To make a long story short: everything did not go well...
Now for the longer version... Washington's Reagan Airport did eventually reopen with a very, very limited number of flights being allowed in and out. A little after 5pm an American plane took off and the whole airport erupted in applause! This must have been one of only 15 or so flights which actually departed that night.
My flight to Raleigh was supposed to leave at 6.15pm but by this point was showing a delay of 45 minutes, which meant I would have a total of zero minutes to make the connecting flight to Miami. I went through security and found that only two more flights would be leaving that night from the American Airlines terminal - my flight to Raleigh and one directly to Miami. I approached an AA employee and explained my situation, i.e. that I needed to catch a flight to Brazil out of Miami early on Friday morning, and she quite bluntly said that she could put me on the standby list but I shouldn't bother because there are already a lot of people on there. I decided to stick with the Raleigh flight and hope that American would at least look after me if I missed the connection. Either way, I just wanted to get out of Washington DC by this point.
When the Miami flight began boarding (on time, miraculously) there was total chaos. There were way more people who wanted to be on the flight than there were seats on the plane. When they began calling people one-by-one from the standby list, people would start cheering for these lucky people who had "won the lottery". When it got down to the last seat, a couple was offered it but they didn't want to be split up the day before Valentine's Day. In quite a theatrical performance, the woman said she wanted to give up her seat for a young girl whose birthday it was. Despite the woman's generosity, the gate agent just said "No, you can't decide who gets your seat, it'll go to the next person if you don't want it!" The woman obviously wasn't happy about this, and argued for several minutes. She tried gaining the support of the crowd, directing at them "You guys don't mind, do you? It's her birthday!" She got a couple of faint signs of approval but most of the crowd realised by this time that there was still a chance of getting a seat and they all wanted it. I don't remember who ended up with the last seat but it was just a random person from the crowd. The couple did offer the birthday girl a place to stay and took out for dinner though, so I guess it was kind of a happy ending.
By the time the Miami flight left, the Raleigh flight was showing a delay of almost two hours, but at least it was still running because the plane was coming in from Nashville, which wasn't affected by the weather. The pilots turned up early and did a great job answering passengers' questions and keeping everyone entertained. At around 8pm we boarded and after all of that I couldn't believe that the flight was only half full!
Flight 3: AA3469 Washington DC (Reagan) - Raleigh/Durham
Embraer 145 | N856AE
Operated by American Eagle
Departure time: 18.15 (Actual: 20:30)
Arrival time: 19:15 (Actual: 21:35)
Only economy was available on this flight but by this point I didn't care; I was just happy to be getting out of Washington. It was quite a small plane with a 1x2 configuration. As we departed it was dark and snowing heavily, and you could hear fellow passengers saying "That runway doesn't look too good" but it must have been okay if they were allowing flights to use it. Because of the poor visibility and the taxiway markings being covered in snow, ATC were carefully guiding all aircraft on the ground, which is good, but meant we had to wait for ages before we could push back. We then had to be de-iced for obvious reasons, delaying the flight further.
Eventually we took off and although the puddle jumper was thrown around a fair bit at first, the rest of the flight was actually relatively smooth. The single flight attendant, who looked like she had also had a long day, served drinks to everyone. As we descended into Raleigh there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a world away from what we had just left, however my poor luck would continue.
We got off the plane in Raleigh-Durham Airport at around 9.40pm and it was quite clear that I had missed the flight to Miami. I tried to find an American Airlines employee on the ground but everyone had already packed up and gone home. My baggage, which was tagged to Miami, popped out at the baggage carousel, and I didn't know what to do at this point. I would have expected American Airlines to put me up at a hotel for the night, or at the very least tell me what was going on, but I got absolutely zero correspondence from them. I asked a lady at the information desk how I could contact the airline and she said "Don't bother ringing them, you won't be able to get through. You'll just have to wait for them to turn up at 4am tomorrow morning."
I don't mean to sound like a DYKWIA, but in my opinion it is totally unacceptable for an airline to treat its customers like this, especially when I had paid for a first class ticket!
I rang the hotels near the airport but they were all full. It probably didn't help that it was the night before Valentine's Day and clearly I wasn't the only person in this situation. I had no choice but to sleep at the airport, so I headed upstairs to the check-in area and found a vacant pair of seats to spend the night.
Luckily Raleigh/Durham Airport does have free wifi and clean bathrooms, and mercifully the constant, repetitive announcements seemed to stop during the night. But that doesn't mean sleeping there was in any way comfortable. Before I got to sleep I tried to call LAN airlines from my mobile regarding the next day's booking but I gave up after being on hold for 10 minutes.
Sleeping at the airport was a low-point of my entire trip. I was so uncomfortable that even though I was exhausted, I slept horribly. I got to sleep a few times but would usually wake up after an hour or so. I wasn't the only person sleeping there, and in fact some people said that they had done the same thing the previous night. Quite a few people seemed to have blankets and pillows, but I couldn't find any and used my backpack as a pillow. Albeit a small one, I think those blankets would have made a difference.
I slept on one of the pairs of seats by the window on the right.
By 3.30am I could no longer sleep so headed over to the American Airlines check-in area and took my place at the front of the priority queue. There were already people waiting in the general queue.
By 4am nothing was happening. Two American employees turned up a little later but apparently there was supposed to be five of them so they were severely understaffed and had difficulty coping with the crowd of people who had arrived by this time. It was almost 4.30 before I got to speak to someone.
I explained to the friendly lady behind the counter what had happened (at this point I was more interested in getting on a flight than complaining so didn't mention that I had slept at the airport) and she said I had a confirmed seat on the 1pm flight to Miami. I explained that this wasn't going to work but she said the 6.55am flight was full and there was nothing she could do. I asked if she could contact LAN and get my flights to Brazil changed and she at least offered to let me use a phone. I had to call three times; the first time the call cut out, the second time I was put on hold and never taken off hold, and the third time I was on the phone for almost an hour. First the guy had to re-issue my ticket because the flights were somehow in the wrong order (wtf?). Then he had to change my flight. To do so, he needed to calculate the "fare difference" but was unable to because there was an error in their system. This was getting ridiculous. After almost an hour he said he would have to call me back. He didn't.
After all this I asked the lady behind the counter which class my 1pm flight would be in and she said "coach". I explained that I had paid for a first class ticket and that this wasn't right. She came back and said that actually there was a seat in first for the 6.55am flight which I could have. (Why didn't the system give that to me in the first place?) I willingly accepted it and was relieved to be able to get out of there that morning, even though I would still miss my connecting flight.
Flight 4: AA955 Raleigh/Durham - Miami
Boeing 737-800
Departure time: 6.55
Arrival time: 9.05
For this flight I was in 3E, an aisle seat in the front row of first class. Unfortunately I felt extremely tired on this flight so didn't take any photos and it's all a bit of a blur.
The first class service on the 737 was probably comparable to domestic business class on one of Qantas' older (non-BSI) 737-800s. I didn't catch the rego but I think the plane would have been 5-10 years old. The seat was covered in cloth (as opposed to leather) and was fairly large and comfortable with decent legroom.
As far as I can remember, the flight was pleasant enough and the service was friendly. We got a "continental breakfast" which consisted of a small plate of fruit, a tiny tub of yoghurt and a choice of croissant or bagel, as well as a choice of drinks. The only in-flight entertainment was some American TV show playing on the overhead screens.
We arrived in Miami on time just after 9am but it was too late; I had already missed my flight to Sao Paolo at 7.40am. American didn't want to know about it as the booking was with LAN.
Based on my experience, I would be unlikely to choose to fly with American Airlines again. I booked a first class ticket expecting exceptional service and expecting to arrive at my destination on Thursday afternoon feeling relaxed. Instead, I had to sleep at an airport, fly half the trip in economy, arrived more than 19 hours late feeling stressed & exhausted and missed my next flight. I know the weather is partly to blame, but that doesn't mean American was faultless.
Now in Miami, I needed to try to get onto another flight. The LAN check-in area was deserted and I couldn't find anyone from the airline to talk to. I went to the information desk and the best they could do was let me use their phone. I called LAN again but once again, they were incredibly unhelpful.
I cannot believe how awful LAN's telephone customer service is. The connection is always terrible; I can barely hear the operator and they can hardly understand me. The calls often cut out randomly too, and I have a feeling that this is a known problem because they have often asked me for a number to call back in case the call drops out.
After three more attempts and around half an hour on the phone I was getting absolutely nowhere, and the man on the other end suggested I visit the LAN ticket office at Miami Airport which would be open. Why didn't he say that half an hour ago??
It took me ages to locate but thankfully I did find the LAN office and finally my luck turned! I explained to the man what had happened and he was the first LAN employee I had spoken to who actually showed some sort of sympathy and realised that the weather was not my fault! The best he could offer was to put me free of charge on a direct flight to Belo Horizonte departing at 11.40pm that night. I was very happy with that.
At this point I had 12 hours to kill and was desperate for a shower and some sleep. I discovered that not only is there no free wifi at Miami International Airport, but no public showers either. I rocked up to the airport hotel and was offered a day room which I could use until 7pm for $95 plus tax. (In total ~AU$119.) With no alternatives I took it. That was the best shower I've had for a while, followed by the best sleep.
During the afternoon I decided that I might as well head downtown and see a little bit of Miami. I'm so glad I did. I took the train which took around half an hour and cost $2.25 each way - excellent value for an airport train service!
The beautiful weather in Miami was a very welcome change - warm and sunny! I headed to Bayfront Park in my T-Shirt and shorts and soaked up the incredible atmosphere. (I hadn't worn a T-shirt & shorts for more than 2 months!) It was Valentine's Day and the whole area was humming. By the waterfront, people were dancing to live Latin-American music and boats sailed gracefully through the beautiful harbour. Palm trees lined the streets and everyone looked happy. It was a whole other world from the cold gloom of Washington DC the previous day. It seems a shame that I only had the chance to spend a few hours there.
My flight that night was another American Airlines flight. I am pleased to say that this flight left and arrived on time, so I did make it to Brazil in the end, albeit half a day late and extremely exhausted.
The full report for this flight will be the start of my South America trip report. When I've written it I will post a link below.
