever seen in an airport...

The day wasn't a waste though. After trying to sleep in the hotel, my body not knowing what time zone/sleep cycle to be on, myself and the two girls walked around Santa Monica and Venice, and met Chris/Katie for dinner. Much thanks to them for driving us back/picking up luggage/seeing us off at the airport, even while sick... I finally made it out to the west coast! (oh, and Scott, don't worry, I'm sure you were busy, and I just saw you that weekend...Loser)

There were points in the trip that I honestly had given up, and just wanted to fly back to MD and not even deal with ineptitude and planes anymore, but I'm glad I persevered. Australia is a land of wonderful people so far, even if I haven't gotten enough sleep to be able to appreciate it yet.  It's been a day and a half, I'll update more in another post, but Megan is sleeping (more jet lag than me somehow!), and someone has to make dinner!

We'll see how often I update... I will try, but I'm not promising any sort of frequency.  The days are really planned out, and my amazing tour guide has everything worked out... I'm meeting people, and the majority of them are like "Ah! So you're Sean..."  And, I'm going out on my birthday with 12 people whom I don't know, but will quickly become my friends, I'm sure...