Copenhagen Bound

My previous post discussed the unfortunate encounters with the airline industry. It was a predeliction of what could go wrong. Below is a recount of this trip. This is the second time in a row where a commuter flight has transformed my journey into a harrowing experience. The first, I will post dated December 25, 2007.

Continental Airlines Flight 1189 was originally supposed to take off at 1.45pm. I was a little nervous about the weather report of high winds and some rain and snow, despite the 50 degree weather so I checked the status of the flights. When I saw one flight cancelled and the other flights delayed, I took off for the airport early via cab. I reached the airport at 11.45am. The 12.15pm flight had been cancelled and the 1.45pm flight was delayed to 3.05pm. That was the only choice I had, and I would make my connection flight to Copenhagen that was scheduled to depart at 5.40pm.

The only issue was the plane never came. The time kept changing from 3.05pm to 5.03pm to 6.10pm, then back to 5.03pm. I changed my itinerary from flying direct to Copenhagen to the backup plan of flying to Amsterdam, then to Copenhagen. That flight was scheduled to depart at 6.50pm. However, when Flight 1189 was set to depart at 6.10pm, I decided to opt for a later flight. I changed my itinerary to flying to London, then Copenhagen.

When Flight 1189 finally arrived from Newark, it was a smaller plane. Continental Airlines had already requested volunteers to fly via Delta Shuttle to JFK instead, and offered a trip to Newark. These volunteers got to go to the New York area before our plane came. One person waiting at the ticket counter asked why Delta has not been affected by the high winds flying in to JFK, but Continental is? Flight 1189 finally took off at 6.20pm and when we arrived in Newark, it was chaos. Newark is Continental Airline's hub, and one can see delays at almost every gate due to the high winds in the Newark and New York area. The flight to London was reported to only be 8 minutes delayed, but in reality, we didn't board the plane and the plane didn't take off for at least another hour after it was scheduled.

I arrived in London at 9.45am, missing my Copenhagen leg. The irony was that I received emails and a voicemail that my flight from Newark to London was delayed, and I had a chance of missing my connection. Fortunately, Continental booked me on a flight I would definitely make it on -- another day later on Valentine's Day. Perfect. I am so happy I can count on Continental.

I approached the ticket counter to see what I could do. The person there placed me on standby on a 2pm flight. A couple hours later, I approached the ticket counter again. The 2.00pm flight was full. I was scheduled to be on standby for another flight. I almost lost it. Why is it that the people who have been screwed over by a little commuter flight that throws off their whole itinerary not given any priority? Fortunately, the not-so-friendly people of SAS managed to book me on a 5.00pm flight, arriving in Copenhagen at 8.00pm. Better than nothing, but by the time I disembark from the plane in Copenhagen, what should have been a 9 hour journey has evolved into a 28 hour long journey. Something just is not right about that.