Greetings from Dead-In-the-Air (DIA, Denver) Airport. One good thing about this facility is that it is among very few airports in the United States that offers free wifi at the boarding gates. So that's where I am writing from at the moment.
I am waiting for yet another delayed Untied Airlines (sic) flight. Yesterday's flight from Baltimore to Denver was hell. Seems like tonight will be just as bad.
What I detest about Untied Airlines is that they charge for even the first piece of checked luggage... so everyone is financially motivated to bring everything with them as carry-on luggage. I was only staying one night, so I only had one small carry-on bag (men's clothes pack lightly LOL!).
The second thing that I detest about Untied Airlines is that as you are getting your boarding pass (either on-line or at the ticket kiosk), you are induced to pay a ransom for a seat with more leg room. You see, at Untied Airlines, seats from the exit row forward are spaced with 5" of additional leg room (compared with seats in the back). Seats behind the exit row to the back of the plane are more closely squished together, and are where those who won't pay this ransom (or who don't have status on the airline) are forced to sit. So if you are among the unfortunate business travelers whose company only pays for economy class, you either are forced to pay the "upgrade" ransom out of your own pocket, or eat your knees when the passenger in front of you reclines his/her seat.
But that's not all... yesterday at BWI, my plane loads, and we're all squished to the gills because the flight is jam packed. The plane sits and sits and sits... and we only get "we're finding out what's going on... seems like a maintenance issue" message from the flight attendant. This goes on for two-and-a-half hours.
They finally decide to let us off the plane to get lunch... "but hurry back... we will be leaving soon!" So I grab a burger, rush back, and then we're told "well, it looks like another hour."
Finally we are allowed back on the plane. We wait and wait. Then we're told that we have to deplane because the pilot has to "power down." So we all get off... wait an hour, then all get back on.
FIVE HOURS after first getting on this old 757 the pilot says we can go... the plane gets pushed back, then sits and sits and sits and sits. The pilot then announces that the right engine won't start, followed by, "we're talking to maintenance about it." Meanwhile, the flight attendants prance down the aisle selling (SELLING!) snacks!
The plane finally took off, about five and a half hours after it was supposed to. The only bright spot was that the huge guy stuck in the middle seat next to me never came back, so I had a little bit more room for the flight to Denver.
Now it's time to return... the flight was supposed to leave at 7pm and arrive about midnight at home. Yuck. I don't like late fights, but that's all that was available for when I needed to travel. And when I arrived at the Denver airport, cleared security (which really wasn't a problem), I see that my departure is delayed at least an hour for some unspecified reason.
Update 09/05: We were boarded onto the plane an hour late, but once we all were seated, the pilot said that due to foul weather, the ground crew was called indoors for their own safety. We were delayed another hour before the ground crew returned to load the luggage for our aircraft. What really bugs me is that this additional delay would not have happened had the plane been ready to depart on time. The flight was bumpy, so I couldn't sleep much. I crawled in the door at home at 3:15am. And I have to be at a meeting in DC at 8:00am. I'll be there, but don't know in what condition.
I HATE UNITED AIRLINES! Anybody want some miles??? Seriously, I am not going to fly this crappy airline again if I can avoid it. Unfortunately, most domestic U.S. airlines have serious problems, as well as various ways of nickel-and-diming passengers to extort more money from them, from paying to choose a seat or paying for a can of soda.
I once flew well over 100,000 miles each year in a previous job. While all that travel was exhausting, in the days before Sept. 11, 2001 for the most part, you could get where you needed to be on a non-stop flight with few delays (other than weather). Nowadays, you can't get anywhere quickly, or on time. What a shame. What a real shame.
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