United we fly?
Thanks to a combination of my own stupidity and the stupidity of United Airlines' policies, I had quite an adventure trying to fly home from San Francisco to Boston yesterday. Here's how it went down:
- I skipped my usual practice of checking the flight status and time the night before my flight because my 24-hour wireless Internet access that I'd paid for had expired.
- Believing, as I had all week, that my flight left SFO at 10-something in the morning, I checked out at 7:45. Before getting a cab, I decided to use the free wireless in the lobby to check the flight status.
- Oops! The flight was 8:31, not 10:00 or later, as I'd thought. Uh-oh.
- I hopped in a cab and arrived at SFO at 8:10, 21 minutes before flight time. And the departures board said the flight was "delayed," though it didn't specify how long.
- I tried to check in (quickly, of course), but I learned that I was too late. Apparently you can't check in less than 30 minutes before flight time, even if the plane hasn't started boarding yet.
- I had to call the Continental reservations line to rebook myself onto a 1:00 flight. No chance of standby on the 11:30 flight, because it was way oversold. After confirming a seat for me at 1:00, the reservations agent told me that I should call back after 9:00, because then the change fee for reticketing me will only cost $50, not $100, because the price goes down within four hours of flight time.
- I ate some breakfast and then called back at 9:05 to reticket, which went fine. I was now out $50 and had a confirmed seat on the 1:00 flight.
- Around 9:20 or 9:25, I decided to go through security so that I could take advantage of the stores and restaurants within the secured area of the terminal.
- At 9:30, I got through security and checked the departures board. The 8:31 flight that I'd "missed" was now listed as departing at 10:00 (ironically, the time I'd originally thought it was supposed to leave).
- Since I had nothing better to do, I walked over to the gate where that flight was departing, and I saw that it was just boarding. I asked the gate agent if there was any way to fly standby, since I was booked on a later flight. Amazingly, he said, "yes."
- Five minutes later, I had a boarding pass for my original flight. Shortly after 10:00, I took off. Depending on your perspective, I was either an hour and a half late, right on time, or three hours ahead of schedule!
Oh, well. At least I got home safely and even without sitting around the airport for several hours. I'm still a little bitter about the $50, though.
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