Dave Sabol

As of 5:40 pm last night, I should have been on a flight destined for San Francisco where I would make a connecting flight to Hong Kong. Somewhere in the process something didn’t go as planned. I made it to the airport a little more than 2 hours before I was supposed to depart and normally that is plenty of time to check-in, clear security and make it to the terminal with time to spare. However, for one reason or another, it wasn’t enough time at least that is what I was told by U.S. Airways.

Since I did have a checked bag, I decided to take advantage of the skycap service to check my bag in curbside, so I didn’t have to deal with it at the check-in counter. Normally that eliminates a lot of hassle and speeds things along considerably. I gave my bag to the gentleman there and he generated my baggage tag and ticket, but then things started to get a bit funky. Once the tag printed he took a look at it, showed it to his colleague, laughed and came over to me. I knew something was up right away. He told me that I would have to go inside to the check-in counter and take care of everything there. No explanation, no apology, just that statement. He was nice enough to take me to where I needed to be, and despite the confusion, I was still in good spirits. That was until I saw he was throwing me into a queue with approximately other 20 people.

As I stood in line I watched the clock tick away the minutes and my hopes quickly began to fade. The clock seemed to be moving in fast-forward and by the time I reached the front of the line, I knew that my chances for making the flight were slim-to-none as I only had approximately 45 minutes before my flight left. Now, I am a relative newcomer to international travel, but no stranger to domestic flying so what happened next really shocked me. I approached the U.S. Airways ticket counter where I was greeted by a pleasant ticket agent by the name of Latisha. She asked for my name which she typed into her computer. Here is how the transaction went:

Latisha: You missed your flight!

Me: No kidding, I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t stuck in this line.

Latisha: Yes, we are quite busy today.

Me: Ok, I need to get to SFO to make a connecting flight to Hong Kong.

Latisha: (furiously typing into her terminal) It doesn’t look good. I am trying a bunch of options but everything is booked.

Me: What are my options?

Latisha: None for tonight. Let me get my manager.

This whole process took 20 minutes, so whatever small chance I had to make my existing flight were gone. The scene was surreal, and a lot of folks around me who looked like they were in a similar situation appeared to be getting frustrated. To complicate matters, because I checked my bag curbside the computer system continued to say that my luggage was already on the flight and wouldn’t allow Latisha to cancel it out. She had me try to find the skycap while she continued to look for flights. It took a few minutes of running around the terminal (inside and out) but I finally found the gentleman I checked-in with and also had my baggage tags. He swore he never saw me before. I was astounded! Sure, I bet he checked in a ton of other people in the hour plus that elapsed, but given my situation I figured he would have remembered a messed up situation like mine.

Another ten minutes later after, I make it back to the ticket counter where Latisha is still struggling with the booking computer, thankfully her manager, Fidelis, shows up.

Fidelis: What happened?

Me: Well, I’m not really sure, but I do know I missed my flight.

Fidelis: Ok, lets see what we can do.

Me: I really need to be in San Francisco tonight to meet my party and continue on to Hong Kong.

Fidelis: (furiously typing into the terminal). I’ll do my best, but it honestly doesn’t look promising.

Me: Ok, well then I need to get out on the next available flight tomorrow.

Fidelis: Ok, There is a 2:00 flight out of here (PHL) that puts you into San Francisco a little after five-o-clock. Then I think we can try to get you on the same Singapore Air (SA) flight you were supposed to be on tonight, just one day later.

Me: Well, it isn’t ideal, but it’s better than no flight at all.

Fidelis: Ok, I was able to get you on rebooked on our flight, but I cannot get the SA computer to confirm your reservation. Let me call them.

So he calls them and they give him some further instructions. As he hangs up the phone, he tells them he will be calling back. In the meantime, another ticket agent comes to Fidelis in a panic. Fidelis decides that his attention is needed there and he disappears. Fifteen minutes later he comes back and apologizes. He calls SA once again and is able to get me tentatively booked. He then proceeds to write out an explanation for me that I need to give to the agent in San Francisco telling me: “you might need this”. I don’t want to paint Fidelis to be the bad guy here. He was really great! As I walked away from the counter he said to me: “Your flight is at 2:00 PM, you should be here by at least 11:00 AM, if not earlier.”

The net-net of the whole situation is the fact that I am leaving a day later and will arrive a day later, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things as I had booked everything with some downtime built into my schedule. I will have more of a layover in SFO than I really wanted (7 hours), but that was what I had to deal with to get into Hong Kong close to when I had hoped.

What really frustrates me is the fact that I never received an explanation why all of this happened! I want to know why I got thrown into airport limbo. I suspect that the flight was well overbooked, as a number of folks that I talked to during my wait were also on the same flight. In a similar vein, if I screwed up, I want to know that too so I don’t repeat the same mistake in the future. Regardless, I don’t think I will ever know.

I know the airline business got thrown into a tailspin due to all of the changes that needed to be made post-9/11, but the fact that they can get away without even an explanation blows my mind. Additionally, in this day and age, I refuse to believe that there isn’t a more efficient networked system connecting all airlines together so that adjustments can be made. If I can order a built-to-order computer from Dell and receive it in a few days or order a slew of books from Amazon and literally have them at my doorstep the next day, why can’t adjustments be made without phone calls and tons of creativity by the airline employees.

I know the airlines are in business to make money and compete with each other, but there has to be a greater level of cooperation. I am not professing to have all of the answers, but I think a wholesale overhaul of the entire airline system is well overdue.

You definitely learn a lot from your mistakes and when you travel, in this situation I think you could say I learned a lot and nothing at the same time. Today is a new day and hopefully I can get this trip underway. If all goes well, the next time I write will be from the terminal in San Francisco.