Oh, glory of the overseas travel. Oh, the familiar sick feeling, when being asked if you are excited to go by somebody who went there for sightseeing and had a good time. She's typically aloof to the fact that you work around the clock for last few weeks to get results to present at a conference, and you are not really looking forward to have two jetlags over the next couple of weeks.
This time there was a new "exciting" twist due to Iceland's volcano ashes endangering airplane travel. And chaos, and airlines waiting out until the last minute to tell you that the flight is canceled.
This morning, my flight was canceled, but it was damn hard to find this out with certainty. It was a joint flight between United (U) and Lufthansa (L). For the 2.5 hours that I was on hold waiting for my next customer service rep, I learned that:
- U had flight status "not departed" on its web page, L had it as "cancelled".
- SFO also had information. This time U had "canceled", and L had no remarks.
- No cancellation notification from U, even though I enrolled in both phone call and an email options.
- This is the best. U had a phone number to call and check the flight info. It was drilled in my brain over the two and a half hours of music, commercials and "helpful" tidbits. I even called it twice. Today, that is, on Saturday morning. Both times I got a message that the flight number so and so is scheduled to depart on time on Friday (a clear lie, btw, it did not take off), and that it's about to land in Europe today (a "time warp"?).
The service rep, when I finally got to her, was quick, emphatic ("nothing is flying today!"), and efficient. That saved the day.
Not that I don't understand that some degree of chaos is bound to happen. But it would've helped enormously to get those automated notification systems working. Then I would not have to call for clarifications.
