Just made an emergency visit to the UK as my mum is not well....it took 38 hours from Manchester NH to get to Manchetser UK!
I feel the need to Continental Airlines bash!
In a nutshell:
Saturday 4.30 pm due to fly Manchester NH to Newark.
3.30pm received phone call flight cancelled due to mending the runway!!!!
No other flights available...due to fly out of Newark to Manchester UK at 10pm.
Told to go to Boston for the 5.30pm to Newark. No we cannot provide a shuttle bus that would be providing customer service.
5.00pm get to Boston burning rubber all the way..flight delayed an hour.
6.30pm delayed another hour.
7.30 delayed another one.
8.30pm cancelling look for another flight due to bad weather.
9pm New flight booked for tomorrow 11.30am to Newark then 7.30pm to Manchester UK
so I ask for a hotel as I am stranded.
Told NO.
9.15pm after huge temper tantrum I get a hotel.
Next day get flight to Newark on time surprisingly.
7.30pm after spending 6 1/2 hours wandering around the airport I felt like Tom Hanks in The Terminal movie flight delayed an hour..as it needs cleaning...hello I did spend a huge amount on this ticket!
8.30pm sat on plane feeling confident we are to move.
9.30pm still on the tarmac.
10.30pm oh yes still on the tarmac.
11.30pm hurray we are actually airborn!
5am arrive in Manchester UK... no one in immigration.. so wait an hour....hello Manchester I am home....let me in!
6am Collapse into my sisters arms.......I cannot bear the thought of coming back...will I survive???
My message to you all....think twice before booking with Continental! One lady could not get another flight to Tel Aviv for 48 hours!!!! Watch for Terminal 2 the movie!!!!
7 comments:
Oh god. How awful. I would still be weeping I think. The one thing about trying to fly in the States in the summer is the bloody weather. It's just thunder, thunder, thunder. Hopefully on your way back the weather in England will be fine!
We flew Continental Boston-Newark-Manchester when we went to the UK to get married. I remember standing on the plane waiting to get off at Newark and smarter people in front of me were still sitting - making strange noises: "Wheee, PLONK!" I realized they were watching the luggage coming out of the hold, moving along the conveyor belt, and falling off it onto the tarmac. The baggage handlers were standing around chatting, and were only grabbing about one bag in five or six. I saw my own bag hit the tarmac and cringed - it had a computer in it. Not a laptop - a computer! It was a gift for my parents, 'puters being so much cheaper over here. Sure enough, when I got to my parents' house it did not work. Fortunately, we did manage to fix it. (Open case, reseat cards that had jiggled loose, and reclose case.)
On the return trip, when we got on the plane at Newark we discovered someone already sitting in DH's seat. They had not only double-booked but let both people on the plane! As the other person had boarded first, they were going to make DH get off. There was no way I was letting him get off the plane without me and I threw quite the hissy fit. The other passenger did not even volunteer to get off the plane! The flight attendants finally made her get off. (I suspect there was some kind of payment involved!) After the plane moved off from the gate we then sat there for a couple of hours before taking off because one runway was closed due to a plane bursting a tyre on landing. I should have just got off the plane with DH and waited for the next flight. My FIL had been a PITA for most of the flight across the Atlantic anyway, insisting on sitting next to me and not letting DH sit with me :-(
I have never flown Continental again.
Different plane story - when I tried to get tickets home at the last minute for my grandmother's funeral I called various airlines to get tickets from Boston to Manchester. I forget which one it was offered me tickets at $450 round trip. I thought that was a great deal for last minute tickets, until I realized they thought I wanted to fly from Boston, MA to Manchester, NH! It ended up costing me close to $1,000 instead to fly on Northwest via Amsterdam.
Sorry to hear your mum is not well. Hope you manage to have some quality family time while you're over there.
What a horrendous journey! I hope your mum's okay.
oh my dear friend-- shall we send out a ship for you to come back on?
or shall I mail you a swim cap?
Anything but reboarding that HORRID plane!!
fyi, your children are THE BEST, hands down.
Bisous, bp
Oh thank you for all of your comments.
Now I need your help as I fly back tomorrow. Please if you have a spare moment do a sundance as the weather is predicted to be stormy.
My 5 & 8 year old nieces are dancing away like crazy.
Please let the planes fly on time or I will be in a mess for Monday as I have no daycare & Sir L is off on a golfing trip!
All dancers that maintain the sun will be rewarded with a large bar of Cadburys...start swinging those hips folks.
Almost American..I will be following your lead..no more Continental!
What an awful journey. I'm so sorry - and to have to deal with that with the worry of your Mum on your mind.
Good words.
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