I love to travel, but I wish it hadn't become such a hassle. This past weekend, I traveled to Rochester, MN. It was a simple, easy trip last time, but not this time.
I was flying out Sunday, and a snowstorm was expected to bring 7-10 inches to the area late Saturday into Sunday. First, I tried to see how much it would be to change my flight to beat the storm. Cost: $1800.00. Absolutely ridiculous, pass on that idea. I was able to get to the airport easily on Sunday, even though the highways weren't in the best condition. My flight out of Hartford was on time. Once I got to Detroit, my 3:30p flight to Rochester was originally on time. then it was delayed two hours. Then it was totally cancelled (mechanical problems) and I was automatically rescheduled on a flight out the next day. I needed to get out that night, so I got on a flight to Minneapolis that left in 5 hours. Everything seemed on time - we boarded at the right time...then minutes turned to hours and we were still at the gate. Ice was preventing the plane from being pushed back from the gate, so we were rocking back and forth for a while. After finally pushing back and being de-iced, we took off about 2 hours late, and I finally made it to Minneapolis at 9:30, and checked into my hotel at 11:30pm (12:30a EST).
On the way home, my flight out of Rochester was delayed. The airline hired a bus (that had wifi!) to take all the passengers to Minneapolis. This worked out alright - I got through security, and made it to my gate just as the plane was about to start boarding. Luckily, we took off on time and didn't even have to be de-iced (which is strange because it was well below freezing).
Normally, I travel with Southwest airlines and with the exception of mis-connecting on my return from Houston, I haven't had many problems with them. They don't charge for checking bags (no airline should in my opinion) and I think it's a well run company. This time I was traveling Northwest, which was just bought out by Delta. I had issues with Delta last year, so I'm not too surprised. I've traveled American before but only when I have to. I like United/US Airways but they tend to be out of my price range.
Who do you trust with your travel?
Sorry for such a long rant!!
I do a lot of travel planning for work, and it's not uncommon that plans change before the bosses' trips finally take place. SW has the best cancellation/flight change policy by far, and they give those nice little free flight vouchers for frequent fliers every now and then (which you can give to anyone to use). In my own travel experience, SW has been extremely generous in the amount of snacks they provide per flight. Flying from Louisville to DC last spring, I had enough pretzels and peanuts to last the entire weekend, and then bring the remaining snacks back on the return flight! As for trip planning online, Delta's website is probably the best for searching for deals, especially if your dates are flexible. I flew American once about 2 years ago and wound up with 3 layovers between Louisville, KY and Richmond, VA - I don't remember why it turned into such a long trip, but driving definitely would have been the quicker way to travel!
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