What Should I Have Done (Airline)
 

Had a travel problem, made a decision, turned out probably wrong. Tell me what the correct decision would have been, given the facts known at the time.

Sat Dec 17. Booked on UA flight 687 PDX-ORD then 987 ORD-CDG. 3+ hour connection in ORD.

Arrive at PDX 2 hours before 687 departure. UA puts everyone on 687 in a separate check in line, informs us that they'll try to help us make connection despite 687's delay. Mechanical has delayed 687's inbound plane leaving SFO. Agent tells me I'll have only 30 minutes to make the connection, moves me to row 10 so I will get off 687 faster, tells me the two gates are currently on the same concourse. I go through security to the gate.

Over the next hour, 687 gets more delayed. The time between its expected arrival in ORD and the scheduled close of boarding of 987 goes to 15 minutes, then 5, then 0. Meanwhile, 987's inbound plane is in the air and running early.

I get a notification on my UA iPhone app, saying that due to the disruption of my trip to Paris, I'm offered a no-charge rebooking, next flight is Sun Dec 18. I stand in the line at the gate to ask agent what I should do, line is 30 deep and moving at 1 person per 10 minutes, if that. Call UA 800 number, on hold 40 minutes. Haven't been able to speak to anyone.

I give up, click the app to be rebooked, and go home. It is about 11:30, maybe 1.5 hours before 687 is now expected to leave. I attend a meeting that I would otherwise have missed, and make plans to see my son's dance performance that I would also have missed.

During the afternoon I keep getting updates on 687 and 987, even though I'm now booked on and checked in to the new flights. 687 ends up landing at ORD at 6:30 pm local, 3.5 hours behind schedule, and arrives at the gate about 30 min after 987 boarding was scheduled to close and also after 987 was scheduled to leave.

But then 987 departure gets delayed, 10 minutes, 25 minutes, 35 minutes. 987 finally leaves the gate 40 min after 687 lands. Which means I could possibly have made the connection after all, assuming 687 got to the gate and unloaded timely, and they'd kept 987's door open.

I am booked for an early flight tomorrow PDX-SFO then a 4+ hour connection to direct SFO-CDG. Get into Paris same time, 1 day later start to a three week vacation.

Knowing what I knew, what should I have done?

I think you did great knowing what you knew. Only difference is a night at home vs. a possible night in an ORD hotel. No point in doing the coulda woulda shoulda game.

Were there later ORD-CDG flights that you could have taken on the same day? If so, the smart move would have been to get to ORD and try to board another flight. You could have also insisted to be rebooked on another airline, such as Delta, to CDG. Now, you run the risk of things going wrong with your first flight again. If you would have made it at least to ORD, that first segment would have been taken care of and no need to worry. The airline should give you meal and hotel vouchers in ORD. Are you United elite? A mechanical is the airline's fault, so its on them to make things right. If you don't have status, they take the easy way out, assuming you don't know how to push back. Now that its too late, write a complaint letter to United and they should give you a minimum of 25,000 United miles into your account.

No later ORD-CDG.

Not elite.

I'll write the complaint letter and see what happens.

I think you did ok. I travel a lot and tend to be decisive early vs waiting on the airline to see what happens. Most of the time it works out for the better, because once things go south they tend to really get sideways in a hurry. Better to control your destiny than leave things to chance.

I probably would've scheduled the original flight to not miss the son's dance thing...

It simply does not work out at times, and throwing your weight around can only do so much.

Head straight to the bar :)???

I did, but due to the snow this week the previous performances, that I had planned to see, were cancelled.

I travel a lot for work, you made the right choice with everything you knew at the time.

Was it paramount that you got to Paris when you were originally scheduled to arrive? If not, no biggie, you avoided a day in a hotel at Ohare possibly and saw your son's event. It's a vacation, I wouldn't stress about it.

Like Richard says, you can write a letter and get some miles most likely.

Sounds like a no harm - no foul situation with an unexpected bonus.

What you could have done is enjoy your son's recital, and let it go.
Enjoy your vacation and relax. That is what they are for.

I had a similar experience the week before: Delta PDX -> MSP -> BOS with 50 minutes in MSP, last flight of the day from MSP. Freezing rain and snow in PDX the previous 30 hours, many cancellations and delays, but the MSP flight was showing on time. Then suddenly a 1-hour delay. The inbound plane was showing as on time on flight tracker, and I could see it parked on the ramp, but no gates were available.

The Delta rep (in the club) booked me on the next morning flight out of MSP but protected my seat on the evening MSP->BOS leg. Watching the flight tracker estimates the arrival and departure times in MSP were hovering right around the same time, but the gate assignments were on opposite ends of MSP.

Plane boarded and got away quickly, pilot said good winds, quick flight. Landed 10 minutes before the BOS plane's scheduled departure, as soon as we landed, re-checked the gate assignments on my phone, now adjacent gate. Doors open 10 minutes after scheduled departure of the BOS flight, sitting in row 1, bolt out the door and sprint to the gate, make the flight and home.

Best part was getting off the plane in Boston, use the phone app to track my bag (naturally didn't make the BOS plane), straight to the baggage office to set up delivery, no waiting.

You did well to re-book. Yesterday was crazed weather all over the northeast. 7 of us were departing deep frozen YUL (Montreal) yesterday morning for various points of the US. 3 guys are still in Montreal this morning. 2 of them were aimed for Chicago. I always, always, always avoid ORD connections in the winter. And anytime it might rain. In other words, I only fly ORD when I am going to Chicago. Ditto Newark.

Ian

Weather wasn't on your side, but maybe you could have gotten on a non-stop from PDX to EWR or JFK (assuming there is such a thing) and then connected to CDG from there?

My wife and I had a similar situation recently when we flew south on Thanksgiving day. Itinerary was EWR to Dulles, on to Savannah, GA. In the morning before leaving for the airport I had a notice from United that the first leg was delayed due to mechanical on the inbound plane. That situation worsened and by the time we were checking in it was obvious we'd miss the connection. Not wanting to spend an evening in a hotel at Dulles, I asked the agent calmly if there was any other way to get us to Savannah (otherwise we miss Thanksgiving Dinner and may as well go home and try again the next day). She found seats on a non-stop EWR to SAV flight (seats were not available when we booked the travel), and we actually got to our destination before the originally scheduled arrival.

Not much point in second guessing your decision now, but in these situations I always ask about alternative itineraries that can deliver me timely to the final destination, even if it means different airlines, or different stops.

This is why for travel in NA, I now drive anywhere within a 10 hour striking distance

Delays happen so often regardless of airline, and they string you along so you sit in the airport all day to that point that you would have arrived by car already.

For cross border flights I burn 3 hrs from my door to the cabin door with security and customs.
Even if the plane is on time I'd be half way there if I drove, and if a storm is coming I can decide at the last minute to leave early and get ahead of it.

Airport to airport one way car rentals are easy as well if you don't want to put the miles on your own vehicle ( although I've seriously been thinking of using my business travel budget to pay for a panamera instead...)

We've had some wonderful travel experiences getting marooned. Return trip from India, my daughter and I got stuck in London for a day. It was great! Another time, whole family got stuck in Amsterdam. Meet another family with a child the same age, and had a lovely time together.

My air travel has been minimal compared to some....but I spent 24 hrs in Atlanta's lovely concourse once, rented a car and drove from Newark's once, and my girlfriend & I came off a Carribbean vacation to spend 12 hrs in Tampa...

Anything under 10 hrs...I'm driving :)

As an airline employee I'd say you lucked out. You had no idea your connecting flight would be delayed and thus "makeable." You chose what seemed to be the best option and will get to Paris at the same time a day later for a three-week vacation. You made your meeting and your son's dance performance. Sounds like the original delay was an unusual gift. This time of year I'd say you made out just fine.

I don't think there is anything you could have done. Also, given the timeline you related, I don't think you would have made the connection at ORD. You likely would have raced to find the door closed with the plane still at the gate or just pulling away. They wouldn't have held the flight for you. Based on your timeline it seems likely you would have gotten to the gate maybe before the plane took off but not before they closed the door to prepare for takeoff. And as any traveler knows, once the door is closed it doesn't open again. You might have made it, but the chances are slim and weren't worth the risk of being stranded in Chicago. Frankly, turning around and starting over is exactly what I would have done.

The only thing I see you might have been able to do differently is to have checked your app to see if the flight was delayed earlier in the day. IF it was showing delayed earlier and IF you had enough advanced notice you MIGHT have been able to reroute before the surge of displaced passengers. Otherwise, if you had your laptop with you at the airport you could have logged into your account on United's web site and seen if you could find an alternative routing. But really, I think you did as well as you could have. When there isn't a plane there just isn't a plane and no amount of arguing with the agents will get one for you if none are available.

You did what I'd do & have done.

What's the complaint?