Monday, January 27, 2014

Sweet TnT

I called the police last night to report someone who started playing music at 10.45pm. The response was that "..it is a wedding.." as if I am supposed to accept the lawlessness, this was not the first call they got. They would try to send a patrol car.. one hour later the music was still going at full blast. I finally managed to fall asleep after that but I would not be surprised if it went on for many hours.

Also, add to the list of never to be solved crimes:
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Teen-gang-raped-in-Central-242153821.html

I have full confidence this will go nowhere, because the local government still has a big part to play in prosecuting any culprits:
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Bussing-de-mark-on-the-drug-bust-242147181.html

We still have very far to go before it gets any better. Hide your children.

Monday, January 13, 2014

United Airlines, never again

I had the regrettable experience of using United Airlines for a Trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. I spent a week in New Orleans over New Years 2014 and the worst part of the whole thing was the experience with United. The time spent there was great.

I booked the ticket a month before the trip using United because it was the best option available considering the price and the stop over times. The two main options to New Orleans are connections through Houston or Miami. I chose Houston.

The trip from Trinidad was a smooth and regular process with no real surprises. I got an email 24 hours before the flight saying I could check in online. Each time I tried to check in I would get a message similar to "There was a problem checking you in, Please use an airport kiosk or contact an agent". I assumed this was because I was in Trinidad and there was something they had to do in person at the airport. This was my first time flying with them so I was not sure of the process. At the airport I paid $25 USD for checking in my suitcase which I knew I had to do. There was an unexpected fee of an additional $7.50 USD which I only picked up on afterwards. This $7.50 was not charged when I checked in my bag to return home. The flight left Piarco on time and arrived as scheduled in Houston. During the flight the attendants served complimentary drinks - soda, juices, water. Food was available for purchase.

At Houston, my flight to New Orleans was about 7 hours later. The terminal was comfortable enough for the wait.

The issues began for my return trip on the 4th January when there was bad weather in the city the flight was coming in from. The polar vortex had grounded thousands of flights at this time so I was fortunate to have mine come in.  The flight was scheduled for 8.10pm.

At 3.28pm I got an email alert with the subject "Flight Delay.."saying the flight was delayed due to a late inbound aircraft and the new departure time is 9.00pm and arriving at Houston 10.22pm. This would still let me catch the flight for Trinidad leaving Houston at 11.56pm. I did not start to get nervous yet because the arrival time was early enough not to cut it too close.

At 3.40pm I got a second alert saying the flight now departs at 9.18pm.. but still arrived at10.22pm... This is when I started to get nervous. Looking back, at this point I should have packed an overnight bag in my carry on, assuming the worst that I was going to miss my flight and not have my luggage for whatever reason.

From about 6pm I had arrived at the Louis Armstrong airport where the more colourful United experience began to unfold. I had tried to check in online 24 hours before, as recommended by an email just as I did in Trinidad but I got the same error. At the united check in area there were about 6 people in line. According to the screens there were multiple delayed or cancelled flights and some still on time. Mine was delayed. There were self service kiosks that each passenger had to navigate to check in. I could see that people were going through it slowly with some starting over because something went wrong. There were four people tending to the kiosks and helping resolve any problems. I am not sure who were agents because some people only take luggage and cannot resolve issues. After waiting a few minutes in line and reaching the front, one of the agents announced that anyone who does not have a cancelled or missed flight should wait and allow others to come forward. My flight was delayed so I stepped up to a kiosk which was close to the same agent. She asked me which flight I was on and when I told her she shouted " Didn't you just hear me announce that anyone with cancelled or delayed or missed flights should wait!".
I said "No, you did not say delayed."
"Yes, I said delayed...!"
"No, you didn't and I'm sure it is on camera"
After a few seconds she said I could go ahead to use the kiosk. I tried twice and both times came up saying that I need assistance from an agent. The same woman was waved down and was able to check me in. Here I paid $25USD for luggage without the additional $7.50 that was needed in Trinidad.

The email alerts kept coming at 5.35pm, 6.41pm and 7.09pm all shifting the departure to later times. The latest arrival time was now 11.52pm.

At 7.14pm an alert said the departure gate changed.

At 7.46pm an alert with subject "Flight revised.." said the new arrival time was 12.07am the next day.. I would miss the connecting flight. At the gate, I met two other Trinidadians who were in the same dilemma but had already spoken to an agent and secured the last two seats for the flight to Trinidad the following afternoon (5th Jan). I was told by the agent I would have to be on standby for that flight and also on the 6th and I could get a confirmed seat on the 7th. The other option was to take a flight to New York on the 5th and then to Trinidad. This did not make sense because of the bad weather. I did not have any other choice at this point, I would stay in Houston. I could have also chosen to stay in New Orleans a day or two until the next available flight but my logic was take this flight to go closer to home while I had a confirmed seat.

When I arrived at Houston a little after midnight, there were five other people at the gate to talk to an agent about the same missed flight. I was last in line. The line was moving slowly. Some distance away was a Customer Service counter that some other customers were lined up for. After 30 minutes in the line at the gate I went across to the other counter and I could see there were 5 free agents and a man about to stand up. As I approached through the maze of barriers I heard someone say "No, we're closed". I was not sure if he was speaking to me because I was not looking at him and thought maybe he was on the phone. Another agent said "Hi" and the man standing up said again "We're closed". The agent said "We're closed?" and looked at the man for a couple seconds and gave me a defeated "Sorry, we're closed". The other agents remained silent and tried to avoid eye contact with me.

I was literally the last person to be tended to and it felt like I was being told "WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU! GO AWAY!"

I headed back to the line at the gate where the agent was still on duty. When it was my turn I explained the situation and she mentioned she was not supposed to be at the gate and she had to be somewhere else in the airport for 2am.. I am not sure why she was telling me this, that was over an hour away.. was I going to kept here that long?? She offered me standby for the 5th and confirmed seats on the 6th instead of the 7th as I was told at Houston. I chose to cancel my standby for the 5th because of her explanation of how standby works. If there are remaining seats when the flight is boarding, the computer picks the passenger(s) based on a number of factors including how much they paid for their tickets. I was not about to waste time in the airport again with another delayed flight given what had just happened.
She gave me a printed sheet (ticket?) saying I was confirmed for the 6th. I would spend a day in Houston. I was given a number to call that could organise a hotel at a reduced rate. For the other people, two of them already had the flight confirmed and one was on my flight. The last two were a couple with the woman getting a confirmed seat for the 5th and the man being on standby. The agent told one of them the plane could wait for connecting passengers, perhaps in our case it would mean waiting too long because the planes were in different terminals.

On the way to collect my luggage I had to pass by the "Customer Service" counter and saw another passenger talking to one of the agents who was still there. She allowed the passenger to call the number we were given to try to book a hotel. He was on hold for at least 10 minutes when he gave up and handed me the phone because he decided to stay the night in the airport with his wife. The agent was packing up while I was on hold, listening to silence. I had internet access and a phone so I decided to give up waiting and proceed to collect my luggage. I could book the hotel later. The other people would wait out the day in the airport for their standby flight. It was a lonely walk to the luggage area, I passed one cleaner(?) along the way.

At baggage claim my luggage was nowhere in sight. There was a baggage claims office with a few agents sitting at desks. The time was now 1.15am. One agent said that because I had a connecting flight that my luggage would be in a special locked area and that no one was there to take luggage out until 6.30am. I would have to come back at that time. She did not ask to see any of my documents. After considering my options, I chose to wait in the airport until then instead of running back and forth between the hotel and the airport. I was given a small bag of toiletries. In it was a toothbrush, toothpaste, mini comb, disposable razor, mini Dove antiperspirant, two packets of shaving cream and a 2 in 1 packet of shampoo and conditioner. I was tired and frustrated. A couple of the carousels were still running and people from other flights were collecting their bags. There were a couple almost empty snack and drink vending machines. I found a seat and tried to relax.

I did manage to get some sleep and woke up at 7.00am. The carousels were still busy, there was a man asleep on the row of chairs behind me. All my belongings were still there, I had survived.. so far. Back at Baggage Claim with my sore neck and bad breath I found a different set of agents. This time I wrote my name in a book that was there from the night before which I did not use as an agent came out to me as I had gone in. Now after a couple of minutes an agent came out and called me into her cubicle. After explaining my situation, she checked my baggage tag and said my bag was still in New Orleans (...more good news!). She explained that the bags are scanned at points along their journey and the last record she has is scanned at New Orleans, she turned the screen around for me to see for myself. I assume she saw that I already had a toiletries bag which is why she did not offer one. She was not sure why the bag was still there or when it would come in. Her advice about collecting the bags was that I could check online with the baggage tracker utility on united.com or come back to the airport to query it. The day before, people who had requested their bags to be 'pulled' got it after 5 hours and no requests were taken after lunch. The people retrieving it were the regular baggage handlers who were otherwise already swamped. Since my flight was in a day it would probably make sense to leave it en route to Trinidad and manage without it. Requesting that it come out may result with it coming off track when I am on my way to Trinidad and it staying in Houston. She was very sympathetic when speaking and repeated "I know this is not what you want to hear, but...". This did not make me feel any better.

Now depressed, I went back to my camp site to research a hotel. The temperature outside was a little warmer than New Orleans but not much so I was still using my cold gear which I had as carry on. There were free shuttles to various hotels, you just had to get the specific shuttle for your hotel. The advertised price was starting at $130USD per night for TownePlace and I was told the discount via the airline was $75 USD. I checked in at around 8.30am and was told I would only be charged for one day even though I was checking in early. Luckily breakfast was still being served so I got a nice warm meal. I then slept a few hours to make up for what I missed the night before on the airport chairs.

Next on the agenda was getting clothes and food. I took a taxi for $20 USD to a nearby Walmart. The minivan taxi smelled horrible. There were a few air fresheners which did nothing. At Walmart I had a late lunch and bought sleeping clothes and dinner. When I tried calling the number the taxi driver gave me for my return trip there was no answer. I called the hotel and they called another cab for me, another $20usd to get back home. I stayed in for the night, had a nice dinner and enjoyed my comfortable bed.

The next day I tried to check in online for the flight but I got the familiar error. Baggage info was also not available on the tracker. After another warm breakfast, I checked out and the charge for the night was a surprising $52USD. I headed to the airport to continue the adventure. When I tried to do a self check in at the kiosk, the familiar error came up, I needed an agent to check me in. The agent who was attending was very pleasant. He was able to check me in and after explaining my situation, his check showed my bag still in New Orleans. He advised I check with the agent at the gate for my luggage as his screen may not be showing the latest info. On the way to my gate I asked another agent at a gate about my luggage and he said it would be on the flight with me. When I asked the agent at my gate she said it would be on the plane with me because bags do not leave on international flights without the owners on board. I was hoping this was the case.

The flight was on time and went smoothly. Complimentary drinks were served. The first serving was juices teas and sodas. The others were only water. When I arrived at Piarco I waited for my luggage until there were no more coming out. I confirmed this with an attendant who was pulling bags off and lining them up for collection instead of having them making circles on the carousel.

The Baggage Claim counter at Piarco is a very dimly lit area with a couple hundred bags lined up around it. There was a Caribbean Air desk and a United desk. No one was at the United desk so I asked for help at the other desk. My luggage was there in the crowd. The agent moved it from behind a post and out of a shadow to read the tag. I had to sign a book for receiving it and the agent confirmed that he too was having trouble seeing in the dim light. The bag had come in on an earlier flight but he was not sure which one. The tag had a red sticker with "Manifest Bag, Load on next available flt".

The journey was over, I was back home with my luggage. All the agents I spoke to said I would not get any compensation for costs incurred due to the missed connecting flight, approximately $150USD, because the delay was due to bad weather and not the airline's fault.

I would prefer not to use United again in the future and would not recommend them based on my experience. The bad behaviour of the agents was something expected in Trinidad but not abroad.


Topics:
baggage claim Piarco Trinidad and Tobago airport,
missed connecting flight
bad customer service
united airlines review
rude agents
polar vortex ground delay flights
fly to new orleans