Sunday, December 4, 2011

Airlines are crazy


Above: The Seattle skyline is normally overcast -- lots of drizzle and not too much sun. (Click images to enlarge.)

I was in Illinois for Thanksgiving so could leave to travel to Seattle from St. Louis or Memphis. When I checked the fare, it was $100 cheaper to fly out of Lambert Airport in St. Louis, so I did. When I checked my itinerary, I saw that my return flew from Seattle to Memphis and then a plane change to continue to St. Louis.

Let me get this straight: It's cheaper to fly to Memphis and then St. Louis than it is to fly to Memphis. What's wrong with this picture?

On the return, my flight was to leave at 9:14 a.m. and arrive in St. Louis at 6:09 p.m. They asked for a bump and I volunteered. For this, they gave me a meal and a voucher for $400. Then they put me on a 10 a.m. flight to Salt Lake City (instead of Memphis) connecting to St. Louis. I arrived at 5:30 p.m., forty minutes ahead of when I would have landed.

Let me get this straight: You change my flight to get me in 40 minutes sooner and pay me $400 and feed me? What's wrong with this picture?


Above: Because Dale Chihuly calls the Seattle area home, glass blowing is huge there.


Above: United Parcel Service began in Seattle in 1907 as two nineteen-year-old boys who made deliveries on bicycles and evolved into what it is today. The Waterfall Garden Park is built on the UPS birthplace.


Above: The Pike Place Market as seen from Matt's in the Market restaurant.

Photos taken with my Canon 40D.

11 comments:

  1. Lucky you didn't have an extra bag or you'd be back in the hole.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fascinating post. Great pics of this wonderful city which is full of noted historical events.

    Funny stories about your travel adventures. I've worked for various corporations and it always amazes me when people claim private enterprise operates more efficiently than the government. Can't make such a generalized claim. Must look at each incident separately.

    Corporations screw up as much or more than the government!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sure you're right about "pan." In Spanish, "panera" means "bread box."

    ReplyDelete
  4. i'm sure it's good to be home. it is surely good to see you posting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Same thing happened to me a few years back flying from the midwest to Vegas. Volunteered, got fed, got $500 voucher, flew First Class on later flight - direct, and got to Vegas an hour earlier than planned.

    No wonder the airlines lose money :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Have yet to figure out airlines. My family once went to Orlando from Philly and on the return trip got grounded in Detroit because the plane went from Orlando to Detroit to Philly. If it was surgery that's like doing a tonsilectomy thru the rectum. I do know it's all about who flies where. When Philly was basically monopolized by US Airways friends from Chicago could fly in to Balt and rent a car to drive the 90 min or so to get to my place for less than half the price of flying in to Philly. Changed since Southwest came in

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi MOJO! Starbucks is an enigma to me...the coffee is so strong it could etch paint off a plane and it's so expensive two cups could buy a congressman! So why is it so popular? I dunno. 300 in the Seattle area is incredible. It must be a good place to come in from the rain! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice pictures from my home state. I've seen Chihuly's work all over the world such as the Victoria and Albert museum in London and everytime I visit the Borgata in AC. A visit to the Speghetti Factory is always fun. Interesting story about the plane bump. I once took a $300 voucher and also arrived earlier because my new flight was direct whilst the original flight had a layover; crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Heh heh, very funny.

    And the photos are lovely.

    ReplyDelete