I was flying home Easter Day, taking a Northwest flight from DTW (Detroit), which connected in Minneapolis to a flight to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
While waiting in Detroit for my Minneapolis leg to board, there was an announcement saying they were overbooked and offering a nonstop flight to LAX.
I have had to travel a lot in the past year, and in situations where flights have been overbooked I have never been able to have flexible travel plans. Today, since it was Easter, and since the flight was a nonstop, I thought I could help out and give someone else my seat.
Landing at LAX meant my cab ride home (two Anaheim) would cost me $50 more, however, I would arrive a couple hours earlier and since I was experiencing some of the uncomfortable symptoms of "chronic fatigue,” getting home two hours early sounded great.
When I got to LAX my bags didn't arrive. When I checked with baggage claim - they told me the bags had remained on my original flight and would be landing in Orange County at my original landing time. They said since I had "voluntarily" changed my flight that they would not deliver the bags to me. I would have to go pick them up myself.
I explained that we had been asked to change flights, due to overbooking. They just looked at me blankly - so much for getting home two hours early.
Once I arrived home, I found my car battery had gone dead. After finding a jump and driving to the airport, I found my bags had already arrived.
The baggage claim agent at John Wayne Airport acted surprised that I was picking up my bags and that I had not filed any "claim." She said if I had that she would have arranged to have them delivered to my home. I told her that I had tried to but they told me at LAX that I had to pick them up myself. She shook her head and gave me a couple of travel discount coupons.
I was still out the extra $50 for cab fare plus the gas and travel to John Wayne Airport (from my home in Anaheim) to pick up my bags, not to mention the precious extra time that I had looked forward to spending curled up in my own bed.
Next time I won't be so eager to help out.
I just heard this one. My family had a dog that was scared to death by lightening and thunder. I looked online and did all the cures that were suggested there including:
- Harp music
- Soft music
- Small doses of melatonin (worked somewhat)
- Caging in a covered cage
Nothing really worked. Poor Sassie was just terrified and to see this brave guardian and faithful friend so sacred was heartbreaking.
She is gone now, but I just heard this cure. Maybe it will help someone else. I know this sounds weird, but here it is.
Get a plain white cotton tee shirt (has to be "white" for some reason). Put the white tee shirt on the dog.
Now the explanation I have heard for this is that the static electricity in the air, the cotton of the shirt, it all does something that calms the dog.
I know of one family that heard this and tried it and said that it worked like a miracle. If anyone else has tried it or anything else that works I'd like to know.
File this under "how did this happen?"
After booking a flight that shared airlines Continental and Northwest I found myself changing planes in Houston at George W. Bush Airport. After getting off my Continental flight I started walking through the airport passing eight, B., C., D., expecting that E. was coming up soon. By the time I got to D., I figured I had time to have something to eat before the flight. Little did I know that I was a long walk and a circuitous shuttle ride from reaching the Northwest terminal.
Not seen any signs to direct me and with no Northwest personnel to ask, I finally backtracked to my original gate to ask for directions. After it was explained to me that I needed to go back to where I had turned around and to descend a stairway (no labels for the elusive E), I asked the Continental gate agent how most people find their way to E. she said it was a problem, and that many people got lost and she didn't know how they were supposed to find it.
If that wasn't strange enough, when I finally descended the stairway I found a narrow doorway and loading area. A lady with a radio stood in the door and once she saw me asked where I was going. When I told her I had a Northwest flight she called on her radio. After a short period of time a shuttle arrived.
After only an a few others boarded the shuttle we began a trip that wound in and out and around the guts of the airport finally arriving on the tarmac outside of what I assumed was E. There wasn't any type of physical entrance other than the ramp up to the temporary jetway that took me into the terminal.
Once inside, it was another long walk to my gate and luckily I made it in time. On my return trip I was wiser, but also on the lookout for any signs or maps that would direct the many people who need to go where I had to go -- this time to A.
I didn't see anything that would have made this trip any less fretful or confusing. I again asked a gate agent at Northwest how most people find their way to the shuttle. Again I was told, "I don't know, it's confusing. A lot of people get lost."
I expect this bizzare ritual is somehow a result of some post- September 11 security measures that must have do a snafu into an otherwise well-planned way to make this airport crossing (I was told that an airport tram does exist). However, that does not explain why after this period of time that no directional sign, banners, posters, etc. have been installed.
