The soap opera that passes for today's air travel.
The most frightening thing in travel today is not wondering whether your plane will actually leave on the scheduled day at or near the posted time, but whether it will fly at all. Think Zoom. Or, will it land at its scheduled airport?? Maybe yes, maybe no. Definitely no if you’re flying Continental.
It all started out okay. We were booked round trip on Zoom from Calgary to London, nonstop. Perfect. Zoom used to land in Gatwick so we chose a connecting flight from Gatwick to Budapest. That only made sense And when Hans finishes his 1007 kilometre walk in Spain, he’s flying Iberian Air from Madrid into Gatwick. No point travelling across London if you don’t have to. Especially since a cab ride from one airport to the other costs around 100 pounds.
Now Zoom’s defunct. But to avoid having to cancel and rebook all our connecting flights, we took the connection offered by Continental when we learned they flelw to Gatwick. Not bad, even if we have to fly via Houston with a 4 hour wait. And the flight now takes 18 hours instead of 9. But what can you do? Well, you can pray Hurricane Ike manages to avoid Houston on Saturday, September 13, though in fact it’s expected to land in Texas on that very day. Tough luck for us, you say? Indeed, but it gets worse.
We just heard from Continental that it’s cancelling all its flights out of Gatwick effective October 20. To be clear, I don't blame the people who work on the airplanes or for the airlines for the way they operate. These are problems that cannot be solved at the individual level, and possibly not at the country or planet level. This is inefficiency of galactic proportions, and a galactic solution may be required.
It’s possible my flight home is still safe since I fly on October 5. Then again, Zoom sent us a revised itinerary only 7 days before they pulled the plug. Hans, however, is definitely caught in the web and is currently frantically trying to find a way home on November 15.
I fear I may become one of the lost, stranded people doomed to wander a foreign airport and muttering unintelligible gibberish until they come and taser me.
It all started out okay. We were booked round trip on Zoom from Calgary to London, nonstop. Perfect. Zoom used to land in Gatwick so we chose a connecting flight from Gatwick to Budapest. That only made sense And when Hans finishes his 1007 kilometre walk in Spain, he’s flying Iberian Air from Madrid into Gatwick. No point travelling across London if you don’t have to. Especially since a cab ride from one airport to the other costs around 100 pounds.
Now Zoom’s defunct. But to avoid having to cancel and rebook all our connecting flights, we took the connection offered by Continental when we learned they flelw to Gatwick. Not bad, even if we have to fly via Houston with a 4 hour wait. And the flight now takes 18 hours instead of 9. But what can you do? Well, you can pray Hurricane Ike manages to avoid Houston on Saturday, September 13, though in fact it’s expected to land in Texas on that very day. Tough luck for us, you say? Indeed, but it gets worse.
We just heard from Continental that it’s cancelling all its flights out of Gatwick effective October 20. To be clear, I don't blame the people who work on the airplanes or for the airlines for the way they operate. These are problems that cannot be solved at the individual level, and possibly not at the country or planet level. This is inefficiency of galactic proportions, and a galactic solution may be required.
It’s possible my flight home is still safe since I fly on October 5. Then again, Zoom sent us a revised itinerary only 7 days before they pulled the plug. Hans, however, is definitely caught in the web and is currently frantically trying to find a way home on November 15.
I fear I may become one of the lost, stranded people doomed to wander a foreign airport and muttering unintelligible gibberish until they come and taser me.
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Roger