Adventures in Air Travel Hell - part 2, London to Denver/Denver Arrival

Good morning fellow jet lagged insomniacs.  I have the final chapter of our yearly Adventures in Air Travel Hell novella.

Posted from my iPhone around 9 PM (MDT on the 18th;  6 AM on the 19th in Istanbul:  We had been up 25 hrs so far.

We are sitting on the Tarmac in Colorado Springs. Denver had weather so we were diverted here. But they won't let us off the plane. We're going back to Denver. We have now missed the last shuttle from DIA to cos. How to get home? Rent a car? Letting us off here, even without luggage, would be preferable. We have been up for +24 hrs now. What a cluster f***!

We were taken unwillingly back to Denver.  I understand, of course, that we had no Official Paper Looker At-ter to examine the passports and drivers' licenses of the many of us on the plane who actually live here.  So back to Denver we went, landing at 11 PM, 3 hours late.  Passport Control/customs in Denver closed at 10, but a few hardy souls had been prevailed upon to stay and Look At the Papers.  Customs was essentially closed, but we did give that little declaration form to a lady on our way out of Passport Control.

I should give a special shout out to the folks at British Air, who dumped us in Denver without even the pretense of a customer service rep available to help us.  The crew couldn't leave fast enough - it's not their job anyway; their union says so - but the plane we came in on was due to return to London as soon as possible (it was also now 3 hours late).  They had to have gate personnel to get that flight boarded, so why couldn't someone have been called in to help those of us who were stranded?  Customer service has become an oxymoron, especially when it comes to the airlines.

Collected all of our luggage (which miraculously was all there!) and decided to rent a car.  There were none to be had, which we found out after riding all the way out to the Alamo lot.  No, that's not quite right.  Alamo had one mid-sized car available.  Unfortunately I stupidly let Bob go into the rental office instead of doing it myself.  I was chatting with a lady outside, both of us guarding our luggage while her husband went to get their previously reserved mini-van.  I looked into the office and from Bob's body language I could tell things weren't going well.  "I hope he knows this is not the time to go all Cheap Chico."
No, he did not know that.  He comes out empty handed, because they wanted $200 and that was a rip off.  In Bob's humble opinion.  I would have taken that car in a heartbeat, but I had stupidly sent Bob in . . . Never again will I send a tightwad in to do a pragmatist's job.

We took the Alamo bus back to the airport, and Bob went running to every other car rental bus out there.  Of course there were no other cars available, anywhere.   We noticed there are no rental counters at DIA, so I am guessing now everything has to be reserved in advance.  I tried to reserve on line at that point but it wouldn't take my date & time.

Plan B was to go to a hotel nearby on a hotel shuttle, then catch the COS shuttle in the AM.  We quickly heard from other stranded passengers that there were no hotel rooms available.  But a porter kindly directed us to the Chapel where he said we could sleep in more comfortable chairs or on a piece of floor.
While I waited in the chapel Bob went in search of any help he could find.  Several SUV owners turned entrepreneurs and offered their service to drive us to COS for the bargain price of $250.  Ya gotta love capitalism.

Bob found another guy needing a ride to the Springs, so they agreed to split the fair 3 ways.  Thus Bob & I arrived home around 2 AM, all for the cost of LESS than $200.  Bob must have been proud, but I was too tired to congratulate him.

Air Travel Hell - part 1, Istanbul to London

As I sit at the back of a tin can, arms pinned close to my body, knees actually a luxurious 4 inches from the non-reclined seat in front of me, I wonder once again why we accept this inhumane treatment from the airlines.  Are we cattle?  Would we accept this from any other of the “service” industries?  Why are the airlines the only industry in the word that doesn’t care about customer satisfaction?  So inconsequential is it to them that they add insult to injury by making us pay for this torture!  And pay and pay.  I’m waiting for them to charge for the toilets.

We had first class, business class and coach.  Now they have added “economy plus” for a mere $700 - $1400 more.  This buys you a little more leg room and the chance to be upgraded to business class.  I'm most sure but I think there are various class distinctions within Econ Plus.

This happened to us on our flight across the pond.  The only seats available when we booked the flight were “economy plus.”  Cost= $1400 for the two of us.  However, we were upgraded to club when we checked in.  This meant we got a bed!  A bed that lay flat!  With a pillow and a blanket!  I slept the entire way across from Denver to London.

No upgrade here on the return flight.  I tried to check in on-line but my booking reference number wouldn't work.  Probably because it was from 5 weeks before.  So anyway, we arrive at the airport in Istanbul and have to take what's available.  We did manage to snag 2 seats together, which is not longer a guarantee on British Air.

If you want to sit together, it may cost extra.  It says so right on their website.  Sure enough, there was a man trying to get another passenger to switch with him so he could sit with his wife and kids.  But the seat he was assigned was not as good as the stranger's seat next to his wife, so the stranger wouldn't give up his seat.  

In the world of Air Travel, it really is dog eat dog.