Am I in the Stone Age or what?

I was on another trip to the White Plains area of NY. This time I flew into LaGuardia because their flight schedule was better than the 3 flights out of Westchester (plus I flew AA). So I made my way over to Hertz to pick up my car. Now, Tuesday was a gross rainy day in NY. Pouring. Raining cats and dogs. I arrived at about 7:30 and had to make my way up to Somers for a 9:30 meeting... I had no idea where I was going and this was coupled with rush hour traffic...but I digress.

So, I made my way to Hertz and found my car. I'm "President's Circle", this is the highest rental level for Hertz and I'm anxious to see the car I will get. I load up my bags, open the driver's side door, sit down and ...
WAIT A GODDAMN MINUTE HERE... ARE THESE MANUAL WINDOWS?!

I had the most archaic, stone age car imaginable! I call these kind of cars "Fred Flintstone cars" because they have manual windows, manual locks, manual mirrors, manual seats, MANUAL EVERYTHING... I'm surprised that the frickin' transmission isn't manual too! It's raining and I'm late (and remember, I have no idea where I'm going) so I suck it up and say to myself "it's only an overnight trip" but geez!

Status really does mean "screw me over some more, please."

It has been 6 months since I've stepped foot on a plane! Can you believe it? I was flying every week to LGA between January-March. Now THAT was a great itinerary. Get up at 6, at the airport for my 8am flight, at the customer site by 9. No fuss, no muss.

I will be taking my first trip since being back to work from leave next month...stay tuned! The blog may see some more action!

Today was my last day at my customer site that I've been traveling to and from for the last 2 years. Why would this Thursday be any different than all the others? Last night it started raining and by lunch time today fog had settled in. The FAA website posted 3 hour arrival delays at ORD which means that my 7:00 flight is now delayed to an awful time of 10:05. I won't arrive until almost 1am.

... so much for getting home and getting anything done before our trip to London. I mean it's not like I have a lot to do. Laundry, gift wrapping, packing, work, shopping, doctor's appt, dropping off our animals. Nah, not a whole heck of a lot.

So not only is this pretty much status quo, but I'm surrounded by holiday travelers as well. Ah, the Hallmark commercial never seemed so real. Although, I have to admit that I've seen a heck of a lot worse! At least tonight I can get a wireless connection in the club. There have been times that I sat for 20-30 minutes waiting for someone to drop.

I don't know if I'd classify this as irony. Maybe it's just Divine humor. I'm not laughing yet.

And there are reasons why I don't fly Delta.

Despite a laundry list of issues from before, I decided to fly Delta this week. It seemed so easy. Go to the regional airport, catch my connection in ATL, fly home. Normally I fly through ORD and was very happy that I wasn't this week since the flight I normally take was delayed due to weather (I checked this morning and it didn't arrive until after 2am!!!). So, I'm sitting at the airport and no plane. Delayed. No biggie, I should have plenty of time to catch my connection. We land and taxi and I realize I have only 20 mins to get off the plane, grab my bag, and get to A concourse. We arrive at C. CRAP! AND I'm in the second to last row of the plane! CRAP! So I get my bag and RUN! The boards say that the flight is Boarding! CRAP! I have to go DOWN the escalator to the train - people, get out of the way! OH MAN, that was the door closing chime! CRAP! EXCUSE ME! like OJ Simpson I jump into the train car. OK, 10 mins before the door closes. What gate? CRAP! A05! That's ALL THE WAY AT THE END OF THE CONCOURSE! Run, Forrest, Run! Can't breathe and this backpack weighs like a ton of bricks. WHY DID I WEAR HEELS TODAY?! this lady running behind me must be on the same flight, she's on her own. I feel like I'm going to puke. please don't have the door closed, please. Almost there....CRAP! I see a line at the counter - standbys waiting to take my seat no doubt. DOOR IS CLOSED!!!! OH NO!

and it's delayed... the board is wrong. and this is why I hate Delta.

So United just announced a deal that if you register they will award you 500 miles if you are 30 minutes late when flying in/out of ORD or DCA. No questions asked. Of course, this week was the week I flew American.
We arrive at O'Hare - no ground crew in site. It took them over 15 minutes to park us and connect the jet-bridge. What is up with that? If every airline took accountability like that I'd be rich on miles!

Don't get me wrong. Traveling every week, you get accustomed to some minor irritations - like last week, I got on my stand-by flight and got the last seat on the plane (no really, the LAST seat. In the last row - in front of the bathrooms - middle seat, possibly the worst seat on the plane. But hey, I got on that flight) and the person in front of me decided s/he would THROW the seat back. You know what I mean - the person in front of you with no regard for your knees, your head, or anything else that doesn't exist in their row.

Tonight I'm stuck here again (my club membership definitely helps keep me sane). Flying in/out of O'Hare you'd expect weather to be a problem. In the winter it's snow and in the summer it's storms. Alas.... not a storm in sight. It's late and everyone is on EST which means it's too late to call anyone so I'll blog.

Better run....the flight board says I'm leaving in 1/2 an hour - yeah right. Boards lie.