The saga begins - Australia 2007

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Jun 28, 2007

Im supposed to be on a plane right now, happily flying over the Pacific ocean, and arriving in Sydney in a mere 5 hours...but as you can see, instead Im a drafting an e-mail, and therefore by process of elimination, I am not on a plane.

Perhaps everyone is wondering why I am not on a plane, well, it began with a series of unfortunate events, and a weather system located somewhere in Indiana.

I arrived at the Tampa airport as planned and checked in my luggage. I even was able to purchase Economy plus seating for the two long segments of my flight (Chicago to San Fran, and San Fran to Sydney). I got onto the flight from Tampa to Chicago and then the problems began. Apparently there was some weather in and around Chicago, which if course caused the Chicago O'Hare airport to shut down. So, our particular plane was diverted to the Cincinnati airport (which did you know is actually located in the state of Kentucky...) and there we sat, with no gate, on the tarmac, like a parked plane full of fun, for about four hours. Those of us with handheld devices, (thank goodness for the new blackberry toy), were able to get some information, but basically, Chicago was on a ground halt and we were stuck. If we did get a gate, and the pilots got off the plane, they would have to cancel it due to FAA regulations, but as long as we stayed in our little cocoon of flight 1501, we would hopefully get to actually take off again. Well, four hours later - we did...finally on our way to Chicago.

My big flight to Sydney actually originated in Chicago (flight 863) and was listed as having one stop on the way. What United didn't explain right away is that there was an equipment change to be had in San Francisco and even though I actually made the connection to Flight 863 from Chicago to Sydney, I was not going to make it onto the new plane in San Fran. This is further confused by the fact that San Fran is not a city listed on my itinerary anywhere, and it was essentially just a quick stop on my trip to change equipment to a bigger plane.

As you may have guessed by now, I am in San Francisco, with no luggage and with no idea when I am getting out of here. See, there is only one flight a day leaving from SF to Sydney, and it leaves at 1045 pm, and apparently the one this evening is overbooked (at least according to what they keep telling me). I apparently was confirmed on the flight leaving on Friday night, 48 hours after my original booking. UGHGHGH!

But, I will say this, thank goodness for a good travel agent (Terri) and for travel insurance. I just got off the phone with United and now know that I am CONFIRMED on the flight leaving tonight at 1045 and they upsold me to business class. I guess the $119.00 I spent on Economy plus is probably worth it. LOL. I will see if I can apply that to the trip back.


Talk to everyone later, hopefully from down under.


Elizabeth

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