Bad luck with flying

When it comes to flying, Mat tends to have bad luck. He flies a lot for his job, and while he enjoys flying, there is never a time it isn't a hassle of some sort. Usually it involves delayed planes, lost luggage, spending the night in an airport or layover city.......I don't remember a trip where he hasn't had something.

So - why am I so surprised that this past trip was more of the same. Mat arrived home on Thursday - early Thursday afternoon he calls to say that he is in Utah and his plane has been delayed an hour. This delay meant he was going to miss his connecting flight in Chicago. He has called Delta - the people he was flying with, and because when he got to Chicago - and was changing to a US Airways flight - Delta told him he had to call US Airways. But it was almost time for him to board, and with limited battery on a cell phone, he called me to help.

So I called Us Airway to see what we could do about getting him another flight, but they told me that I needed to call Delta because they were the original airline. I told them what Delta said, but they still insisted. SO......I called Delta back. I got a very nice woman who actually helped me. She gave me a flight for Mat. He was now going to be getting on a flight for American Airlines that he was going to make no problem. The only downside was that he was going to fly into a different airport. Again - not really an issue, because I could just go and pick him up (since my parents were visiting) and it meant he would be coming home as planned.

So we went on with our day, Mat was in the air on his way to Chicago. I get a call from him 30 minutes before his plane is to take off to home. He is standing at the American Airlines gate and he isn't on the flight. American Airlines said that Delta must have never made the switch in the computer, so I just needed to call Delta (super fast) and get it taken care of.

Fine. Except it wasn't.

The guy I got basically told me he couldn't help me. No matter how much I told him (details, confirmation number, etc.) he couldn't find the information in the computer anywhere. He said that Delta wasn't allowed to even do such a thing.

"Well" I told him at one notch below screaming "they did and so you need to fix it". But they wouldn't. I talked to him, his supervisor.....nothing. I didn't get anywhere.

Luckily for Mat - American Airlines was on the ball. The woman at the airport was able to get it all taken care of and Mat on the flight.

So I wrote Delta a nasty letter explaining that Mat wouldn't be flying with them any time in the near future.

I did get a response back almost immediately. And a voucher for a flight.

But we are still not going to do this anytime soon. I just couldn't believe how not helpful they were to us. They were going to let him spend the night in the airport at an added expense - rather than help me get him on a flight. Unreal.

But- it is behind us. Of sorts. He had to fly into a different airport, and with Delta not doing their job, his luggage never left Chicago. That didn't really surprise me, and it was okay. We got to the airport, got a claim ticket for his luggage, and went home very, very late and tired.

Friday after work we drove to the OTHER airport to get his car. In the meantime, I get a phone call (automated) from American Airlines stating that they cannot find his bag. this is not really American Airlines fault, since he was originally with Delta and US Airways. Mat called them, and thinks he had it straightened out.

Until today. He gets a call from a human. Somehow his luggage was put on a United Airlines flight and went to Providence RI. While this isn't that far from us, American Airlines is having trouble GETTING the bag because it isn't on their airline anymore.

Anyone else confused yet? Good.

So the lady basically asked Mat how bad he wanted to ever see his luggage again. But honestly - we need to drive AGAIN to get our own luggage? Sounds a bit insane.

And Mat is leaving again tomorrow to go out of town. (more company for me coming in!!) So when will we ever see it again? I do not know.

Sigh. Nothing can ever be easy. I told him from now on he really needs to take a straight through flight. This is way too insane.

I realized in my last post that I never wrote that Arlington started softball! She really loves it. They are playing indoors once a week right now for practice. It is on Sunday right after church. I am glad she chose to play again this year. So we will be going to practice tomorrow.

Not many pictures this time, I am sorry! I didn't have my camera out much this week. We were so busy each day and not home much. Which was good! I loved being out and about. I am starting to see winter come to an end.

Today Cainan had his second swim lesson. As I was walking him toward his class he kept saying "I'm not ready, I'm not ready!" But he got in - no tears, no fighting. So that was pretty great. He has a death grip on the side, but he is in the water. That is huge.

This afternoon Arlington and I went to see our local high school put on the musical "Into The Woods". This is one of my favorites, and growing up I saw it in NYC. So when I saw the local high school was doing it, Arlington and I decided to go. We have listened to the music a lot. I was a little worried about the second act because it is a little dark, but we talked about it. But then we saw that the matinee today was "kid friendly". What that meant was they were only doing the first act. The happily ever after part of the story. So it worked out perfectly.

Arlington was a bit disappointed she didn't see the rest, but at age 7, I do think it was best in the end. She doesn't need to see yet was happens when fairy tales don't end exactly like you wish they would.

The play was pretty good. Not great, but good for a high school production. There was some definite talent among the girls, but the boys were awful. And the orchestra was really awful. It was all kids, so that didn't help, but.....wow. But it was fun. The first act was 2 hours long, so I am not sure how long it would be all together!!

Then after that, our day was still not over. We had a play date tonight that Gail, Finley's vision teacher, arranged for us. The couple has a 3 year old little boy who has ocular albinism. We actually thought for awhile that Finley might have this. Anyway - he also has services with Gail and BESB, and sees about the same as Finley. Even though they have different diagnosis, I did see a lot of similarities in the way they looked at things.

He was very cute, and his parents were very nice. It was nice to meet another couple who feel the same way we do. As wonderful as our friends and family are, people who are actually going through the same thing are the only ones who really understand how devastated we are. I think that goes for anyone who is going through anything with their kids.

So, we had a nice time. I hope that we can stay connected as our kids get into school when we can bounce ideas off each other. They don't live that far away from us, so it is easy for us to get together.

So now, we are beat. It has been a long day and tomorrow will not be any shorter. Have a great week everyone! With having more company, I won't be doing Making Meals Monday this week because we will be doing easier things.

See you Tuesday!