Wednesday, May 28, 2014

First post in a while is a rant about United, which sometimes makes it very easy to rant. Yesterday, I go to the airport to take my flight to Chicago. The app says gate B43, but when I check on the plane itself, the app tells me it's already on the ground and is sitting at gat B47. So I'm waiting at B43 and watching the screens to see when they're going to move us. I think it's a foregone conclusion since the plane currently at B43 going to NY is late, and sitting out there with no one driving the plane push car. Boy was I wrong. Once they finally pushed the NY plane, 10 minutes goes by and then our plane pulls in. At this point we're supposed to board in a few minutes. Luckily, the plane was empty, but even though it sat there for hours, it wasn't cleaned. 15 minutes later, they start boarding. Everything is fine, up until we're sitting there again with everyone boarded and not going anywhere. After 15 minutes of this, the pilot gets on and says he's sorry for the delay but we're waiting for a few more passengers.

Um, yeah, they don't do that anymore. If you miss your flight, they close the door and go, especially a plane almost completely full that has flights every 1.5 hours to the same destination. Anyway, another 5 minutes goes by and finally the gate agent gets on the overhead and announces that he has a situation. He needs someone in economy plus to give up their seat, he'll put them in 27A in economy and give them a $400 voucher. The guy next to me shoots his hand up and takes the deal. So he leaves, and I'm left wondering who is going to sit next to me. It must be someone 7 feet tall that can't fit in an economy seat right? Nope. The guy who was next to me comes back, and tells everyone there that he may not be moving. Turns out he overheard the crew talking, and there's a pilot that needs to get to Chicago, and he won't accept an economy seat. They get the guy next to me to move, but the pilot won't accept a middle seat. Wow. I am literally blown away. The plane is now 40 minutes late, and getting later, with tons of people missing their connections - many of them to Europe, because a pilot won't accept a window in economy or a middle in economy plus for a 2 hour flight.

He ended up taking the middle seat and brought his vortex of jerkness next to me for the 2 hours. Then he didn't put his phone on airplane mode and was sending emails to United people complaining about his middle seat. Yes, I read what he was typing. This was while we were climbing. Way to be United, way to be. The pilot union must really have them over a barrel. Too bad Frontier is falling apart and Southwest doesn't go to many of the cities I need to get to, so I'm left without a lot of options.

Friday, May 23, 2014

I'm baaaaaaa...ck! After a multi-year hiatus, I've decided to start blogging again. Many years ago I wrote a blog that my wife felt was too personal, which I removed. It chronicled my fears around caring for my then recently diagnosed diabetic son. I get it, it was too raw at the time and struck a nerve. I guess I lost the motivation to continue blogging after that.

Well, it's time to crank this back up and resurrect it. Look for more posts soon. I've seen lots of weird and cool stuff these days :).