4 ms·
In this case there was plenty time to consider how to apply for compensation: in the 2 hours flying back the way we came, in the hour waiting for the luggage, i
by w-m 6y ago
In this case there was plenty time to consider how to apply for compensation: in the 2 hours flying back the way we came, in the hour waiting for the luggage, in the three hours in the line with the other passengers to be booked on another flight, in the hour in the airport shuttle going to the hotel for the night, and another going back to the airport the next morning, in the two hours in the queue for the re-check-in. Also in the two hours in the plane the next day til the turnaround point, hoping to make it a bit further this time around.
Turns out, if you dump a plane with 350 people suddenly onto the three customer service people serving at CDG for United, it becomes quite the shit show. I doubt any of the crew would have preferred this option over continuing to fly to Newark as intended, if they were remotely friendly with the ground crew, or had to serve there themselves.
Fun part was the passengers for other flights walking into the terminal and gazing at the queue of 350 people wrapping around one of these giant blocks at CDG, in wonder. Mood of the people in the queue was not that of the highest enjoyment, though.
- glangdale 6y agoIf my experience with multiple different "oh, sorry, no flight tonight" is anything to go by the ground staff are always completely unprepared for the process of putting people into a hotel. It's as if nothing like this has happened before in the entire history of the airline. You'll have a massive queue with some harried staff member hastily scanning the 3-ring binder seemingly trying to reinvent the process from first principles. The whole process seems to kick off when the first passenger hits the counter, too - not, say, when the airline first knows that this situation is inevitable. I think they are always hoping for a miraculous save ("It turns out half the passengers have old friends in the city they want to overnight with, and the other half got on to other flights with 10 minutes notice, hooray!").
- xwdv 6y agoOr maybe more selfishly, hoping their shift will end and they can go home before the plane gets back. I worked at a company that had this kind of situation once. The product was in shambles, but the shit hadn’t really hit the fan yet. I didn’t want to deal with it, so I did the minimum, collected my paycheck, dodged the issues as much as I could, and finally got out just in time. Literally it felt like the entire building was detonating behind me in a massive explosion as I put on my sunglasses and walked to my car for the last time. Did not look back. Lived to code another day.