This is a true story, I don't exaggerate at all. On Tuesday I had a two hour meeting in Norfolk Virginia, so instead of taking the train from Edison NJ to DC and hitching a ride with a co-worker, I thought it would be faster and cheaper to fly round trip. Little did I know that Norfolk has a pact with Continental Airlines to cause people to stay over night there. So here's my tale of woe....
My meeting in Norfolk ended early and I was dropped after at the airport. I put myself on the 5:30 flight instead of my original 7PM flight and by the time I got through security and walked to the gate, they canceled BOTH flights. Good old Continental couldn't have warned me before I rebooked myself? <sigh>.
So I turned around and walked back to the ticket counter and stood in line with a bunch of angry New Jerseyans and angry people trying to get to Seattle. I couldn't go the eTicket route and of course good old Continental only HAD 2 PEOPLE working the counter. So, after standing in line for 25 minutes behind a bunch of sweaty angry Jersey guys, I was able to rebook my flight to 1PM on Wednesday. You see, I couldn't fly anywhere else BECAUSE CONTINENTAL ONLY FLIES TO CLEVELAND, NEWARK, AND HOUSTON FROM NORFOLK (reason #1 to never do this again).
I then got a room in the Norfolk Airport Hilton for $169+taxes but to my surprise, the restaurant in this Hilton was an upscale version of Ruby Tuesdays (yuck). I also was without any clothes or toiletries and unfortunately I can't walk anywhere around the hotel because there are NO sidewalks (reason #2 to never stay here again). So, I grabbed a $20 cab ride to Virginia Beach for a great meal on the bay at a place called Lynnhaven Fish House. I had their she-crab soup, baked scallops with crab and some cheese, salad, dessert and of course a few cocktails. My waitress also was from a town close to Long Valley NJ so the company was welcoming. I then hopped back in a $20 cab ride but this time to stop at the ONLY clothing store in the area, Walmart (reason #3 to never do this again).
I ran into Walmart and bought a $10 pair of brown leather sandals, a $10 black Spider-Man tshirt, a pair of boxer shorts, and what I thought was a $14 pair of size 36 denim wrangler shorts. When I got back to my hotel room and tried everything on, the shorts were so big that I pulled them up to my neck. Always useless Walmart had a pair of size 48s on a size 36 hangar. Sigh, I had to wear the same pair of black dress pants with my brown sandals and Spider-Man tshirt for a second day in a row (YUCK and boy did I look special).
On Wednesday, I checked my flight which was on time for the moment and worked in the hotel all morning. By the time I got to the airport at 11:15, I was told that Continental had canceled both earlier flights and both later flights so that there was only 2 out of the original 6 flights running. Why is that? Well a nice Continental employee told me that Continental picks on Norfolk because it is a) small and b) it is in the flight path coming from the south into Newark so that if other flights got priority they CANCEL THE FLIGHTS FROM NORFOLK (reason #4 to never do this again). To save my fingers, here's the rest of my story in bullet form:
Reasons #5 to #12 to never do this again
- My flight was delayed because "they needed a plane". Yeah right they were just staggering the flight.
- Norfolk only had one security lane open so I stood on line FOREVER
- We finally boarded but that was after people got bumped from the flight because it was over booked.
- I heard the same complaint about Norfolk's bad luck in getting bumped from numerous stranded people
- We waited 30 minutes on the tarmac but were first in line adding to my staggering point
- I was sandwiched in this small plane between the curve of the window and a very large woman who's left thigh I ended up getting intimate with because the plane was so small
- We circled for 30 minutes because - well they never gave a good reason
- When we finally landed it took another 30 minutes at our gate because our gate was changed and we had to wait for the other plane to move out
I got home at 5PM with what was supposed to be an hour and 15 minutes in the air. It was terrible. Oh and if you think I was the only one, check out the line at Continental's customer service counter when I walked by. Morale of this story is to:
NEVER FLY CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INTO NORFOLK VIRGINIA FROM NEWARK, EVER.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
Don't fly Continental to Birmingham, Alabama either. Birmingham is a smallish city and always dumped. But before they cancel the flight, they'll delay it again and again so that you don't know that you really should be booking your alternate arrangements on Delta. Then, when they finally fess up and cancel the flight, it's too late to get on another airline. In some cases, it's too late to even get a hotel. So you sleep on the floor in the Newark-Houston-Cleveland airport. (Oh, and they will lie to you about why the flight is canceled. I once was told by Continental that the FAA had a block on flights into my destination airport, and that's why I would be spending my Christmas in Detroit (where I know no one). But then, low and behold, I got a flight into the allegedly blocked airport on another airline.) Continental merits a lifetime ban.
Posted by: Birmingham Alabama | June 28, 2007 at 10:53 PM