Anonymous wrote:I'm definitely nervous for my flight to Portugal in less than 2 weeks. Going it is non-stop and we have ONLY carry-on's which was always the plan. Returning we have a layover in Montreal and I am nervous about that. I'm trying to prepare in the event that our return flight especially is delayed, prepping work for the possibility.

Covid is rising and monkeypox is spreading so that's not good either. I have good travel insurance so hopefully that will cover if there are any issues.

Anonymous wrote:Just flew home from Paris yesterday and Charles de
Gaulle was an absolute mess. It took 1.5 hours for us to get through customs/security and we got to the gate 1 minute before departure. Thankfully, they held the plane for us. I strongly advise getting to the airport 3 hours early.

Dulles customs was also a slog. They had a monitor that showed all of the international arrivals and it said 12 flights landed within a 30 minute period so all of those people were in the customs line too. A mess.

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had realized how bad things were before flying to Europe - I saw news of the heathrow baggage issue but it said it was specific to a few terminals so figured we were safe….. ended up taking 4 days to get our luggage, it was terrible. And buying replacement items in a foreign country is not always as easy as you think it may be! My poor child basically had a diaper duct taped to her because we couldn’t find the right size when we ran out! I pray our flights get us home safely next week without too much trouble!

Anonymous wrote:Travel nightmare would be flying to France with the OP of the other thread whose DD has a fever and cold symptoms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got off a 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Dallas, TX and am traumatized by the disgusting food. Fine, no one expects gourmet meals, especially in coach, but the food was inedible, and the granola bar and almonds I packed as snacks won't get you through a 12 hour flight. Here is the "menu":

Dinner: Deep fried pork cutlets (not sure it was actually pork, some processed grey substance breaded and fried), covered in slimy scrambled eggs and brown gelatinous gravy over rice.

Snack: White bread sandwich with wasabi mayonnaise. They did include 3 grapes and a kit kat, so I ate that.

Breakfast: Soggy noodles in a sweet sticky tomato-ish sauce, with deep fried dough containing fish bits.

Thanks American Airlines!

Honestly airline food has been a disaster for a few years now. Surprisingly the two exceptions (food relatively edible) were Turkish Airlines and before that, Aeroflot. But not enough food is a common problem. I always pack at least a sandwich.

Anonymous wrote:Just got off a 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Dallas, TX and am traumatized by the disgusting food. Fine, no one expects gourmet meals, especially in coach, but the food was inedible, and the granola bar and almonds I packed as snacks won't get you through a 12 hour flight. Here is the "menu":

Dinner: Deep fried pork cutlets (not sure it was actually pork, some processed grey substance breaded and fried), covered in slimy scrambled eggs and brown gelatinous gravy over rice.

Snack: White bread sandwich with wasabi mayonnaise. They did include 3 grapes and a kit kat, so I ate that.

Breakfast: Soggy noodles in a sweet sticky tomato-ish sauce, with deep fried dough containing fish bits.

Thanks American Airlines!

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

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 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My weds am flight to dc was cancelled last night. Wonder why it would be cancelled days in advance? Crew shortage?

Yes that's the most likely reason.

Anonymous wrote:Just got off a 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Dallas, TX and am traumatized by the disgusting food. Fine, no one expects gourmet meals, especially in coach, but the food was inedible, and the granola bar and almonds I packed as snacks won't get you through a 12 hour flight. Here is the "menu":

Dinner: Deep fried pork cutlets (not sure it was actually pork, some processed grey substance breaded and fried), covered in slimy scrambled eggs and brown gelatinous gravy over rice.

Snack: White bread sandwich with wasabi mayonnaise. They did include 3 grapes and a kit kat, so I ate that.

Breakfast: Soggy noodles in a sweet sticky tomato-ish sauce, with deep fried dough containing fish bits.

Thanks American Airlines!

Anonymous wrote:Just flew home from Paris yesterday and Charles de
Gaulle was an absolute mess. It took 1.5 hours for us to get through customs/security and we got to the gate 1 minute before departure. Thankfully, they held the plane for us. I strongly advise getting to the airport 3 hours early.

Dulles customs was also a slog. They had a monitor that showed all of the international arrivals and it said 12 flights landed within a 30 minute period so all of those people were in the customs line too. A mess.

Anonymous wrote:I'm definitely nervous for my flight to Portugal in less than 2 weeks. Going it is non-stop and we have ONLY carry-on's which was always the plan. Returning we have a layover in Montreal and I am nervous about that. I'm trying to prepare in the event that our return flight especially is delayed, prepping work for the possibility.

Covid is rising and monkeypox is spreading so that's not good either. I have good travel insurance so hopefully that will cover if there are any issues.