Worst. Flights. Ever.

[flick]

Going to Chicago: got to the west coast of Ireland, turned around, came back, hotel, 4am start, 19 hours late.

(Faulty altimeter. Same flight two days previously lost an engine at a similar point, so it could have been worse. Same plane, next day, got as far as the runway and gave up.)

Coming home from Chicago: got to the airport, flight cancelled, queued for bloody ages, opened by insisting on same-day flights, started with via Amsterdam and about an eight hour delay, got down to via Zurich and a five hour one. Still have a nagging suspicion that the guy didn't check any airlines not in his alliance.

Never flying United again, that's for sure.

Can't really comment on the con. London parties seemed to go well. AC too ferocious for me to spend time on the bid/con desk, so I spent an awful lot of time thinking "Hmmm... if I were at home, I would be reading my book on a much more comfortable sofa, and I wouldn't have to wait until four for the bar to open. Plus, ponies."

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I refer the lady to my previous comments on the subject of United Airlines.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Bah!

[hano.livejournal.com]

I remember you telling me at the Tun that the flights to and from Chicago were an absolute bastard, guess United didn't hear you.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

United to O'Hell Airport. 'tis the combination to be terrified of.

For my next UK trip I'm going to see what IcelandAir are like. I've heard good things and they've started some interesting routes. Plus, while you have to change planes, Iceland is at least on the route between the UK and USA and you can have a free stay in Iceland.

[hano.livejournal.com]

I'll bear that in mind. Anyone else you recommend? (not least cos we're thinking about Worldcon 2013)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I've had few problems in years of flying American Airlines to the USA (several times each year for over a decade). No in-flight problems I can recall; one incident of having to return to the gate for engineers to check over a configuration warning with no fault found where we took off successfully and continued on an hour later.

[dalmeny]

We've flown with American four times:
1. Flight without incident.
2. Plane massively overbooked and we had to stay overnight in an hotel airport
3. A storm in Texas and their lack of de-icing machines left myself and my seriously ill partner stranded in Dallas Fort Worth airport for 36 hours, the first 12 without food
4. Flight cancelled, spent four hours in a queue, starting at 5 am, with a thousand other people

[daveon.livejournal.com]

My standing rule of friends don't let friends fly United, could easily be expanded to include friends don't let friends fly any US flag carrier.

[discodoris.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Delta has been the least miserable of my US carrier experience, but I'd rather pay extra to go transatlantic these days.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Ah... I am seriously thinking of taking 2013 off after 2012, 2011 and 2009...

Hmm... Not United. Not any other US Carrier either. I'm not convinced you can fly direct to San Antonio? For Comfort, fly to a hub and get Virgin America for the final leg.

BA were fine when I had a Gold Card, as I currently do not have one, I am probably not going to start flying them again.

My CTO uses IcelandAir to fly to Manchester from Seattle and likes the service.

[nwhyte]

Fly with an Asian airline if you possibly can. I always use Jet Airways now for the Brussels - New York run (fortunately they chose Brussels as a stop between Mumbai and the US). It may cost a bit more but it is so much worth it.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

Flying United? Yes, well. Am unsurprised.

Bar not open till 4pm? What? And they let these guys host a convention?

Oh, and oooh 2014. Well done everybody.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

There was a bar that was open but it was attached to the lobby restaurant and didn't have much room. The big bar only opened at 4pm... which was daft because the halls were full of marauding Brits seeking beverages by about noon.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

That's an absolutely miserable travel experience, that's years of travel fuckups compressed into one trip :(

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Oh dear!

I've never had that level of problems with United. I hope they're not in a Pan Am-style death spiral.

My own flight to Boston today was fine, though with a slight delay due to weather.

I wonder if there's an issue with LHR or Chicago...

Glad you're home safe, eventually. I'll be heading across the pond on Saturday myself.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

O'Hell has a lot of problems, and don't get me started on the lack of free Wifi.

So there is something there. But United is just getting nastier and nastier.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I had free wifi there this afternoon... A bit limited but it was there...

Must admit to being surprised by the amount of things that United charges for now, but they've been this way before and got better...

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Might be terminal by terminal then. It was 'Boingo' wifi in L on Monday.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Yes - I got boingo today in, I think, C.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Boingo isn't free though. If you don't have an account it's $0.19 a minute through my Skype account or pay for a pass.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

there was a pay option but also something free. No doubt not as good (think I had http access but not some other things)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Argh. That is just...
I'm glad you're back safely.