Sauli's IS blog, 2/19/12, translated

DELTA: Don't Ever Leave Terminal Again!!

Finally back in LA – the trip home was a crazy parade of miserable coincidences!! It all began with a hopeless attempt at Tutka. Katri and I had so much to tell you and talk about, but Tutka ended up being utter fail in every way. We did talk about all the shows and news, but it never made it on tape. Thank you, technology!! At least you all know what the weather was like in New York and that Katri had been home sick. hah!! :) We're so sorry about this, and we'll try again next week and hopefully be more successful.

After Tutka, I hurried to the airport to catch my flight back to LA. This was on Wednesday, and I didn't arrive in LA until yesterday. So the trip back was just as successful as our Tutka, and that's what I would like to tell you all about... whew!!

My flight back to LA was supposed to leave at 3 pm and I got to the airport well in time at 12:30. I went straight to the self-service check-in to print out my ticket. At this point, I wondered why there was no seat number on the ticket, just a blank space. I asked a lady about it, and she said to go to the info counter at my gate in the international terminal and I'd be assigned a seat. I went through security and marched directly to the counter where two airline staff were sorting out seats. There was soon a line of 25 people behind me, all with the same problem. The staff kindly announced to everyone that they had a seating list and that seats would be assigned at boarding. They also told us there would absolutely be a seat for everyone on the plane, but they were having some problems with the technology... I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down to wait for boarding. When the gates were finally opened and people started getting on the plane, our group of rejects was moved to the side to wait for confirmation of our seats. We were called to the gate one by one and let on the plane. The group got smaller and smaller until finally there were just myself and another man. I'm sure you can guess what happened...?? The man of course made it on the flight and I was informed all the seats were full. At this point, I was ready to tear my hair out!! I was furious!! Argh!! Even writing this right now evokes feelings of rage, but let's carry on...

OK. No room on the flight, and I was completely helpless. The airline staff tried to find another flight to LA, but of course there were no more direct flights for that day, only transfers. I got a new travel plan, according to which I would fly business to Minneapolis on a flight scheduled to leave an hour later at 4 pm, have an hour's transfer time to LA and be in business class on that flight as well. I was in terminal 2 at this time, and the flight to Minneapolis was from terminal 3. I walked to terminal 3, which took me about 30 minutes, and when I got to gate 10 in terminal 3, I saw the flight to Minneapolis was running half an hour late. I figured it was fine, half an hour was plenty of time to catch the other flight. Half an hour passed, another half-hour passed, and the plane was still delayed... I knew I had no hope of catching my other flight. I was directed back to terminal 2 to figure out a new travel plan. Once there, I was told the flight to Minneapolis would leave at 7 pm and there would be another flight to LA with a 45 minute transfer time. I was completely exhausted but I figured who cares, as long as I make it home today.

Finally I got to board the plane, which was supposed to depart at 7 pm. This of course did not happen – the plane sat on the runway for an hour and 15 minutes waiting for permission to take off. I had already kissed my transfer flight goodbye and just hoped it might be delayed like every other flight that day. When I landed in Minneapolis, it had of course already departed, having been right on schedule. Great!! In Minneapolis, I was informed that the next flight to LA wasn't until the following morning. I was angry, tired, hungry, exhausted and completely powerless. I was put up in the Minneapolis airport hotel to wait for the morning flight out. During this whole ordeal, I was never once offered any vouchers for food or drink, or any kind of monetary compensation. I had, however, paid for my flight from NYC to LA two weeks earlier.

After a few hours' sleep I headed out for my next attempt. The Minneapolis airport was crowded in the morning and there was an hour-long line at security. When I finally got to the gate, I was happy to see the little screen say ”on schedule” and that I would finally be getting home. I got a seat in first class and made the most of it. SO THERE!! :)

I would like to thank DELTA Airlines for all of this, and I can promise you I will never again in my life fly DELTA again!! I will also not be leaving it at this but writing a mile-long letter of complaint. The only thing left to say at this point is DELTA: Don't Ever Leave Terminal Again!!!!!

xoxo
/S

ps. I'll write in my personal blog about my trip to New York and what happened there in more detail.

original blog here: http://blogit.iltasanomat.fi/sauli/delta-don´t-ever-leave-terminal-again/203

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