Charlotte, my 19th month old had never flown before. She cried when we got on the plane from Los Angeles to Chicago, but once the plane began to move, she stopped crying. All three people seated in front of us requested to be moved (not that I can really blame them), but after that, she was good the rest of the time. Since Charlotte didn't have her own seat, she even napped on me. When we got to Chicago, since we were not fed on the plane from LA to Cleveland from 9am - 4pm we raced through a meal to get to our gate on time for our flight to leave.
Only when we arrived to our gate there was no agent at the American Eagle gate or a plane. Our flight was to board at 4:30 pm and leave by 5pm. A little while later, an agent for a later flight arrived, and we inquired what was going on with our flight. We were then told, 'the plane was in the hanger but we will let you know when we get more information'. This went on for 2 hours. While we were waiting, the monitors that listed the times of all the flights still said 'On-Time' for our flight. They just kept changing the flight time by about 30 minutes each time the old projected flight time passed. My kids were running around crazy trying to entertain themselves, and I was losing my patience.
Then after about 2 hours, a small plane arrived at our gate. Oddly enough, then they announced that there was 'no flight attendant for our flight', and when they knew where she was they would let us know. Then the attendants began to be very short and upset with all the people asking questions about the flight. This flight was operated by American Eagle since it was a smaller plane from Chicago to our destination. The lack of updates from the agents, led to people inquiring more and more often. I have flown my fair share since I was a young child, but this is the worst airline customer service I had ever experienced. The lack of caring and control was obvious from each person working at the gate. Once an aggravated agent told someone asking about the flight, quite loudly, that the flight would probably be cancelled due to the flight attendant who didn't come to work, since she probably was sick or something, but she couldn't confirm the cancellation at this point. I thought to myself, they won't really cancel the flight like that will they? After losing so much money from the 13,000 flights that were canceled just days earlier due to the storm, you think they would have a little more consideration, right? I was almost ready to freak out. After another hour of waiting they then announced they have found a new flight attendant to take the flight and they would be there at 8:30 pm, and we were all relieved. Until, about five minutes later they announced that the flight was cancelled with no further explanation. They also would not be able to rebook anyone and to call an American Airlines 1-800 number to reschedule our flight with them.
I felt like I was on some sort of a movie. Was this really happening? I was at my wits end, I had two kids crying. One wanting simply to lay down and go to bed, and they other wanting to know why other people near by where getting on planes one after another, while we continued to sit there waiting. My dad was upset but remained more calm then me. Now, normally I would call my husband and vent my frustrations but unfortunately my battery was dead after I had let my kids play on it during the first flight, and my charger I had of course packed in my checked luggage. I had a fit from imagining going to a hotel over night and feeling helpless and upset that my girls had to be dragged though this, but my dad kept on. After all what else could we do? We walked down to the booths for calling the American Airlines 1-800 number and they scheduled us on a flight the next morning, I was ranting about how I would be less than thrilled with leaving the airport. I had been hearing flights leaving for LA constantly during the 4 hours we were waiting, and the thought of going home right then crossed my mind. On our way out of the airport we passed another flight to the same place on American Airlines and we asked to be put on the standby list. We were warned that we would most likely not get on since it was a full flight. As we sat and waited many people came got on the standby list as well, even some that were trying to get on our last flight on standby. After waiting awhile for everyone to board I am glad to say we were able to get on the flight at 9:30pm, which was delayed as well, and we landed just after midnight in Ohio. I have never been so happy to get on a plane in my life! Though I love Chicago and would like to spend more time there someday, I didn't want to do it that way with two kids after the day we had, and then rush back to the airport to leave in a few hours the next day. As the plane began to move my 19 month old said, "Bye Chicago"! I was so proud.
Visiting family is always fun and this time was precious for me. We got to play in the snow, met new cousins, and say goodbye to others. Before we flew back, I had chalked up our bad experience there was weather related, and the after effects that greatly affected business in the Chicago O'Hare airport and people flying.
Crazy as it may sound, our flight back home, was worse. No, not due to flight delays, but because my youngest, cried non stop until she threw up all over me and herself, my dad, and the ladies luggage behind us. Fortunately people were very understanding of our situation, it is awful to be stuck on a plane and have no where to go to comfort your sick baby, or even to change your clothes. I thought possiably she was air sick, until I realized, it was just this flight, this day, it had to be that she had caught the stomach flu some of my family had gotten while we were visiting.
Once we got home, I was glad the trip was over thank goodness, but then on Sunday Jasmine got the same type of stomach flu Charlotte had on the plane home. Today I am feeling kinda queasy too, hope I am not next. One thing that's for sure, is I wont be flying with the girls again any time soon. I am truly sorry for everyone on our flight that had to listen to the crying on and off all the way to LA.
