Life with the airlines...

I've decided the once romantic time of boarding a flight, enjoying the ride and being treated like royalty is over. It is merely a way of mass transit where the airline can cite weather as an excuse to really mess up plans. This year has been the worst in regards to airlines, lost luggage, canceled flights and nasty employees.

I suppose we get to experience the joys of flying more than most as my husband's job demands he fly nearly every two weeks and tonights flight was the icing on the cake. As I type he is crawling into a rental car in order to make it home on time to watch me graduate.

He left Saskatoon Canada this morning on an Air Canda flight to Toronto - flight went as planned and all was well. The flight from Toronto to Chicago O'Hare was a bit different. Originally he was to leave Toronto at 5:25 pm - they boarded the plane and sat. Sat and sat some more. Needless to say the flight that was supposed to arrive in Chicago at 6:12 pm arrived at 11:05 pm. The connecting flight from O'Hare rescheduled to go out at 1:32 am - for a 3:15 arrival - canceled. My husband was rebooked on a flight out of Chicago at 7:40 am - to arrive in Grand Rapids at 9:30 - for arrival at my graduation by, let's say 10:30. Hummm...

I get fed up. I get fed up the airlines can jack up the prices, stop giving you food, make you pay $2.00 for a short can of Pringles, and limit your luggage. I get fed up we have to out of pocket come up with another $150.00 to get my husband home - something I thought the airlines had a contracted obligation to do....which...because it is raining, they can't.

The best airline story comes from this past spring when my husband's flight was canceled because it was reported Grand Rapids had two inches of ice and slush on the runway. It was sunny and not a cloud in the sky...and no slush either. Yet, because it was "reported" it was weather related, no compensation could be given.

It is a crime and in most cases, when you have bad service you can make a choice - yet, we are actually held captive here because we cannot make the choices about which airlines the company decides to book. We do not have a choice of which airlines fly what routes at what times and where they can fly into (Southwest...why can't you fly out of and into GRR). We are just cattle, being driven from one gate to another...waiting and hoping...to arrive to our destination on time.

I could live with the fact my husband may not make my graduation. I really could - but what if I were getting married or what if I were having major surgery? There are so many reasons people travel and try to get where they are going...what happens when the airline messes up the plans? Why do we have to put up with it and just say oh well?

I'm not sure what the answers are. Maybe we have come to expect too much - maybe we are a society that demands instant gratification and we demand to be able to get from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time. Yet, if the airlines can't deliver, they shouldn't operate on false pretenses.

So - with the pouring rain and a full size rental truck, I've turned the porch lights on and expect my husband - who has been traveling since 7:00 am this morning to arrive about in about 6 hours....24 hours after his journey started. Funny thing, I could've driven to Toronto and back by now.....

Harbor lights...they are shining bright....make it home safe my dear.