Summer 2022 Travel nightmare thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting thread.

Traveling by air is certainly difficult right now. It's largely due to the fact that the airlines (primarily because of staffing shortages) have almost no redundancy in place to absorb typical shocks to the system like severe weather.

I don't think the current chaos is entirely the airlines' fault. While I do think they deserve some blame for overscheduling flights and/or announcing new routes without having adequate infrastructure (i.e. planes and people) in place, nobody could have predicted how quickly demand for travel would explode this Spring and how many millions of people decided the pandemic was over and it was time to travel again. I'm sure things will slowly improve over the coming months.

And to all of the entitled complainers out there who are stomping their feet over missing their meetings, vacations, and weddings, etc: Grow up. Read the fine print. Know what you're entitled to and what you're not entitled to when you book a flight. The FAA makes that quite easy to review.

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights#Delayed-and-Cancelled-Flights

Sure nobody could have predicted the explosion in demand but surely they could have somewhat predicted staffing shortages and retraining needs. The problem isn’t demand, it’s supply.

But where should all the staff come from? Yes if we went back in time they could not let everyone take early retirement. But that’s done. Not just anyone can fly a plane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

[Anonymous]

Anyone else having problems posting?

[Anonymous]

My direct flight was canceled and I was rebooked for the next day. Got to the airport and was put on a non direct flight. That flight was delayed and I missed the connecting flight.

Flying right now is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

But it wasn’t an embarrassing or offensive story—who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting thread.

Traveling by air is certainly difficult right now. It's largely due to the fact that the airlines (primarily because of staffing shortages) have almost no redundancy in place to absorb typical shocks to the system like severe weather.

I don't think the current chaos is entirely the airlines' fault. While I do think they deserve some blame for overscheduling flights and/or announcing new routes without having adequate infrastructure (i.e. planes and people) in place, nobody could have predicted how quickly demand for travel would explode this Spring and how many millions of people decided the pandemic was over and it was time to travel again. I'm sure things will slowly improve over the coming months.

And to all of the entitled complainers out there who are stomping their feet over missing their meetings, vacations, and weddings, etc: Grow up. Read the fine print. Know what you're entitled to and what you're not entitled to when you book a flight. The FAA makes that quite easy to review.

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights#Delayed-and-Cancelled-Flights

Do you work for an airline? Given current prices of airfare, it's difficult to imagine calling someone "entitled" who pays $$$ and then misses a wedding due to airline mismanagement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

But it wasn’t an embarrassing or offensive story—who cares?

I don’t want people I know to know I am on here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

But it wasn’t an embarrassing or offensive story—who cares?

I don’t want people I know to know I am on here

Same girl!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

But it wasn’t an embarrassing or offensive story—who cares?

I don’t want people I know to know I am on here

Everyone is on here. We won’t judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
We finally got to our destination, 4 days late. I got to spend a total of 3 days here instead of 7.
Tomorrow morning I am leaving the kids with Dad and starting my 4 legs home. The first 3 I am not too worried about - there do not appear to be as many issues with domestic flights inside of the country I traveled to. The 3rd leg is the international flight to Houston, which is probably also safe. The 4th leg is from Houston to IAD. Wish me luck.

where did you fly to?

Lol, I do not want to put too much out here lest I be recognized…

Dude, thousands of other people are also flying to wherever you were going. No one's going to realize it's Suzy from Reston.

OP had a pretty specific story

But it wasn’t an embarrassing or offensive story—who cares?

I don’t want people I know to know I am on here

If they read it on here, they're here too! It's like being seen at a swinger's club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our flight last Friday was cancelled 4 hours before with zero alternatives. We ended up cancelling the tickets altogether and make the 10 hour drive to/from. Not pleasant.

And yes they will 100% seat kids alone. If you and your snowflakes don't want to pay to choose your seats and get spread apart they have a waitlist a mile long once you opt to get off the plane and take another flight. If one exists.

It often has nothing to do with “snowflakes not paying.” If your flight is cancelled and theY rebook you, they rarely have 4-5 seats together, or even two. They’ll spread the kids out all over the plane.

[Anonymous]

My friends just got back from Greece. Their flight in Athens was cancelled to due an equipment issue. They spent the night in Athens & were offered flights connecting through two European airports or a non stop to JFK. As screwed up as everything is, they figured getting their feet on US soil was a good thing (they were headed half across the country, but they could drive from there, if absolutely necessary). At JFK, there was a storm delay, and then their crew “timed out” so they ended up spending the night in chairs at JFK.

The problem is a lack of backup crews and equipment. There used to be crews and equipment in standby at major airports, but that doesn’t exist anymore.