E-mail
Print
Traveling Woes
Spring break trip to France has its problems
By Krista Kinnius
Airlines, to keep cost down, always overbook flights by a small percentage. They have some complex mathematical formula that tells them that even when a plane is sold out, not all of the people will show up to take the plane, and thus it is good to oversell the seats on the plane.
Spring Break. For some of us it seems like a long too long time ago. For others who look to the future, getting finals finished is the next goal before another vacation. While that is true for me as well, I would like to share some of what happened to me over my spring break.
Airlines. For me all airlines are equally as crappy. I have never found “the” airline. If anyone has, please, by all means, contact me. It all started out on the Friday the 14, when I was flying to France to visit my fiancée. I was at Chicago O’Hare airport checking in my bags. Something was not working with Swiss Air’s computers. A distinctive beeping noise kept on reoccurring. Being the experienced traveler that I am, I know when some sort of problem is happening. (Plus the beeping noise is always a good clue as well.) When I asked the Swiss air crew-check-in member if there is some sort of problem, her answer was no.
But then she went on to say that I would have to pick up my boarding pass at the flight gate. Since this plane was flying Chicago to Zurich, and I would need to transfer to continue my journey to Paris, I then asked her for my boarding pass from Zurich to Paris.
Her reply was that boarding card would also have to be picked up at the flight gate. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. This told me that as of that moment I did not have a seat on this plane.
Airlines, to keep cost down, always overbook flights by a small percentage. They have some complex mathematical formula that tells them that even when a plane is sold out, not all of the people will show up to take the plane, and thus it is good to oversell the seats on the plane.
Hurrah for me! I think the thing that made me the maddest was not so much the fact that at this moment I did not have a seat, but rather the fact was that no one, not one person from Swiss air mentioned that I was on Stand-by. I was constantly reminded that there was no problem. What I really wanted to say was where I should take a seat, because Swiss air did not give me a seat, but they meant the seat in the waiting area and not on the plane. So I sat in the waiting area.
“We would like to start boarding Swiss air flight 12345 to Zurich. Could all first class passengers as well as families with children please report to the gate to board first.” I sat in the waiting area watching all of these people get on the plane. I continued to ask the Swiss Air personal when I would be getting a seat, but the response was “please take a seat, we will get to you in the next 5 minutes.” After all the people were loaded on the plane, and I plus two other women were left next to the boarding gate, I went up to the counter and demanded some sort of explanation. They said again, “just one moment.” That is when I exploded.
“Stop lying to me, and tell me the truth. You don’t have a seat for me on this plane.”
“No, miss, we do have a seat for you.”
“Ok, but why is everyone one else on the plane and not me?” I asked
“The plane is overloaded, we need to unload some cargo before you can get on.”
“Sorry” I said, “but I don’t believe it. I don’t even have a boarding pass. Why don’t you people tell me the truth, communicate with me, and tell me that I’m not getting on the flight?”
“Please, come and look at the computer,” she said. “Since you don’t believe me, if you look here you can see that the plane is overloaded and you do have a seat.”
“So if I do have the seat, why don’t I have a boarding pass?”
“We are having some computer problems.”
“UH-UH! Right.”
“Ok, miss, now I can print you your boarding cards. Here is your boarding card for Zurich, and here it is for Paris. Have a safe trip.”
I looked at the boarding card. My seat was the last seat in the plane, next to the window. Trying to be positive at the moment, I thought I was happy that I got a window seat. I like being at the window, because it allows me to sleep better when I prop my pillow up against the wall.
The positive bubble burst when the stewardess came around the corner and said.
“Miss, I have a little boy who for the first time is flying on a plane. He would like to be by a window, and was wondering if he could change seats with you. He is sitting in the middle, center.”
I reminded myself to be calm and reasonable. No yelling. No screaming. My reply, “No thanks.”
When I arrived in Paris to pick up my bags, on my baggage tickets in bright black letters was stated “STAND-BY.” Thanks Swiss Air for not lying to me and for stating over and over again that there is no problem!
Krista’s part 2 of “Heathrow airplane hell” will continue next week. If you have any travel questions (or stories) that you would like Krista to answer please e-mail Krista at editorial@uwmpost.com.
> Comments