Tag: airtravel

Air Travel Again

It’s not even funny, but Boris’ flight back was also screwed up. To be precise, his evening flight on Sunday was canceled, and he was put on a British Airways flight that departed almost four hours later. As a result, he missed his connection in London, and they couldn’t find his new ticket, so he missed the next flight as well and was at home after 10 PM on Monday.

With all that, I am not optimistic about my next week’s flight to LA because it’s also AA. My only consolation is that I fly in the day before the conference starts, and my flight back is super -early Sunday morning on the day of switching to the DST

Monday Details

Trying to cover all this week’s events.

Boris was supposed to fly in on Sunday, right after I would bring my mom home from our matinee CSO concert. I had Monday off, so we were planning to spend it together, and had a long list of what we were going to do.

I didn’t expect anything unusual, so I checked Boris’ flight status at midday just to make sure it departed on time. Nowadays, it’s not always easy to find the flight status online unless it’s your flight and it’s in your app. To my astonishment, a Google search showed this flight approaching Reykjavik! I thought it must be a mistake; but one of the other searches also showed Reykjavik as the destination point. Another one still said Chicago.

I just locked the door of my apartment and started to walk down when I got a call from Boris: We just landed. I asked: in Reykjavik? And the answer was yes.

Nothing was clear for the next twenty-four hours, but now I know the complete sequence of events. Shortly after the departure, one of the four power generators located at the engines died, and they could not start the backup generator in the tail. (As they say in my world, “if you do not test backups regularly, you do not have backups”). This posed no problem for the flight itself but was not enough to support all the sensors, so they had to land in Reykjavik, which, BTW, has no American Airlines presence, so they could receive only limited equipment help.

Boris said that everything was very well organized, and throughout the ordeal, they were kept informed about what was going on, the options and possible outcomes, and all the moving parts behind the scenes. First, they tried to repair the generator, but since no parts were available, the AA decided to bring in another aircraft. All the passengers were transferred to hotels and transferred back to the airport in the morning. It took way longer than expected to reregister all passengers because this airport is not equipped to service aircraft of that size.

Fortunately, I found a website that showed all the “flight notes,” so I knew about all the expected delays and new estimated times. After the aircraft finally landed in ORD, I tried to take several screenshots to capture all the changes.

Approaching Chicago

I almost never post the views from the airplane window, but I like that one!

Travels

I am on a move again, doing several new things and hoping that the net will be positive.

  • Obviously, I didn’t plan it, but I fell down on the icy stairs last Friday and hurt the bottom badly. I know it will take weeks to get over, and I should be glad it didn’t happen today. By now, I can walk, sleep, sit and work at my desk, and take public transportation, and the only way it hurt is the way you sit on a plane!
  • I am flying with a connection in JFK, which I avoided for years, but when I was looking for tickets for my original trip (planned for the New Year), the price was exceptional, and the connection looked great (no terminal change), so I gave in, also trying to get out of my comfort zone. I guess getting out of your comfort zone is good :).
  • Because of the usual mixup when the flight is “operated by” a different airline, I was unable to select the seats beforehand. By the time I was able to check in, I had literally the worst seat in the Economy Premium without any option to change (all others were already taken). That’s a minus.
  • When it was time to leave, I started ordering Uber. The price of the trip to ORD was $54 for Comfort (and just a couple bucks less for regular), and then they couldn’t find a ride for me for a couple of minutes. Remembering how Boris nearly missed his flight last time and realizing that today was Friday before the long weekend, I switched to a ride to Cumberland. The price went down to $30, the car was available, and the driver smartly navigated through residential streets to avoid the traffic. We made it to Cumberland a little bit later than projected, but I didn’t complain. That’s a plus
  • When I got down to the station platform, the tableau said that the next train to ORD was in 23 minutes! AAAAA!!! But then the train appeared ten minutes later, and not crowded at all, so plus at the end.
  • When the train was pulling into the ORD station, the American Airlines app decided to give me a mobile pass, which is a huge plus, but immediately notified me about a 45-minute delay!
  • I had a three-hour connection, and there was no more delay and the food in the lounge was good, so that was a plus.
  • No terminal change and hence no additional security checks in JFK was a gigantic plus!
  • They do not have a Finnair lounge, but their AA lounge was good.
  • It turned out that there is no position for me to be half-reclined without an acute pain, so I slept for barely an hour tonight, although technically I could have a full night of decent sleep (I skipped the dinner onboard, because I ate in both longes)
  • We are supposedly arriving on time, and if I will manage to compensate my lack of sleep, it would be great!

Funny Story

I had a rather dramatic check-in for my October flight to Helsinki. As it sometimes happens when the first flight is not operated by Finnair, the trip locator changes for the partnering airlines, and you cannot find it until they send you an email that it’s time to register. And by that time, you can’t make any changes, like select your seats or order a special meal.

That being said, I could not order my low-calorie meal for my onward flight, but since I already had a trip locator, I could order it for my returning flight.

When I entered the aircraft on my way back, a flight attendant stopped by me, checked my name, and asked me whether I had a special meal, and I confirmed. But then, when the service started, another flight attendant asked me the standard “chicken or pasta” question. I said: special meal. She asked another attendant, and she was: did I talk to you on the ground? I said: yes, you did! Then both of them said that they are sorry and “one moment,” and then they returned with a very interesting tray:

A whole bunch of plates from the business class could all be considered “low-calorie.” They apologized again and then asked whether I also wanted a chicken 😀.

Traveling With Russian Passport

That was the first time in a while that I traveled together with Boris and had a connection in London. Actually, since I had a connection in London on my way to Helsinki, I had three London connections in a week!

The first one was just me, and there was a very long wait, and no priority line was opened.

The second one was with Boris, and we had it all:

  • Interrogation at the passport control in Helsinki
  • Interrogation at the boarding gate (the gate attendant started checking the regulations for transfers – as if Boris was the only one transferring person without a UK visa)
  • Interrogation in Heathrow
  • Long lines at security without a priority lane
  • Barely made it to the gate

The third one, again with Boris, on our way back from Athens

  • The online check-in didn’t issue a boarding pass for him
  • In the Athens airport, a BA counter attendant went to check the regulations (as if Boris was the only person connecting without a UK visa).
  • Then he called another associate, and this whole process took twenty minutes, and for some reason, they asked for my passport as well. They finally issued boarding passes for both of us, adding that Boris “can’t step out from the airport” in London (as if it was ever different). Then they tried to convince us to check in our carry-on (we refused because we didn’t want to wait for our luggage at 11 PM)
  • We finally made it to the lounge, which was not very impressive (fun fact: you had to go to another lounge for a toilet)
  • Interrogation at the border control, however – no lines!
  • Surprise: no lines at the security check!
  • We were absolutely sure we wouldn’t have time to go to the lounge, but because of zero wait time in the security line, we had it!

Completely unexpected:

  • When we arrived in Helsinki and had to go through passport control again, they figured out that “we were together,” and despite my protests, they sent me to the same officer who talked to Boris. I should have said that “we are not traveling together,” not “we have different passports,” but I didn’t realize it right away, and then I was a subject of interrogation. They assumed that I wanted to stay longer and asked whether I had a residential permit, and then when I said I didn’t they asked to show my returning ticket.

Summary: it was so good to finally be home, and before midnight!

P.S. Just to be clear: I understand that the suspicions against Russian passport holders are completely justified, and that post is not a protest.

Avios Saga

This lasted for way too long! First (and I believe I mentioned it) I realized that I didn’t add my Finnair Plus number to my September reservations and for some reason, the BA website didn’t allow me to add it. I had to call BA and go through a very long wait, but in the end, they made the change, and I started to see these reservations on my Finnair Plus app.

After my first flight, I didn’t see my Avios, but I knew that with the partner points, it might take a couple of days. When no Avios appeared after a week, I called Finnair and asked what was going on. They promised to investigate, and I saw a “pending” message on the app, but a day later, all four flights showed “rejected.” When it happened a couple of times before, I let it go, but this time, there were four flights, and my end-of-tier-points period was fast approaching, so I called Finnair again. They said that it looked like my loyalty number was not on the reservation (which was not true), so I asked them what I could do to claim my points. They said it was a good question and they would send another email to BA.

Still, nothing happened. I called BA, and they said they had my number and everything; it’s just that Finnair never requested them… Everything started to look Kafkian. I called BA and Finnair every other day, and every other day, it was the same story: BA said they had all the information, but Finnair didn’t request it, and Finnair said that BA didn’t reply to their email. I complained on X and received a number of false agents’ responses plus one actual Finnair response: “We are still waiting for BA to email us.” Out of complete desperation, two days before the end of the tier points period, I called BA again and asked whether I could change the loyalty program on the tickets to the BA executive club (then I could transfer them myself). They said I could do it, but it would take up to six business days, so it wouldn’t solve my problem of receiving my missing point before the cutoff. The lady was super nice, and she said that she would try to escalate my case (although technically speaking it was not their case!), but she can’t promise.

Now, I was already Finnair Plus, and I already had enough points to maintain this status, but since I flew a lot this year, Finnair Platinum was within reach. I knew I wouldn’t have enough tier points, and I would need to exchange some of my Avios for tier points, but I was hoping to get it to the minimum.

A day before the end of the period, I asked Boris whether I should wait for another day or make the Avios exchange, and he replied that it had already cost me more time than the Avios was worth (which was true) and that I should exchange and be done with it. It turned out that I needed to change just a little bit less than the maximum allowed amount, and so now I have FInnair Platinum.

However, I didn’t want to leave the case as it was (after all, I still could use missing Avios for Avios), so I decided to find a way to complain. It took me a while, but I found a place on the Finnair website to leave feedback and share all the details about my case. The following day, early in the morning, I saw that all my missing Avios magically appeared on my Finnair Plus, so I guess this method worked :). Several hours later, I received an email from Finnair, saying: “We are sorry there was a delay, but your Avios are now here.” I emailed back, saying: “Thank you, but I also want to ensure you have better customer service in our New York office.” They replied formally, and I decided to stop.
In retrospect, I do not regret I spent that much time. The previous time I had points rejected, the number of points was small, and I didn’t want to spend time trying to resolve the issue, but that time around, I wanted to protect my consumer rights 🙂

Google Knows!

The last story from my delayed flights saga. On September 12, when I already left my company’s London office and took Elizabeth line to Heathrow, I received a notification from Google (not British Airways): Flight XXX delayed arrival – 90 minutes. I don’t remember the exact verbiage, but something like that. Immediately, I looked at my BA boarding pass, but it didn’t show any delays. Since during my Chicago delay, Google was more accurate in estimating the delay time than AA, I thought that I will see the departure time change soon, but nothing came up. I arrived to the airport, waited for the departure in the lounge, still surprised that there was no delay announced, and finally proceeded to boarding. The flight was still perfectly on time, I took my seat, and soon, the boarding was complete.

Then came a usual announcement: “That’s your captain speaking,” and immediately after that he went off script: “So, you heard the thunder when you were boarding, right? Yea, it’s quite a storm going on, and now the traffic control want us to sit here and wait for the storm to clear. We will update you as soon as we know.”

Guess how much we were delayed? Yes, an hour and a half, and yes – just an arrival, not departure!

This left me wonder – how did Google know????

My Flight To London

I didn’t want to fly a day before the conference, because I had too much work and in general I thought I could use this time better. However, I didn’t want to fly in right before the conference either, and I was also looking to minimize the cost. I finally ended up on the daytime flight, which would leave Chicago at 8:25 AM and arrive in London at 10:25 local time. That would still give me time for a good night’s sleep, and that was also the least expensive flight. Economy Premium was just slightly more than Economy Classic, but I decided to be mindful and not spend on extras when I didn’t really need them.

That being said, I got up at 4 AM on Tuesday so that I could leave the house at 5 AM and be at the airport at 6 AM, have breakfast at the lounge, and just relax while waiting for the flight. It all worked fine; moreover, it was a very fast rife early in the morning, so I was at the airport by 5-40 AM. I had breakfast, called Boris, and started to write a blog post while waiting. Suddenly, I saw a notification from the AA app (the flight was operated by American Airlines). I opened my boarding pass and saw that the flight was eight hours delayed! I was devastated and ran to the customer service counter in the lounge. They told me there were no other flights: the incoming flight was delayed, but because it was a late arrival to London and London won’t accept night arrivals, we would have to wait till morning in London. That meant the overnight flight, which I wanted to avoid! Also, I didn’t have Economy Premium, and I could not upgrade because there was nothing available!

I decided to go to the office to attend an important meeting, which I would skip otherwise. Also, it was twice faster to get to the office than to go back home. Only when I was almost there did I realize that I had left my office pass at home (and it was done on purpose because I didn’t want to carry around things I wouldn’t need on my trip). The security issued me a temporary pass, but I could not go to the gym or use a shower, or even open the doors to get from one side of the floor to another.

I sent a message to the hotel, asking them to keep my room for my morning arrival, and left for the airport, planning for longer security lines than they were in the morning.

The lines were longer but not terribly long. Fortunately, the AA lounge has showers. I was unsure whether I would have time at the hotel in the morning, and it turned out to be a good call because the flight was delayed for another hour and then we sat for another hour in the aircraft waiting for a takeoff, because the scheduled flight to London was just five minutes apart of t=our new departure time. Thankfully, BA moved me to the front row in the Main cabin, so I had some extra legroom.

Another thing was the food. When possible, I try to order a low-calorie meal, which I tried to do this time as well. However, the system returned “something went wrong” error and I gave up. When I was already seated, a flight attendant asked me whether I had a low-calorie meal, and I said yes, but what they brought to me was vegan, not low-calorie 😀. Nothing wrong with vegan in general, but that meal ended up be barely eatable, and same with the breakfast: they even didn’t give me yogurt which was a part of other people’s breakfast! I did my best to sleep for about 4 hours, and that was the max I could do on a less than 7 hours flight.

The flight landed at 7:08, and I was out of the terminal twenty minutes later (the worst passport control became the faster one in recent years). The conference started at nine, and I still needed to get to the hotel to leave my luggage and change. I message my colleague who was a part of the org. committee to ask whether there is any food at the conference, and he sent me a picture of pastries, so I realized I needed to get some food at the hotel (my room included breakfast, and was pre-paid). I reached the hotel shortly after 8 AM (thanks to Elizabeth Line!) and checked-in. They told me they didn’t have a buffet, and I had to order. The hotel was very old-fashiined (I will post some pictures), and the restaurant looked very respectable. So imagine me rushing in and asking what’s the fastest thing they can make :). They were visibly puzzled by this request and when on to confer, and then said that they can make fried eggs on a toast. To their credit, it was ready in ten minutes – I time it! So I got the eggs and a coffee and took off to the conference, which was in ten-minutes walk.

BA Customer Service

I meant to write this post at least three weeks ago when the actual events happened. I consider it my personal achievement because I won the battle with customer support.

Here is what happened. When I learned that my talk was accepted for PG Day UK, I wanted to book the flight immediately, but I had to wait for almost a month because our firm was switching to the new reservation system. The next day after the switch happened, I found out that I needed to book it on my own because it wouldn’t be reimbursed anyway, but the best prices were not available anymore. I rushed to book whatever was available, and since I used the BA website, I forgot to switch to the Finnair Plus loyalty program. As it turned out, it was impossible to do it in the “Manage reservation” menu, so I had to call customer support.

The first time, I called immediately after I made this reservation and realized the mistake I had made, but after waiting for forty minutes, I decided to give it another try. I made a second attempt two days later and, once again, gave up after almost an hour of waiting. Meanwhile, I have activated Avios transfer between BA and Finnair, but I still wanted to get points from my preferred program, especially because my anniversary is on September 30. I decided to make the third and final effort during the Labor Day weekend.

First, I spent almost an hour waiting. Finally, somebody picked up and then went on hold, verifying my trip locator, and finally disconnected. I was determined to follow through, so I dialed again and waited for another forty minutes. This time, finally, everything worked. Not only was my loyalty program updated, but they also listed all the extra bonuses I had with Finnair Plus. In the end, it was worth it, spending all this time, but I was ready to give up at least ten times!

It felt like the greatest achievement!