crystal's capers

Flying Low

• Found out the day before leaving for Canada that my Seattle to Vancouver flight had be cancelled and I was rescheduled; resecheduled to arrive two hours after my next connection.
• Spent at least 3 hours on the phone with various airlines trying to get a better flight, at international phone rates. Thoroughly given the run-around by various telephone agents who had no idea what they were talking about, and/or their own opinion about how the situation should be handled; received far too many, "Good luck"s than should have been the case.
  
• Was booked on flight that, if on time, would leave me 45 minutes to connect; going through customs and re-checking luggage myself included; later, was re-booked on a minimum of four other flights, all equally inconvenient/impossible.
  
• Check-in at Narita. Nice check-in-girl spends 40 minutes trying to coordinate my flights to give more connection time. Finds nothing, sends me into the air in total uncertainty about whether I was going to be calling SEA-TAC 'home' for Christmas.
• Am seated beside this strange girl who says not one word to me the entire 8-hour flight, even when I attempt cordiality. In fact, this girl will not even speak to the flight attendants: "chicken or beef entree?" **grunt** "chicken or beef entree?" **grunt** um, okay... Not sure if she was slow, or what, but definitely bitchy.
  
• Turbulence is so extreme that breakfast and all drinking service is cancelled.
• Do not sleep a wink on the plane.
  
• Flight attendants move me to first class for last half-hour of flight so that I can be first off the plane to try to make a 40-minute connecting flight; girl beside me actually rolls her eyes when asked to get out of her seat (first time in whole flight) to allow me to pass. Flight attendants assure me that I will have enough time to connect, we are running slightly early.
  
• Chat up a business man in first class. Bust-ass through customs only to arrive at baggage claim and have to wait for luggage with everyone else. Miss my connection even before I've picked up my bags.
• Finally get to an airline employee to whom I can explain my situation only to find that their computer system is down... after some time they are up-and-running again, and we proceed to take an HOUR to figure out the situation and find a solution; apparently airlines are not all too happy about vouchering their passengers to other airlines. End up with a rather perfect connection from Seattle to Vancouver on Horizon Air.
• Find the lone Horizon flight attendant to be quite entertaining; she sang no less than 5 songs (many incorporating the flight safety instructions, etc.) to us during our 55 minute affair.
• Connect to my hometown, Kamloops, BC, without difficulty, totalling my use of different airlines in one day to three: United, Horizon/Alaska Air, and Air Canada (who caused all this difficulty in the first place). Miraculously arrive in Kamloops, on schedule, after 22 hours of travel time, no sleep.
• Declared that I HATE FLYING and that I'm NEVER doing it again immediately upon being reunited with my family only to be reminded that I get to do it all again in two weeks: what was I thinking!?!?!