I took my first solo trip with my daughter - we travelled from Colorado to Virginia, so of course we had to change planes so there is a higher risk of losing bags, bags not arriving on time, missing the connecting flight, running from terminal A to terminal E, and so on. Never did I think they would cancel my 39-minute from Charlotte to Norfolk. I mean, "come on!" So, the plane was 1-hr delayed getting into Charlotte so that should have been my first sign of trouble. It was - but what was I gonna do really at that point? I never expected to be sitting there in the Charlotte airport, Terminal E, sitting in a white rocking chair, nursing my daughter, and what do I do? I saw my bags being removed from the plane along with the 24 other bags on there- Fatigued, I saw the bags and thought, "hey, those look my bags... hmmm." Then, it hit me. CRAP- I think this flight is going to be cancelled. Eventually, I did get over to customer service but not soon enough. The earliest they could get me out of there was an 805pm flight - it was 430pm. Yikers! I kept a positive outlook, trying to not get angry at the horrible customer service - sorry, that's a misnomer these days in the airline industry in America. The only airline left with any customer service is Southwest Airlines and from what I hear, they are going down the crapper too. I have never had a flight cancelled EVER, so I was not surprised that this would happen during my maiden solo voyage with our infant child.
Before I go on, I must rant about the airline industry in general but mainly in America. I am appalled and in a nutshell - they suck! Jet Airways in India on a 45 minute flight from Ahmedabad to Mumbai was able to serve a full meal to over 130 passengers- full meal- choice of Veg or Non-Veg and our daughter got an amazing infant meal too. They were able to serve the meal, the beverages, and masala chai afterwards and clean the plane well before we landed. Amazing! On my 5-hour delayed flight to Norfolk last night, the crew did not get up out of their jump seats. It was bumpy, granted, but is that an excuse for not serving anything? At the end, they managed to come around and tell people to put their seats back up but did not clear any beverages or nut packages because ... why? Oh yeah, they did not serve any! Not even a glass of water. I am very disappointed with the airline service in this country but what are we to do really? Stop flying? Yeah, that is easy in a country so vast, it takes 6 hours to travel from west coast to east coast!
But, I digress - back to the topic at hand. Travelling solo went just fine. I feel blessed because my daughter was happy crawling around a dirty airport, ate when she was fed, and did not whine much. In fact, she slept for most of the trip from Denver to Charlotte and slept the entire trip from Charlotte to Norfolk so it made my life easier. Travelling solo was not as bad as I expected but I did miss my husband's company and assistance. I did manages to quickly scarf down a BK veggie burger, onion rings, and 2 milks (purchased on a meal voucher given to by the airlines after I cried) while my daughter played with another kid. Thank goodness for dirty airport carpets and great people! Yes, you read right - CRIED! I have to say the positive of being delayed was that I met some terrific people and my daughter got play with some kids - she enjoyed the company immensely. I was exhausted but my daughter was very excited and did not skip a beat.
Either way, whatever the inconveniences, my first solo trip was a success- not because of the airlines but because of my daughter and my attitude towards the situations we met with. Now, I get to look forward to the return trip on the same horrible airline: US Airways. And to think, I went through a lot of trouble to not fly United- Hmmm.... Happy trails to you all!
