High Tech Heaven 'n Hell

[dr_phil_physics]

I'm sitting at the Grand Rapids airport, using the free Wi-Fi on my PDA, while waiting to see if Debbie's flight has left Memphis yet (they got everyone on board and backed away from the gate before realizing no one on the ground had done any of the safety checks), and wish I'd brought a laptop instead.

Northwest Has Done Okay For Us The Last Few Years... But Not Tonight

So it's amazing that I can walk into the airport, search out any of the numerous wide-screen Sony monitors and find out my wife's flight is running two hours late: Northwest flight 3444 was scheduled to arrive at 9:36pm, then 11:57pm. So I pulled out my cellphone, turned it on, hoping Mrs. Dr. Phil had hers on and connected immediately -- that's when I learned they'd boarded but were sitting there. Wherever Grand Rapids was getting their information, it didn't match what they had in Memphis and a flight attendant said to ignore GRR.

The estimated time updated to 11:15pm

So turn on the PDA and connect to the Wi-Fi flyGRR which worked tonight, as opposed to Christmas. Phone rang and it was Mrs. Dr. Phil saying this was too good to be true. After doing the safety checks, they did the maintenance checks and found the rear toilet wasn't working. That'd be okay, they can fly with only one working toilet, but the front one one was out of service, too. So... Wait for it... They can't take off because they're full of shit.

Well, at least she's laughing. Dr. Phil would be crabby and uncomfortable, knowing his limited time confined to a squinchy seat hadn't officially begun yet.

Now scheduled for 11:30pm arrival. It's 10:16pm and it's a 77 minute flight. Will they get in at all tonight?

Don't Go Through Memphis On Northwest

One data point and we're not impressed. Not being fair, you say? Hey, it's a blog being written in realtime -- whatja expect?

Bad news, Midnight is latest arrival time. Good news? Mrs. Dr. Phil's phone is offline. That means maybe they got moving.

Dr. Phil

Update In The Light Of Day

Mrs. Dr. Phil got here, at 12:09am. They figured out how to get one of the toilets cleared, though they had to shut off the water, so while they were handing out sodas and bottled water to all the passengers trapped in this aircraft, there was no coffee or tea.

The Worst Public Address Message In The World

These poor people had just made it to the terminal and were just in the process of getting off the plane at 12:09am, some 2-1/2 hours late, and they announced that "passengers needing Budget or Avis Rent-a-Car, or to get their car from valet parking needed to proceed immediately to the rent-a-car desks as we are closing in five minutes." Oh come on, Grand Rapids, you were doing so good in the face of the miscues in Memphis, and you pull this stunt? Can you imagine finding yourself stuck in the airport without your car or rental -- because someone couldn't wait while you hightailed it to the bathroom?

Public service -- you have to pay attention to the little things!

Dr. Phil

Comments

[burnt-njal.livejournal.com]

We got stuck in Memphis for nine hours on a trip to New York. We were supposed to go Madison-->Detroit-->New York but the Detroit flight was delayed, so they put us on Madison-->Memphis-->New York. The only problem was we learned (after we landed of course) that Memphis had just been buffeted by 90 mph winds and the power was out across the city. So we waited. And waited. And waited. We were going to take a cab into town but then the 11:30 was available...and cancelled. Then the 1:30 was available...and cancelled.

Finally, at 7:30 pm we got on flight that took us, you guessed it, Memphis-->Detroit-->New York. A wee bit pissed at that.

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Well, 90mph winds and a power failure aren't quite the same as mere incompetence -- power failures can happen anywhere. (grin) But Memphis may be cursed. (double-grin)

Dr. Phil

Ah, reminds me of a trip to Denver...

[wendyb-09.livejournal.com]

...many moons ago. I was on a now defunct airline that had screwed my reservations up twice in one day, and the plane they finally had me scheduled on broke down at the Atlanta gate before boarding. The only other piece of equipment they could get for the flight to Denver was on its way to Myrtle Beach, and we would have to wait on it.

So I'm playing phone tag via a third party to my friends in Denver that were supposed to meet me. I finally get into Denver after 1:00 AM, instead of the 9:00-ish we were scheduled. I call my friends to let them know I'm finally here and they tell me I have a reservation on the limo service...

and I call them back a few minutes later to let them know everything, car rental, taxi, bus service and including the limo service...shut down at midnight and someone was going to have to come and get me or I was going to be camping at the airport! And the Denver airport had known for several hours that our flight was going to be arriving after hours, and still they were no help. I finally got rescued about 3 in the morning! Yeah, that was my idea of fun!