Last weekend, Mrs. SW and I visited our Oldest Son and his lovely fiancee in Charlotte. We flew out after work on Friday and hoped to maximize our time by taking the last flight out, leaving at ~9:00 PM. AT 4:15, I received a phone call from our carrier informing me that because of "traffic problems" our flight was canceled. We called the airline and the agent at the other end of the line had no clue the flight was canceled. After several back and forths:
Mrs. SW: We were just contacted and told our flight tonight was canceled. I need to get on a flight back to New York as soon as possible.
Agent: OK, but your flight has been delayed and is leaving at 10:00.
Mrs. SW: No, we were informed by your airline that the flight was canceled.
Agent: Yes, your flight is delayed.
Mrs. SW: Is the flight delayed or was it canceled?
Agent: It is being delayed until 10:00PM...oh, wait, it has been canceled. You won't be able to get home tonight.
Mrs. SW: Yes, I know that; I want to get on a flight tomorrow morning.
I'm sure you get the gist. Eventually, we were able to get a 6:25 flight out of Charlotte, stopping for a change over in Philadelphia, and getting into New York at 10:23. I would have to cancel some morning patients but would be able to still get into the office in time to see a few patients. However, the flight was delayed getting off the ground, the connecting flight was further delayed over an hour, and we didn't get back home until far too late to run back into the city.
I suppose it is a good news/bad news story. The good news is that we got to spend an extra evening with my son and our FDIL (Future Daughter-in-Law); the bad news is that I had to cancel my patients and didn't have time to blog (except this brief post.)
Fortuitously, the New York Post had a story on the front page describing the impending failure of the Northeast Air Traffic control system.
<understatement> I don't think the passengers are the primary concern of the airlines these days. </understatement>
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