Here I go again! This time I'm off to Mumbai, India. There are basically two ways to get to India by air, you can fly "straight through" which is about 15 hours from start to finish, or you can break it up into two legs...America to Europe and Europe to India...which is closer to 16 hours total in the air. I opted for a two leg journey because I didn't think I'd be able to sit still for 15 hours.
Peggy and the boys dropped me off at the airport on Saturday between hockey jamborees. I was a few hours early, but given the jamboree timing and the fact that I was flying internationally it was a good idea to have time to spare.
After checking in (I couldn't check in online because they had to verify my Indian visa was valid) I headed to the security checkpoint and spotted a familiar face. One of the people from my office, Frank, was headed down the escalator. I called his name and he didn't respond. I thought, "Maybe it's not Frank." But I called again and he turned around. He was headed to Germany. After passing through the TSA PreCheck line (the best investment ever!) we grabbed a bite to eat and chatted for a bit before he left to catch his flight.
I still had a couple hours to spare so I took the opportunity to walk the entire airside terminal, all 4 sections, before settling in (10,000+ steps later) at my gate about an hour before departure. This flight would take me from Pittsburgh to Newark, New Jersey for a short layover before my flight from Newark to Munich, Germany.
Since I was flying business class I made my way to the Luthansa lounge and had a bite to eat while enjoying some solitude. The Lufthansa lounge resembled a business kitchenette but it was much quieter than the terminal. I had some spicy curry wings, rice, gummy bears and brownies along with some ice cold Dr. Pepper. About an hour before my flight I made my way to my gate for boarding.
I arrived in the boarding area and noticed my flight had been pushed back about 15 minutes and boarding was scheduled to begin 15 minutes prior to departure. That was sign number one that something was not normal. Boarding time came and they made an announcement that the aircraft was being checked for security reasons. They assured us this was normal and would be complete soon. I noticed people beginning to queue at the boarding zone markers, so I joined them.
At departure time they made an announcement that it would be just a little while longer while they completed post-maintenance checks. Different from the "security check" announced earlier, but still not out of the ordinary. 15 minutes past departure time, at 9pm Eastern, they announced that the flight would be cancelled due to maintenance issues. At that time they directed everyone to leave the gate area, proceed to baggage claim #1 to retrieve our checked luggage and then report to the Lufthansa ticketing counter for re-accomodation. That's when things got interesting. Lots of yelling and pushing later I found myself in line with 300 of my closest friends waiting to speak to a ticketing agent.
I called my company's travel agency and spoke to a very funny guy named Josh who was unfortunately unable to help due to the fact that I was still checked in for the Newark to Munich leg. Josh was extremely apologetic and told me multiple times he wished there was something he could do for me.
I then called Lufthansa's customer service line and spoke to a lovely gentleman named Dan from Canada (I left the line rather quickly when everyone around me starting giving me death stares as they stood in the unmoving queue while I was clearly talking to Lufthansa). He found a flight with United leaving at 10:10pm, but given that I'd have to change terminals and re-clear security we ruled that out as an option. Unfortunately my choices were limited and all of the next options left the following evening (Sunday) for arrival into Mumbai Monday night (a full day later than I had planned).
Dan booked me on a United flight that was direct to Mumbai leaving Sunday night at 8:40pm Eastern. He then told me to book a "reasonable" hotel and keep receipts for any food purchases. I hung up with Dan after thanking him and called my company's travel agency back to assist with the hotel. I was connected to Josh again from the earlier call who was happy to help me book a room, "Reasonable? Presidential Penthouse at the Four Seasons it is!" He eventually found me a room at the Hilton Newark Airport a mere 0.9mi from the terminal. It was now pressing 10:30pm.
To get to the hotel my only choice was to take the AirTrain from Terminal B (where I was for my Lufthansa flight) to Terminal C (where I arrived on my United flight) and then a different train to the P4 parking area. This was the only place the hotel shuttle picked up at. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I arrived at the AirTrain station in Terminal B the station attendant informed all of us that they were going into reduced service mode for maintenance. This meant double or triple the normal wait time.
I arrived at the hotel around 11:30 and was checked in relatively quickly. I made my way to my room and tried to order room service for dinner only to find out my choices (after 11pm) consisted of a Turkey Wrap or a Fruit Cup. After some Googling and some places that were closed or didn't answer the phone I finally settled on a very healthy dinner of Dominos pizza.
Tomorrow, since I have a whole day before trying to depart for Mumbai again, I'm going to visit New York City!
Peggy and the boys dropped me off at the airport on Saturday between hockey jamborees. I was a few hours early, but given the jamboree timing and the fact that I was flying internationally it was a good idea to have time to spare.
After checking in (I couldn't check in online because they had to verify my Indian visa was valid) I headed to the security checkpoint and spotted a familiar face. One of the people from my office, Frank, was headed down the escalator. I called his name and he didn't respond. I thought, "Maybe it's not Frank." But I called again and he turned around. He was headed to Germany. After passing through the TSA PreCheck line (the best investment ever!) we grabbed a bite to eat and chatted for a bit before he left to catch his flight.
I still had a couple hours to spare so I took the opportunity to walk the entire airside terminal, all 4 sections, before settling in (10,000+ steps later) at my gate about an hour before departure. This flight would take me from Pittsburgh to Newark, New Jersey for a short layover before my flight from Newark to Munich, Germany.
The sun was setting as we left Pittsburgh (this photo does not do the view justice)
Since I was flying business class I made my way to the Luthansa lounge and had a bite to eat while enjoying some solitude. The Lufthansa lounge resembled a business kitchenette but it was much quieter than the terminal. I had some spicy curry wings, rice, gummy bears and brownies along with some ice cold Dr. Pepper. About an hour before my flight I made my way to my gate for boarding.
Tired from a full day of activity and lots of airport craziness.
I arrived in the boarding area and noticed my flight had been pushed back about 15 minutes and boarding was scheduled to begin 15 minutes prior to departure. That was sign number one that something was not normal. Boarding time came and they made an announcement that the aircraft was being checked for security reasons. They assured us this was normal and would be complete soon. I noticed people beginning to queue at the boarding zone markers, so I joined them.
At departure time they made an announcement that it would be just a little while longer while they completed post-maintenance checks. Different from the "security check" announced earlier, but still not out of the ordinary. 15 minutes past departure time, at 9pm Eastern, they announced that the flight would be cancelled due to maintenance issues. At that time they directed everyone to leave the gate area, proceed to baggage claim #1 to retrieve our checked luggage and then report to the Lufthansa ticketing counter for re-accomodation. That's when things got interesting. Lots of yelling and pushing later I found myself in line with 300 of my closest friends waiting to speak to a ticketing agent.
The line of people. It's tough to see, but it stretches pretty far away from me for the "Economy" queue.
I called my company's travel agency and spoke to a very funny guy named Josh who was unfortunately unable to help due to the fact that I was still checked in for the Newark to Munich leg. Josh was extremely apologetic and told me multiple times he wished there was something he could do for me.
I then called Lufthansa's customer service line and spoke to a lovely gentleman named Dan from Canada (I left the line rather quickly when everyone around me starting giving me death stares as they stood in the unmoving queue while I was clearly talking to Lufthansa). He found a flight with United leaving at 10:10pm, but given that I'd have to change terminals and re-clear security we ruled that out as an option. Unfortunately my choices were limited and all of the next options left the following evening (Sunday) for arrival into Mumbai Monday night (a full day later than I had planned).
Dan booked me on a United flight that was direct to Mumbai leaving Sunday night at 8:40pm Eastern. He then told me to book a "reasonable" hotel and keep receipts for any food purchases. I hung up with Dan after thanking him and called my company's travel agency back to assist with the hotel. I was connected to Josh again from the earlier call who was happy to help me book a room, "Reasonable? Presidential Penthouse at the Four Seasons it is!" He eventually found me a room at the Hilton Newark Airport a mere 0.9mi from the terminal. It was now pressing 10:30pm.
To get to the hotel my only choice was to take the AirTrain from Terminal B (where I was for my Lufthansa flight) to Terminal C (where I arrived on my United flight) and then a different train to the P4 parking area. This was the only place the hotel shuttle picked up at. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I arrived at the AirTrain station in Terminal B the station attendant informed all of us that they were going into reduced service mode for maintenance. This meant double or triple the normal wait time.
I arrived at the hotel around 11:30 and was checked in relatively quickly. I made my way to my room and tried to order room service for dinner only to find out my choices (after 11pm) consisted of a Turkey Wrap or a Fruit Cup. After some Googling and some places that were closed or didn't answer the phone I finally settled on a very healthy dinner of Dominos pizza.
Tomorrow, since I have a whole day before trying to depart for Mumbai again, I'm going to visit New York City!
Comments
Post a Comment