TOD: Worst travel ever -- "might" have been the 36 hours of transit time between Naples, Italy, and Greenville, South Carolina, that I endured in August 1975.
But no...at least I was fed and kept comfortable even with unseemly delays, some due to an international ATC strike.
No, the worst flight debacle I ever experienced was on the final leg of a trip home in December when I was supposed to depart Atlanta on a Delta-contracted flight to Augusta GA. This was eight or nine years ago. The terminal for the flight was full of folks, including two captains who worked for the airlines. After announcements telling us not to worry -- that the flight would be boarding "momentarily" (these announcements coming well after we were to have departed). Finally, we were told the flight was cancelled. The airlines was sorry for our inconvenience.
I went up to the counter expecting to hear what they were going to do for us, but I discovered the flight's personnel were departing.
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "What are you going to do about getting us to Augusta?"
The two people exchanged curious glances and then asked me what I expected.
I said I expected them to attend to assiting all of us in getting connections to Augusta. I expected them to, at a minimum, arrange for us to have hotel rooms and a meal for the night and a new flight the next day. I expected to be treated like a valued customer.
The two captains, who were going home to be with their families, joined the fun and said they expected the same thing I did.
We were all given "meal tickets' -- good for $10 worth of grub from any of the airport vendors (which were getting ready to close) -- and asked to remain in the area while they investigated alternate means of transit.
Two hours "after" our flight was to have departed, we were all told we would complete "our flight" on a bus that would leave in "one hour."
This was an evening flight that should have landed in Augusta GA by 9:30 p.m. We didn't leave the Atlanta terminal until nearly 11 p.m.
The bus, bless its heart, had no heat...and the bathroom had not been serviced/cleaned since its last "trip" to who knows where. We were given a few cases of cold drinks, too, to tide us over.
We were a motley group. We got punch drunk. We laughed a lot. We got into Augusta at about 1:30 a.m. We yelled at the bus driver that we wanted to be let out at one of the airline gates so that we could properly arrive at the airport. Instead, we were dropped off at the main entrance.
It was not a pretty sight, that bunch of us scrambling for our luggage in front of an airport at 1:45 a.m. on a cold December morning.
The next day, I called Delta and demanded that my return flight be modified to eliminate Augusta GA and that horrible Delta connection service and changed to a flight out of Columbia SC. I did not expect to be charged for it, either.
It worked. I wasn't charged. And they flew me first class, to boot.
