Sitting in Burlington International

So I'm currently,as I type sitting in the middle of one of the worst customer service situations I've seen in a while. I'm sitting in the terminal waiting for US Airways flight 4553 to NYC LaGuardia. It's 7:07. Flight was scheduled for 6:35. They have one monitor by the gate informing us that the flight has been delayed until 7:20. Yes,13 minutes from right now. There is no longer anyone at the US Airways desk. There were 3 women there about an hour ago. One was making a clearly personal phone call for 20 minutes. The other two were talking. I approached the desk at around 6:20, asking if I'd be okay for my connecting flight to Baltimore and what was causing the delay. As I walked over the attendant who was standing doing nothing ( one was on her call, the other was working on the computer), she gave me a look that made me uncomfortable before I got there and clearly told me she was annoyed at the prospect of me possibly asking her a question. I got to the desk and was not acknowledged until I, waiting a second, said hello. I asked if she had any information on what the delay was. She responded with something so inherently stupid I was dumbfounded. "They're having weather". Oh they are? Do they not usually have weather in NY. If I asked a New Yorker what the weather is would they respond, "There isn't any"? Beyond the stupidity of her abrupt remark, it gave me no info, is the lane here and we can't take off? Is it on the way? On the ground in NY? Where is this mystical weather you speak of occurring?

I came to terms with how little this woman cared and asked if I would be okay for my connection. "Should be fine". She didn't look, didn't ask when/where I was going. Didn't even feel that my question deserved a full sentence as a response.

I returned to my chair and sat it is now 7:19. We have finally been addressed. The monitor still asserts I'll be in the air in 1 minute, I'm beginning to doubt it. They plane will be here in 5 minutes. 10 minutes ago. Then they will update us on when we will take off.

I'm so annoyed right now it actually inspired me to do school work.

7:25- I was just informed I'll need to gate check a bag I travel with constantly. Never had a problem with it. The coffee shop is closed and I'm in dire need. Apparently we will land in NYC at about 9:15. I'm connecting flight is 9:30 so chances I pull my groin jogging gate-to-gate is about 80%. They have still yet to change the monitor. Unless my plane is a time machine as well I don't think I'm taking off at 7:20.

I'm going to end my rambling but almost an hour past the scheduled departure and I still see no plane. I've been addressed once by a human.

I now know why I fly JetBlue or SW. But one doesn't fly from Burlington and
The other doesn't fly to BWI.

7:31 Plane has arrived!!!!!

I'll comment and let you all know if I make my connection. I know you're all in suspense.



P.S. Prof. M. Posted this from the Blogger app. Little slower to type out and tougher to edit but not too bad.

UPDATE-
8:15- I'm typing this part in the air. No idea if I'm on pace to make the connecting flight. Who knows.

I can say I was lucky enough to experience something new and unexpected for me tonight. I'm currently sitting on a puddle jumper. I'm confident that if I pulled out a tape measure I could confirm that as a kid I had RC airplanes bigger than this thing. It has propellers on the wings, planes still have those? I feel like I should be somewhere over Berlin in 1944. Jokes aside, I walked onto the Tarmac tonight, no jetway, walk down the stairs onto the pavement and back up into the plane. Caught me by surprise. To top it off the one time in my life I was willing to pay $9 for a half nip of alcohol so that the always courageous Jack Daniels could comfort me through this ride, they have none.

I enjoy looking out the window while flying, even during a flight like tonight when it's pitch black, I thought it would be fun, looking down as we flew into NYC. I was disappointed when booking the flight, I saw that the only window seat was at the wing. So I assumed I wouldn't be able to see. I am happy to report I can see, since the wing is ABOVE the window.

I apologize for whining via blogger from the flight, as I wrote this I feel like I'm writing the script for a Peter Griffin "You know what really grinds my gears" rant. I will update you all again soon.

How are Passenger trains still around?

The title may sound kind of silly, but its a pretty serious question. As a broke college student, who has friends at schools all over the place that I am seemingly constantly visiting, I try to look for the cheapest way to travel. I could afford to drive, but its slow, tiring and tedious plus I hate racking up the miles on my car (18 Months old with over 30K miles on it, don't ask how I accomplished that).

Common sense tells me if flying is a bit more than I want to spend, and I wouldn't subject myself to a bus ride, trains must be the solution? Wrong. Oh so very wrong. I imagined the trains had to be cheaper than planes. They are slower, less costly to run, and I always thought the industry was struggling. It may be, but prices sure don't reflect that.

A flight from Boston to Baltimore (one I make pretty regularly), is much much cheaper than taking a train the same distance. It shocks me still that a company can charge more money for a mode of transportation that is 5 times slower. The only advantages I see to train travel are that I don't have those to ten minute "Electronic Blackouts" like on planes, and I can walk around whenever I want to.

I know I am rambling a bit, but the only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that Amtrak has the best marketers in the world. I don't know if thats true, but its the only real answer I can come up with to explain what keeps an industry, that charges more money for what I believe most people would agree is an inferior service, running.

Any other ideas??