What I did in America, part 1

[la_marquise]

So we went to the USA for 10 days.
It did not begin well. We set off in good order for Heathrow to be greeted with large signs telling us that our flight -- fine when we set out -- had been cancelled.'Oh,' said the American Airlines rep, 'the computer has rebooked everyone'. Except us, it transpired, and the marquis had a flight he had to get the next day, and 'it is half term, you know'. I never did work out how, somehow, it was our fault that it was half term. I said, 'Look, no children', and 'business trip', firmly, but it did not really get through. The rep was nice, but we were complicated or something and and and... We did eventually get rebooked, onto a United flight the next day, which was fine, though we had to pay extra to sit together and the marquis missed seeing more than a fleeting glimpse of our Chicago friends B & J.
The reason for the cancellation? AA had run out of planes. This later turned into 'technical reasons', but we are still picturing someone counting planes and coming up short. And they did not at any point apologise. (They put us up for the night in the Renaissance Hotel, beloved of Eastercon overflow, and we did get to go to the good pub, which was something.) When I rang B to tell her what had happened, she laughed and said, 'That's so like American.'
We finally got there around lunchtime on Sunday and went out for brunch at a very nice nearby place before the marquis had to head on out to Ohio. His flight -- AA again -- ran late and he ended up not getting to his hotel till midnight, having had to negotiate the Cincinnati by-pass in a strange car with an automatic transmission. Then he spent three days working in Milford, Ohio, which seems mostly to consist of malls and intersections. By this point, AA were becoming distinctly unpopular with both of us.
I meanwhile had headed back to B & J's where I was rapturously welcomed by B's two beautiful, huge black-and-white cats. All trips are improved by friendly cats. Spats followed me around so that he could wash my hair (long hair is a novelty) and Mambo regularly came by for fuss. It's been something like 6 years since I last saw B and J, which is far too long, and I had the best time. We ate doughnuts, and watched movies and talked and talked. (tamaranth, B and I have decided that there needs to be a remake of Some Like it Hot with Messrs Depp and Downey Jr in the Curtis and Lemmon roles. Can you bear that?) Monday night, they took me to a wonderful wine-tasting place in Chicago, where I had a really good Viognier from Oregon. And we watched Religulous, which was hysterical, and talked politics -- the negative campaigning going on was gobsmacking. I'm used to parties badmouthing each other, but this was solidly personal, and the only Ohio candidate with a policy was the anti-abortionist. I love spending time with them -- B and I are founder members of the International Yuen Biao Sisterhood -- and I missed them the whole time I was in Ohio.
More later.

Comments

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

And some day, I hope to have you here, where there are also friendly cats, a cool cemetery (with Parthenon and Egyptian temple), and proximity to the wonders of DC and gorgeous scenery.

I'm glad that, hassles aside, you had a nice time :-)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I should love that!

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

I don't fly AA anymore anywhere. I suspect you may be thinking the same thing.

It's so good that you got to see old friends, despite the hassle!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yep. United -- who I was not keen on -- have gone way up in my estimation (they were incredibly nice for us and though we had to pay extra, they only charged for one of us because we'd been so messed about by their competition).

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

There are actually worse American airlines than American. Delta one time re-booked me for a flight they had cancelled -- to an airport that didn't have flights from there to California. (I was savvy enough about the flight schedules to not allow that.) America Worst...er, West, is one I will never fly on again, unless it is, truly, the last airline left. Ah, for the days when airlines were high class and considered a treat.

And I like your Some Like it Hot proposal, quite a bit.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Well, I come from the realms of Ryanair, so...

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Air Canada was the first airline I cinsciously avoided - not because of scheduling, ut because we had a succession of bad tempered stewardesses. US Air is on my blacklist because they cancelled a flight and stranded us in Philadelphia. They wouldn't put us up in a hotel overnight because they said they didn't do that for bad weather cancellations. Well, they said it was cancelled for a storm in Halifax NS, but a couple of friends in Halifax said: what storm? Oddly enough the following morning the 'storm' had turned into 'fog'. They couldn't even lie convincingly. But it cost us $140 for a hotel that we spent 6 hours in without benefit of luggage. Sheesh!

But credit where it's due, we've never been let down by Continental... and internal flights in canada are a joy with Westjet who pick their flight crews for their sense of humour.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I really like Continental, too. It's been bought by United, though, so who knows what will happen to it.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Bummer!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Whereas we've never had a bad experience with Air Canada (bar one nasty check-in person once), and have had hassle with Continental. Virgin have always been good and so, bizarrely, have BA, who when they have had problems have always apologised. My top airline, though, is Luxair, who are tiny -- they're the national airline of Luxembourg -- charming, and make every flight a pleasure.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

The Some Like It Hot idea must happen. MUST HAPPEN NOW!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

That was our thought also.

[valydiarosada.livejournal.com]

American Airlines lost my luggage once. It was a huge, bright, in-yer-face pink suitcase, and contained Christmas presents from my brother's family in Florida and my souvenirs from the Kennedy Space Centre and things, mainly of sentimental value, that I have not been able to replace.

I'm glad the cats made you feel welcome. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, good grief. I must admit, they have slid noticeably down my list.

[stina-leicht.livejournal.com]

i'm so sorry that the start of your adventure began as such an... adventure. however, i'm very glad you made it to WFC and that we got to meet. [hugs]

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I'd clearly recovered from it by WFC -- I was spitting nails for the first two or three days.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I thinkairlines are getting more feckless with their overbooking and plane cancellations. I thought US(less) Air was bad this summer, too. Again no apologies... not even the type that you know they don't mean, but at least it sounds polite.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

United were always low on my list because of the overbooking, but on this occasion they had spare seats and seemed to be in control and orderly, while AA were a total shower. But I think you're on to something. It's all about the profit, after all.