So my day began just like any other day or so I thought. The plan was to head to Montreal catching a 6am flight with Delta, this past Thursday from BWI.
I had several personal things to take care of today along with taking care of the plans for this Saturday’s Henna and Chai event. Plus it’s my mom’s birthday and I was taking some time out to spend with her. I was really looking forward to this trip. I don’t really get much time off.
As I sat waiting for my Delta flight to Detroit (catching a connecting flight to Montreal) I could hear the staff whisper amongst themselves about how the flight was overbooked. I was waiting to get my assigned seat. As we sat there waiting our flight proceeded to take off and leave several of us behind. Literally it just left without us and the Delta staff didn’t say a word ahead of time to prepare us. Myself and the other passengers were extremely upset. Delta didn’t give us a heads up where some of us could have made other arrangements. I knew there were other possible flights on other airlines when I had looked it up and now I was stuck figuring out how to arrange myself and all the appointments I had today. Delta also had my bag as I had checked it in.
That bag contains all of my clothes, toiletries, gifts, henna and jagua paste and orders that clients had made. What would happen to my bag? I needed it even if I could catch another flight to Montreal. Thank goodness they were able to forward my bag onto Montreal (or so I thought). I’m sure at this point my bag has already made it there before me.
I was at least getting a $800 voucher from Delta (which honestly I didn’t want to fly with them again and don’t usually travel often enough to use it) which I took and figured I could use it towards a flight I had in mind to LA in September for the Henna Intensive Retreat. So I booked it right away and they were really amazing with allowing me to have my husband booked with me as well. I also added the comfort upgrade which allowed us to pick our seats. I have been told that purchasing your seats guarantees your spot. I wasn’t taking any chances. I had to get to LA as we sponsor this large henna weekend event. The only drawback is that it’s not direct and we typically don’t book connecting flights due to possible delays.
After the Delta cancellation I started to look for flights to Montreal elsewhere. I got Air Canada on the phone and booked a flight with them a few short hours later. Guess what?! They overbooked me as well. I couldn’t believe it as they were the ones selling me the flight. So I was stuck yet again. Air Canada compensated me with cash reimbursement, rebooked me for a later flight that same day at another airport, paid for my taxi to DCA and gave me a food voucher. So I settled and figured this has got to work, right?
So already I’ve been through two airports, two airlines and am heading into my third security check. I wait in the airport from about noon until about 4pm. Just sitting killing time. Being hopeful it’ll all work out. I’ve already lost a whole day which I really needed because I did have to get my Canadian passport done (which they were going to try to rush for me because I was already leaving Canada that coming Monday), bank appointments and April 6th is my mom’s birthday in which we had dinner plans. So all that got killed.
I figure if I can get there for Friday I should be okay still to get those things done but I need all day Friday to make sure these things happen.
So I head through my third security check and as I approach the gate to make sure everything is all good, lo and behold, the flight is cancelled again! I couldn’t even believe it. My day is fully spent. I am worn out. I’m hungry. I’ve had my backpack on me all day so I know my back is going to be killing the next day. I couldn’t do it anymore so I decided to just go home. Air Canada has no more flights going out until the next day or Sunday. At that point there’s really no point because now all the things I had to get done can’t.
So I head home. Hubby comes and gets me from the metro (which I haven’t been on in years) and we head out for a warm meal. I break the news to my sister and mom. They are so disappointed that I’m not coming anymore.
As for my bag, well it didn’t make it to Montreal so it seems…I find out my bag is still in Detroit. I file a claim after waiting an hour and half in line, since all of Delta’s phone lines are tied up. It finally comes back on this past Saturday and they were supposed to deliver it. It never comes, so yesterday I decided to just get my bag on my own. I’m so tired of waiting and all of my essentials are in my bag. All of my art supplies are ruined as well. I have to toss out over $800 worth of products.
I was able to get reimbursement from Delta and Air Canada, in which I’m grateful for and thank them for their customer service. I firmly believe that overbooking is a major inconvenience that I don’t have time for. I’m so busy and just can’t afford to be bumped off a flight. It affects my 6 children and making sure I have someone able to watch them. I don’t think airlines should do that at all. It’s completely unfair.
I won’t ever book with hotels.com nor expedia.com ever again as they won’t refund my hotel that I booked with Aloft Montreal in Dorval. They refuse to refund those 4 nights. It’s not like I wanted to be cancelled from 3 flights in one day and can’t make it to Montreal. I would be there if I could. I suggest you all don’t book with either of those two companies/websites because they aren’t refundable. They are very strict and not accommodating at all for circumstances that get out of control.
Aloft Montreal offered us two free nights stay even though they didn’t take the booking themselves directly. I will from now on book directly. The car rental was very easy. I didn’t pay ahead of time so they didn’t charge me.
So this whole process has really drained me and I just needed a few days to recover. These type of situations are tiring, affect me getting back to my business here at Henna Sooq and you know we really can’t afford that as a small business.
Our whole Henna and Chai event was cancelled. So disappointed in that as we had a really good amount of people coming. It’s just crazy sometimes but you know and I know that it could always be worse. There were people stuck in the airport with their kids and didn’t live locally and that man even got dragged off the plane. How crazy is that?! You know we really have to start treating each other better. I mean we need to be good, descent people. What is wrong with us?
I do have plans to get back to Montreal and I hope it’s soon. I’d love to see all of you.
