Worse stress levels

[wahroonga1]

A trip to Barcelona approx 10 yrs ago.

Flight from Sydney (SYD) to Barcelona (BCN) via Heathrow (LHR). Arrived at BCN to discover my luggage was still somewhere over the Indian ocean. I had a business meeting the next 2 days, so then proceeded to wander BCN and purchase suitable business attire in my severely jetlagged state. Late that evening I was contacted by Iberian Customer service that my luggage had arrived, but that due to a strike by contractors it would not be able to be delivered to me until possibly the day after tomorrow. So......

..... at 2am I get in a cab to Barcelona airport, wander the halls of the now deserted airport, locate the Iberian luggage area, am given my luggage, and then return to the hotel, to prepare for my 8am breakfast meeting.

After BCN I head to Nice (NCE) to catch up with family. Several days later it's time to return to SYD. I am supposed to go NCE-LHR-SIN-SYD. At check in I'm informed LHR is closed due to snow. I therefore need to go to CDG (Paris) and get to SIN that way. I get to CDG for a 5 hr layover. We board, and then near midnight after 45 mins are ordered off the plane due to a security issue (someone in the terminal had apparently entered the departures area without going through screening). We disembark and then are rescreened and re-board. Then...........................

.....the Air France cabin staff decide to have a union meeting in the front on the plane as they have now been on duty for several hours, and by the time we get to SGP they would have been over their allotted shift hours. We are informed that a new aircrew would take 4 - 5 hrs to assemble, but after another 30 mins or so we take off - some 3 hrs AFTER were were supposed to.

I get to SIN much later than expected, in time to see my flight to SYD depart as I taxi to the gate. Being QP I head to the helpful ticketing desk to ask about flights to SYD. I'm informed that I can either wait 8 hrs for the next direct flight to SYD, or I can wait 2 hrs for a flight to SYD via ADL. I decide take the ADL option, as at this stage I just wanted to get home.

I board the ADL/SYD flight, and during the flight crew welcome speech I'm informed that yes the flight does go to SYD via ADL, but it will also stopp off at Darwin (DRW)!!!!

I land DRW, disembark, wait 2hrs, board, fly to ADL, disembark, wait 2 hrs, board, fly to SYD. My travel time from NCE to SYD is nearly 40hrs.

10 yrs later and I still bear the scars..............:shock:

 

[coco50]

My worst travel experience was in 2000 after a conference in Savannah. We had flights booked from SAV - IAD at 1100, arriving in Washington at 1230, then connecting to SFO at 1410 for a comfortable 1644 arrival at SFO. Unfortunately an intense High pressure system moved down from Canada causing extreme weather throughout the mid west, disrupting air traffic any where. We did not leave SAV until 1500. We had to get reallocated a flight in IAD and didn't leave until 2015, arriving in SFO at 2250. Collecting luggage from the carousel, we found that my (new) bag had been torn to shreds. Complaining to United's customer service we got a (poor) substitute bag from them which I then had to repack. We eventually checked in to our hotel at 0100. Thank God we were not staying on Grant Avenue because I would have gone outside and killed the Chinaman that I had metaphorically killed to cop this bad luck!

 

[Infreq]

On a recent holiday we had used up the last of our Euros on some unexpected medical expenses. I had carefully organised money access in case something like this should occur: cash into a debit card plus a credit card for back up. When I went to get some cash I discovered that I had very cleverly brought BOTH expired cards along - like the ones that expired last year.

 

[Bad Seed]

Flying on the upper deck of an airline (Olympic Air?) several years ago, heading I think from London to Munich (or somewhere in Germany, can't remember now), -one of those small cabins where you look almost straight onto the coughpit door, hubby and I were in the front row when hubby, in the window seat, suddenly says that's the third time we've circled around. I don't notice this kind of stuff but he's a nervous flier at the best of times and by now he's gripping the hand rests in a death grip and peering worriedly out the windows. Its evening so a bit hard to see. The captain comes over the intercom and say something along the lines of, "There's a problem with the landing gear, it hasn't disengaged properly and while we are quite safe, we need to land faster than usual and we are going to dump all our excess fuel to make ourselves as light as possible." Yep, a few minutes later you can see the excess fuel streaming out and my now my husband is white and tense as anything. The landing is certainly fast and bumpy but everyone is safe and well. The stressful bit is being in the front row, hearing the captain come out of the coughpit and saying to another staff member "Well, that's a bit different to doing it in the simulator!"

 

[phill84]

Was any reason given for the cancelling? It hadn't expired of course.

What little incident has occurred as you are traveling, which has stressed you out.


Mine occurred as I was waiting in the QF J lounge this morning when I rang my credit card company to find out why my credit card wouldn't work in an atm at the airport. I new there was plenty of money on it as I had loaded all my money onto it for my 4 week holiday to USA & Canada.

The response from some unidentified national from the back streets of Bombay informed me that my card had been cancelled at Midnight last night. Sorry, don't know why was the response when I got a bit shirty, but basically it was suck it up sweetheart. They will send a new card to me which I hope I will catch up with it at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel in 2 weeks, (can't do anything any quicker).

Moral of the story.....dont put all your eggs in the one basket ( money in the one account )

 

[phill84]

That would annoy just about any one!!

People who don't join the end of the queue, but sneak into the middle and then have the audacity to ask people in front of them if they can go in front of them.

 

[eric2011]

Refer to post #1

....Update....

You guessed it, I checked into the hotel at YVR, asked if my package containing the replacement credit card had arrived. Sorry Mr eric2011, nothing has arrived for you. (as fully expected)

 

[eric2011]

Was any reason given for the cancelling? It hadn't expired of course.

This was in the change over from MasterCard to Visa for the Qantas Woolworths money credit card. I had received no notification, had no knowledge of the proposed change, and had received no new replacement cards. First I new about the change was after the original card stopped working the day I departed Brisbane and I was able to contact their card services while in the International J lounge at BNE airport.

When I get home I will cash-out the money I pre-loaded and cancel the account. I need a bank that will (attempt) to look after me.

 

[FlyboyAl]

This a highs and lows story.!
2 weeks ago flying Adl-Mel-Lax. Got to airport and my travel wallet with passport and currency had been dropped and was still at home!
Wife drove home whilst I threw up in a quiet corner of airport.
She came back to a very stressed and unhappy Flyboy, who then called Qantas who were fantastic and rebooked me Adl-Syd-Lax. My original fare was Discount Y over and normal Y back as I wanted to use points to upgrade coming home.
After paying $360, all was good.
Got to Syd lounge and when they scanned my ticket on entry I was told there was a problem with my Business Class upgrade (!!!!). She kept my boarding pass and called me just before boarding to apologise again about J but she confirmed my PE upgrade had come through (!!!!).
That was a high, and nice surprise.
On the flight home, I got the PE upgrade, but it was a freebie and no points deducted.
I'm not even going to try to explain it, but I'll never leave the passport at home again!!!

 

[PLANT]

^ I think you paid $360 but still cheap upgrade

 

[Flying mermaid]

I think I must get stressed easily as I seem to have a list to choose from. However my worst ever was last year flying from JNB to Nairobi. Somehow we managed to stand at the gate for 10 minutes, not realise it was boarding and stand there while the gate closed (they didn't do any call by name for passengers). The stress levels when I realised the flight was closed were massive.

 

[ellen10]

Hubby and I stayed with his sister in the suburbs of London.
Caught the tube, lugging suitcases up and down stairs to get St Pancras for an early morning Eurostar to Brussels.
Plan was to leave suitcases in a locker at Brussels train station and spend the day sightseeing and then catch a late train to Brugge where we were booked for 4 nights.

Arrived at St Pancras with plenty of time for our train to Brussels, decided to browse book store for something to read on the train and get a coffee.
Headed towards the entry gate for the Eurostar, not realising we had to go through security and checks before getting to the platform. Huge queues, moving very very slowly. Lots of stressed passengers including us trying to get through security quickly, very unsympathetic staff. Finally got through and ran for the gate lugging our suitcases etc. jumped on board, all luggage racks full. Tried to shove our bags anywhere we could.

Nice smooth train trip to Brussels, stored luggage in lockers and headed into the big square to get something to eat. Hubby bites into a baguette and breaks his bridge (broke his 4 front teeth in a pushbike accident when young , so now has a bridge attached to 2 supporting teeth holding 4 false teeth in his mouth). So tried to ask around for a dentist and finally found the tourist information place who gave us a list of possible places to go. After catching the local metro and many wandering up and down streets we found a polyclinic, but by the time we got here it was lunch time and they would be back in 1 &1/2 hours. Met a lady waiting, who told us that it was a first come first in basis. So we had to stand and wait at the locked door. Other people turned up as time went on and it was a government clinic building for various types of free care if you are on some sort of social security. The first waiting lady told us that once the door was opened we had to rush to get in as first in etc. Doors open we bolted. Managed to get the 2nd appointment after some hesitation from the receptionist and 95euros later.
The lady dentist was nice, had no assistant and did everything herself with me assisting at times. Could not really properly fix the problem but "cemented" the bridge back in temporarily.

We only managed to catch a glimpse of the Manneken Pis in Brussels as we rushed back to the train to retrieve our luggage and catch our train to Brugge. After arriving in Brugge we caught a taxi to our B&B. Knocked on the door to a bewildered lady who said that were all booked up. But we have a reservation I said. So she invited us in to her lovely home and got the husband who reiterated that they were fully booked. I fortunately had a copy of my booking and correspondence from our booking made 6 months ago. Well they were very embarrassed and it turned out that they had changed booking providers a couple of months ago and it seems our booking was lost in"the system" changeover. The owner then did some serious phoning around (Brugge is a very popular town at that time of year) and finally found us some accommodation in a nearby apartment so we missed our lovely B&B but were very happy to have somewhere to sleep and my hubby was very happy to have teeth to eat with. (Although the temporary fix fell out a couple of weeks later.

The moral of the story is, always allow extra travel and security time, don't eat crusty baguettes in Brussels and always reconfirm bookings a few weeks prior to departure.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Being moved from 80A on QF A380 at the boarding gate and handed a new BP for 81A . According to Mrs NM, my body language showed my stress and dissatisfaction of this re-seating :evil:

Did you ask and receive an explanation ?

 

[Foreigner]

My sore point is special meals booked but not provided. Few times the explanation is that it is shown on their list but not loaded. The handful of QF vouchers vouch for the experiences.

Another time being told another passenger was served my pre booked meal.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This was in the change over from MasterCard to Visa for the Qantas Woolworths money credit card. I had received no notification, had no knowledge of the proposed change, and had received no new replacement cards. First I new about the change was after the original card stopped working the day I departed Brisbane and I was able to contact their card services while in the International J lounge at BNE airport.

When I get home I will cash-out the money I pre-loaded and cancel the account. I need a bank that will (attempt) to look after me.

I hadn't even realised that & found I was carrying both cards around in my wallet. Could've been a bit awkward if I'd gone to pay for something with my WWEDR MC so thanks for the heads up.

My sore point is special meals booked but not provided. Few times the explanation is that it is shown on their list but not loaded. The handful of QF vouchers vouch for the experiences.

Another time being told another passenger was served my pre booked meal.

You hadn't swapped seats with anyone had you?

 

[DrA]

My sore point is special meals booked but not provided. Few times the explanation is that it is shown on their list but not loaded. The handful of QF vouchers vouch for the experiences.

Another time being told another passenger was served my pre booked meal.

This. Especially when I have potentially life threatening allergies. Over time, I've just taken to stashing a packet of rice cakes and a tube of vegemite in my bag on all my flights. So often catering messes up and loads a VOML instead of a VGML. Most cabin crew don't seem to understand the difference and seem to think "vegetarian is vegetarian, does it matter?". Yes, it matters.

I always check with the cabin crew as soon as I sit down about my VGML to make sure that the situation with giving my meal to the wrong person doesn't occur. I'd say easily half of the time it's simply not been loaded, or they've loaded the wrong meal, regardless of airline, regardless of cabin, regardless of status, but I've never had an issue with them giving it to someone else.

 

[Foreigner]

You hadn't swapped seats with anyone had you?

Nope. That was Eva Air J...FA laughed as she informed me which infuriated me / further loaded my stress level.

 

[Foreigner]

I always check with the cabin crew as soon as I sit down about my VGML to make sure that the situation with giving my meal to the wrong person doesn't occur. I'd say easily half of the time it's simply not been loaded, or they've loaded the wrong meal, regardless of airline, regardless of cabin, regardless of status, but I've never had an issue with them giving it to someone else.

Good idea...