What a way to end a year...
I live in Ottawa. This month we have been getting hit by a lot of snow, and I mean a lot, even for Ottawa, even for this time of year. Normally this
wouldn't be bad, however because of various and sundry cockups on the municipal politics level the entire bus system is on
strike.
Ha ha! And here I am without a car or even a driver's liscense and almost an hour away from work (which is clear on the other side of the city and Ottawa
is one of those amaglamated spread out cities) AND its basically freezing cold and blowing snow all the time here. This is a problem when even the grocery
store is a good fifteen minutes walk away (one way). Normally I don't mind walking to/from the store, but hey somtimes when the tempertaure hits -16
(celsius) you just want to get a bus home or something.
And of course, getting to work has been murder. It's a fifty dollar cab ride one way and when they moved the offices last year everyone picked up and moved
across the city to be near it (me, being stupid and wanting to save money, ended up moving about as far from the office as possible while staying in the same
city). I ended up missing four days of work over the course of a week and a half there.
He he.
But, salvation was on its way. back in September I had booked my vacation time for the last two weeks of December (god love a cluster of holidays which allows
me to turn six vacation days into two weeks off). I had plane tickets back home to the East Coast so I could visit my father, grandmother and other family
person. Two weeks of relaxation. And it couldn't come at a better time! I could subsit off leftover and clean out my fridge and cupboards instead of
walking to and from the store in the freezing cold, and not have to worry about getting a ride to and from work as well. Every indication was that the bus
strike would be over come January.
He he ha ha...
So what happen when I get to the airport. Of course, there are delays. Okay, delays I can accept. Delays I can deal with. Its the holidays, its cold, its
snowing... I can live with these things. Then the dreaded happens. Cancelation.
Yup, some storm front coming up through Toronto for some reason cancels my flight from Ottawa to Halifax. Okay. Fine.
I book flights early for just this reason. I can go on standby on a flight the next day. Go home, get some rest, eat the last packet of Mr Noodle in my
cupboard. Everything is still fine.
Get up. Shower. Call a cab. Wait two hours for cab (bus strike again). Get to airport for 7AM departure.
Oops. Seems that Halifax has 140km/h winds and frozen runways.
First flight gets delayed, delayed, delayed. Canceled.
No problem. I can cope. Go to back to baggage carousel, collect suitcase, go to ticket agent, get put on next available flight. Surely these conditions can not
hold out all day.
Next flight, set for noon. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed. Canceled.
Okay. Aaron has been in the airport for (minus time last night for sleeping at home) approximately 12 hours now. Is beginning to hate that god damn waterfall,
as he goes and waits to collect his baggage. He then books on the next flight out at 1PM.
So, this one gets delayed as well. But wait! Hope! Two other airlines are now sending flights to Halifax. They apologise for the delay but they are boarding!
Aaron begins to feel an inkling of hope.
But Aaron forgets. Aaron is booked on Air Canada.
Ha ha.
So, 1PM comes and flight is delayed until 2PM. Aaron can live with that. At 1:45 Aaron looks up from his laptop and notes that the board next to his gate no
longer has details about his flight. Oh, it seems that they changed the gate without announcing it to anyone. To the
gate that is literally the furthest gate on the concourse from the
gate I am ate. Okay. Trudge over to other gate, booking it. Oops. Gotta stop and call father, inform him of delays yet again. Get to other gate.
All the passengers are there. The board says my flight has been delayed again (to 3PM) but that's okay. Of course, there are no Air Canada people at the
gate. In fact, I can find no Air Canada employees anywhere in the concourse. The only Air Canada employees I can see are the extremely busy ones at the
ticket/check-in kiosks out in the check-in zone (which Aaron can not get to because he, like a fool, has already gone through security).
So 5PM comes. The boards in the concourse still say my flight is set for 3PM. Cross fingers. Consider what kind of benevolent being atheists are supposed to
pray to during spare time. No Air Canada stewards show up at the gate. None. 3PM comes. 3PM goes. 3:15PM goes. The board now says my plane has departed from my
gate five minutes ago, which is an amazing feat considering I was standing there and saw 1: no plane pull up to the gate 2: no crew get on said plane and (most
importanly) 3: no me getting on that plane.
3:30PM. Paranoia is beginning to set in. There are perhaps a hundred passengers in the gate area, milling about, trying to deal with children, confused, tired
and angry. They have no idea what is going on. Aaron is walking up and down the concourse. Finally he finds a flight to Montreal with an Air Canade logo. He
proceeds to harass the poor lady (in an even but forceful tone) about his flight, or lack thereof.
"I'm sorry sir, I have no information about that flight!" in an extremely chipper tone. "But I'll let them know about your
problem!"
It is 4PM before an Air Canada employee shows up at our gate. Everyone is still confused. We have been engaging in the primary activity of all large groups of
people, spreading rumors and complaining about our rumors. Air Canada has abandoned us, say some. Everyone else is flying to Halifax but Air Canada, say
others. There was masive mid-air collision in those 140km/h winds over Halifax, say yet another. Air Canada is going to hold a press conference. The boards in
Halifax say this. The website says this. But wait, I have text messages from Air Canada that say the flight is delayed again!
An extremely harried looking middle-aged Pakastani woman shows up in an Air Canada uniform. "What are you all doing here?" she asks.
We explain out situation. Some louder and ruder than others. Everyone is talking at once. The lady tries to remain professional. She informs us that the flight
is canceled. We should all go home and rebook our flights on the next available flight out. Some of us suggest that this would have been good information to
know an hour or two ago, back when there might have been a chance to get on a flight before Christmas (oh, and we might have gotten through the two hour long
hold the Air Canada reservations line has become by now). We ask about the rumors there is supposed to be some sort of conference or press meeting or
something...
Finally she snaps. "You can go home or you can go wait in the check-in line, I don't care. But you have to leave here and collect your baggage
outside!"
(Being Canadian, I feel the need to point out that one nice old lady promptly thanked the harried looking Pakastani woman for exploding at us in such a civil
fashion)
Okay, we all trudge back to the baggage collection zone (Aaron now officially hates that damn waterfall), collect our bags. We go up to the info desk and start
harassing the poor employees there (but in a civilised one at a time manner this time, its very Canadian). He (an employee of the airport, not Air Canada)
calmly tells us that there is going to be a general announcement at 5PM about the whole flight situation. The Air Canada Guy (his exact position is never
given, he is just refered to as The Guy or He in a Very Important Tone) is on a conference call. Being Canadian we are mollifed. There is a conference call occuring. There will be a general announcement.
So we sit around like monkeys with sticks up our butts for and hour. There are, of course, no seats in the check in area (well, there are but they are all
taken by mothers with extremely young children). We sit on our luggage (those of us who have it, apparently Air Canada managed to misplace half the luggage due
to yesterday's storm). 5PM comes and goes. We begin to feel a little restless.
An extremely nice young woman arrives. She has a Very Official Lookign Pin on her lapel. She si from Air Canada. She begins to tell us that Things Are Under
Control. The all important conference call is just taking longer than expected. There is talk of getting another plane
out. There is talk of chatering buses.
Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above. Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above.
Food voucher are given out.
Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above.
Oh wait! We get to line up and get a head count. They are surely not going to count how many people need to get to Halifax without actually providing some
transport.
Time passes. The crowd in front of the info desk has grown, mutated. It is now a sprawling mass. The info desk is now our land. People are spread out on
blankets. Someone is playing a bongo, another a guitar. People are watching movies on each others laptops. New friendships are forged in the crucible of mutual
crisis. I see no less than five unexpected old friend reunions as people traveling to other destinations end up bumping into each other (this is helped by the
fact our group of airfrieght refugees has swallowed the only viable path to the security checkin for flights that are still going places and thus navigating
the airport has become some sort of strange saloom course of human obstacles).
I wait. Consume sugary liquids. Eat fast food. Spend a lot of time looking at the Virgin store thinking I should buy a CD for some reason.
Time passes. Fifteen minute "nope, no change yet, but keep on waiting!" announcements are made.
Eventually hope of hope, an actual change. They have a plane. It is in Vancouver. That is right, they are going to
solve our problem of getting to Halifax by summoning help from the exact opposite side of the goddamn continenet.
Ha ha.
The plane will arrive at one AM. It will only have 120 seats. Priority will be given to the first people canceled.
"ha!" I think. "I have been here a logn time, surely I will get a seat!"
But I forgot, I am booked on Air Canada.
You see, when I canceled my flight and rebooked on standby I was now officially considered a passenger on the later flight. And then I did it again, on a later
flight. That is right, thanks to the miracle of modern bureaucracy my attempt to actively solve my problem has, in fact, prevented me from solving my problem.
HAHA!
So, I talk to the nice lady who has taken over the Info Desk. She informs me in no uncertain (but very polite terms) that my options are 1: go home, rebook my
flight or 2: stay here overnight and not get to fly out tomorrow anyway and THEN go home and rebook my flight for an even later date.
Being Canadian, I thank her for this and go home (cab ride money vanishing prana!).
I wait on hold with Air Canada for two and a half hours ("It should have died down by the time you get
home!" she said). Hey joe, geuss what. The next available flight back is 4PM Dec 26th.
My return flight is booked for the 29th.
Fuck that bullshit. Fuck it up the ass.
After fifteen minutes of bitching and complaining I manage to get credit for my ticket. I can book a flight anytime up to a year from now with that credit and
new rebooking fee.
Being Canadian, I thank them for this.
Hang up. Look around.
Wonder what I am supposed to do for the next two weeks with no bus service and no food in my house.
------------------
Epsilon
The answer of course is "Bitch on the internet."
I live in Ottawa. This month we have been getting hit by a lot of snow, and I mean a lot, even for Ottawa, even for this time of year. Normally this
wouldn't be bad, however because of various and sundry cockups on the municipal politics level the entire bus system is on
strike.
Ha ha! And here I am without a car or even a driver's liscense and almost an hour away from work (which is clear on the other side of the city and Ottawa
is one of those amaglamated spread out cities) AND its basically freezing cold and blowing snow all the time here. This is a problem when even the grocery
store is a good fifteen minutes walk away (one way). Normally I don't mind walking to/from the store, but hey somtimes when the tempertaure hits -16
(celsius) you just want to get a bus home or something.
And of course, getting to work has been murder. It's a fifty dollar cab ride one way and when they moved the offices last year everyone picked up and moved
across the city to be near it (me, being stupid and wanting to save money, ended up moving about as far from the office as possible while staying in the same
city). I ended up missing four days of work over the course of a week and a half there.
He he.
But, salvation was on its way. back in September I had booked my vacation time for the last two weeks of December (god love a cluster of holidays which allows
me to turn six vacation days into two weeks off). I had plane tickets back home to the East Coast so I could visit my father, grandmother and other family
person. Two weeks of relaxation. And it couldn't come at a better time! I could subsit off leftover and clean out my fridge and cupboards instead of
walking to and from the store in the freezing cold, and not have to worry about getting a ride to and from work as well. Every indication was that the bus
strike would be over come January.
He he ha ha...
So what happen when I get to the airport. Of course, there are delays. Okay, delays I can accept. Delays I can deal with. Its the holidays, its cold, its
snowing... I can live with these things. Then the dreaded happens. Cancelation.
Yup, some storm front coming up through Toronto for some reason cancels my flight from Ottawa to Halifax. Okay. Fine.
I book flights early for just this reason. I can go on standby on a flight the next day. Go home, get some rest, eat the last packet of Mr Noodle in my
cupboard. Everything is still fine.
Get up. Shower. Call a cab. Wait two hours for cab (bus strike again). Get to airport for 7AM departure.
Oops. Seems that Halifax has 140km/h winds and frozen runways.
First flight gets delayed, delayed, delayed. Canceled.
No problem. I can cope. Go to back to baggage carousel, collect suitcase, go to ticket agent, get put on next available flight. Surely these conditions can not
hold out all day.
Next flight, set for noon. Delayed. Delayed. Delayed. Canceled.
Okay. Aaron has been in the airport for (minus time last night for sleeping at home) approximately 12 hours now. Is beginning to hate that god damn waterfall,
as he goes and waits to collect his baggage. He then books on the next flight out at 1PM.
So, this one gets delayed as well. But wait! Hope! Two other airlines are now sending flights to Halifax. They apologise for the delay but they are boarding!
Aaron begins to feel an inkling of hope.
But Aaron forgets. Aaron is booked on Air Canada.
Ha ha.
So, 1PM comes and flight is delayed until 2PM. Aaron can live with that. At 1:45 Aaron looks up from his laptop and notes that the board next to his gate no
longer has details about his flight. Oh, it seems that they changed the gate without announcing it to anyone. To the
gate that is literally the furthest gate on the concourse from the
gate I am ate. Okay. Trudge over to other gate, booking it. Oops. Gotta stop and call father, inform him of delays yet again. Get to other gate.
All the passengers are there. The board says my flight has been delayed again (to 3PM) but that's okay. Of course, there are no Air Canada people at the
gate. In fact, I can find no Air Canada employees anywhere in the concourse. The only Air Canada employees I can see are the extremely busy ones at the
ticket/check-in kiosks out in the check-in zone (which Aaron can not get to because he, like a fool, has already gone through security).
So 5PM comes. The boards in the concourse still say my flight is set for 3PM. Cross fingers. Consider what kind of benevolent being atheists are supposed to
pray to during spare time. No Air Canada stewards show up at the gate. None. 3PM comes. 3PM goes. 3:15PM goes. The board now says my plane has departed from my
gate five minutes ago, which is an amazing feat considering I was standing there and saw 1: no plane pull up to the gate 2: no crew get on said plane and (most
importanly) 3: no me getting on that plane.
3:30PM. Paranoia is beginning to set in. There are perhaps a hundred passengers in the gate area, milling about, trying to deal with children, confused, tired
and angry. They have no idea what is going on. Aaron is walking up and down the concourse. Finally he finds a flight to Montreal with an Air Canade logo. He
proceeds to harass the poor lady (in an even but forceful tone) about his flight, or lack thereof.
"I'm sorry sir, I have no information about that flight!" in an extremely chipper tone. "But I'll let them know about your
problem!"
It is 4PM before an Air Canada employee shows up at our gate. Everyone is still confused. We have been engaging in the primary activity of all large groups of
people, spreading rumors and complaining about our rumors. Air Canada has abandoned us, say some. Everyone else is flying to Halifax but Air Canada, say
others. There was masive mid-air collision in those 140km/h winds over Halifax, say yet another. Air Canada is going to hold a press conference. The boards in
Halifax say this. The website says this. But wait, I have text messages from Air Canada that say the flight is delayed again!
An extremely harried looking middle-aged Pakastani woman shows up in an Air Canada uniform. "What are you all doing here?" she asks.
We explain out situation. Some louder and ruder than others. Everyone is talking at once. The lady tries to remain professional. She informs us that the flight
is canceled. We should all go home and rebook our flights on the next available flight out. Some of us suggest that this would have been good information to
know an hour or two ago, back when there might have been a chance to get on a flight before Christmas (oh, and we might have gotten through the two hour long
hold the Air Canada reservations line has become by now). We ask about the rumors there is supposed to be some sort of conference or press meeting or
something...
Finally she snaps. "You can go home or you can go wait in the check-in line, I don't care. But you have to leave here and collect your baggage
outside!"
(Being Canadian, I feel the need to point out that one nice old lady promptly thanked the harried looking Pakastani woman for exploding at us in such a civil
fashion)
Okay, we all trudge back to the baggage collection zone (Aaron now officially hates that damn waterfall), collect our bags. We go up to the info desk and start
harassing the poor employees there (but in a civilised one at a time manner this time, its very Canadian). He (an employee of the airport, not Air Canada)
calmly tells us that there is going to be a general announcement at 5PM about the whole flight situation. The Air Canada Guy (his exact position is never
given, he is just refered to as The Guy or He in a Very Important Tone) is on a conference call. Being Canadian we are mollifed. There is a conference call occuring. There will be a general announcement.
So we sit around like monkeys with sticks up our butts for and hour. There are, of course, no seats in the check in area (well, there are but they are all
taken by mothers with extremely young children). We sit on our luggage (those of us who have it, apparently Air Canada managed to misplace half the luggage due
to yesterday's storm). 5PM comes and goes. We begin to feel a little restless.
An extremely nice young woman arrives. She has a Very Official Lookign Pin on her lapel. She si from Air Canada. She begins to tell us that Things Are Under
Control. The all important conference call is just taking longer than expected. There is talk of getting another plane
out. There is talk of chatering buses.
Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above. Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above.
Food voucher are given out.
Fifteen minutes pass. Repeat above.
Oh wait! We get to line up and get a head count. They are surely not going to count how many people need to get to Halifax without actually providing some
transport.
Time passes. The crowd in front of the info desk has grown, mutated. It is now a sprawling mass. The info desk is now our land. People are spread out on
blankets. Someone is playing a bongo, another a guitar. People are watching movies on each others laptops. New friendships are forged in the crucible of mutual
crisis. I see no less than five unexpected old friend reunions as people traveling to other destinations end up bumping into each other (this is helped by the
fact our group of airfrieght refugees has swallowed the only viable path to the security checkin for flights that are still going places and thus navigating
the airport has become some sort of strange saloom course of human obstacles).
I wait. Consume sugary liquids. Eat fast food. Spend a lot of time looking at the Virgin store thinking I should buy a CD for some reason.
Time passes. Fifteen minute "nope, no change yet, but keep on waiting!" announcements are made.
Eventually hope of hope, an actual change. They have a plane. It is in Vancouver. That is right, they are going to
solve our problem of getting to Halifax by summoning help from the exact opposite side of the goddamn continenet.
Ha ha.
The plane will arrive at one AM. It will only have 120 seats. Priority will be given to the first people canceled.
"ha!" I think. "I have been here a logn time, surely I will get a seat!"
But I forgot, I am booked on Air Canada.
You see, when I canceled my flight and rebooked on standby I was now officially considered a passenger on the later flight. And then I did it again, on a later
flight. That is right, thanks to the miracle of modern bureaucracy my attempt to actively solve my problem has, in fact, prevented me from solving my problem.
HAHA!
So, I talk to the nice lady who has taken over the Info Desk. She informs me in no uncertain (but very polite terms) that my options are 1: go home, rebook my
flight or 2: stay here overnight and not get to fly out tomorrow anyway and THEN go home and rebook my flight for an even later date.
Being Canadian, I thank her for this and go home (cab ride money vanishing prana!).
I wait on hold with Air Canada for two and a half hours ("It should have died down by the time you get
home!" she said). Hey joe, geuss what. The next available flight back is 4PM Dec 26th.
My return flight is booked for the 29th.
Fuck that bullshit. Fuck it up the ass.
After fifteen minutes of bitching and complaining I manage to get credit for my ticket. I can book a flight anytime up to a year from now with that credit and
new rebooking fee.
Being Canadian, I thank them for this.
Hang up. Look around.
Wonder what I am supposed to do for the next two weeks with no bus service and no food in my house.
------------------
Epsilon
The answer of course is "Bitch on the internet."