Advice for Connecting flight passengers.

Travel is such an incredible thing to experience when you go from one place to another and there are some pros and cons about connecting flights versus direct non-stop flights. Although its great to see different airport hubs and to fly with different aircraft, however there can be some stressful yet frustrating moments when it comes to layovers when it comes to delays and even worse, cancellations. It is something that we do not want to hear, but sometimes it is out of our control due to discrepancies with the weather, runway delays, an unruly passenger, late passengers, aircraft issues. Whatever the case maybe.

I am here to give you advice on what to do when you have a flight that is delayed and you have to make it to your next flight within the hour or 2. whatever duration it maybe that cuts very close to your departure time to your final destination. It can be a nerve-wrecking, panicky moment when you hear your flight is delayed for 2 hours and you have to make it to your next flight and you have about an hour or so time gap in between. It makes anybody nervous and anxious.

When you know you are going to be delayed, right away without waiting, go to the desk counter where you see staff from the airline and explain your situation to them that I have I connecting flight, I will not make it for that flight because of the delay. You must do something for me, reissue another boarding pass for a later flight from that Airport hub. When you do that, your flight is automatically protected and they will know you are connecting.

Always show the airline staff your travel itinerary and give them an understanding of your situation. It can save you hassle in the long run and you are secure to arrive to your final destination on the same day. It would be terrible to lose time during your travels due to connecting flight delays.

That is why I mostly recommend people taking direct non-stop flights rather than layovers. I have learned from experience twice and both times were so stressful and my palms were sweating. I know sometimes people have no choice but to have layovers whether or not its one stop, two stop, 3 stop connectors. It is absolutely exhausting to find terminals, gate numbers, and you have to literally run because you are on a tight schedule. I can definitely relate. It is not a pleasant thing to go through, especially when flights are so close with each other in time.

I remember once I had 50-55 minutes to make it to my next flight when I flew to USA. The airports in USA are so spread out and huge, I had to switch terminals because one was from international to domestic, took a shuttle which took about 5-10 minutes to get to, and then followed by a long hallway to my gate and then I had to stop for a bathroom break, then by the time I got to my gate to sit down, not even 1 minute later they started to board my flight. I was completely exhausted, hungry and frustrated. I was almost going to cry. I was by myself which stressed me out even more.

Since then, I have never taken connecting flights and always looked for itineraries which has direct. I don’t care. I will pay more for my airfare, I will not go through what I went through. It was absolutely crazy.

Have you been through nightmares and frustrations with Connecting flights?

Safe travels!

I Will Never Fly With United Airlines Again

On the night of October 18th, 2012, I had embarked on United Airlines from Las Vegas, Nevada to Cleveland Ohio for a layover to where we were supposed to fly to our final destination to Buffalo International airport, which never happened. We were supposed to fly out by 8:30am from Cleveland to make it to Buffalo at almost 10am in the morning, but that never happened. They kept announcing that there is a delay, the plane has not arrived from Newark, New Jersey, and kept making us wait and wait, and then the announced that the plane has arrived, but we have to wait again until 10:30am to board our plane, that never happened either. At this point, people started getting really mad and saying, can’t we just board any plane to buffalo? The Airline personnel were very rude to people, and not being professionals at all, and they were carrying on and laughing, thinking they are all that, while people are sitting around when they are doing nothing for anybody. After that, they asked for 2 volunteers to stay back because of overbooking on a plane. How can a plane be overbooked when seats are assigned? No flight should be overbooked, which I find to be ridiculous and strange. Now, that is not enough, and now United Airlines delayed us again at 12:20pm. Now we all started to get really mad.

These disabled people were also treated with disrespect and were left stranded too. Now I started to get really mad, and I went up to the counter at the gate and I just reeled into them and this man started yelling and the police were called to keep the peace. Now at this point, I got really angry because We needed to get home and our car was left in Buffalo. Now the idiots at the airline counter made another announcement that freaked people out, you don’t announce that the plane is broken and for faulty wiring. They did not handle it in a professional manner at all. They should be fired. You just have to say, due to maintenance issues, we must keep the plane grounded, so we regret to inform you that the flight has been cancelled. that is all they had to say to people. Not the plane is broken. People got freaked out and right away were trying to find alternate travels. Now, here is the part I really hated. They knew what was happening with the plane, so they kept us at the gate for such a long time where we could have found another alternate transportation until then. So another flight would have not been available until Monday, we said NO WAY, were renting a car and driving to Buffalo which took another 4 to 5 hours. So we went back got our luggage and made our journey to the rental car place, got the rental and out we went. It was a very very long day and plus being treated terribly by this airline with no dignity and respect on top of that.

If I don’t have to travel to the United States and take American based Airlines, I will not because United Airlines sucks and I will never travel with them again. I will take other airlines that are not American but then again I have family and friends in the states. The Airline personnel in Cleveland, Ohio are very rude and they laugh at people and give people these looks. Plus paying 25 bucks for checked baggage is a total rip off and they said, they cannot reimburse you for your checked baggage. Are they kidding me? and the planes are so uncomfortable. Everything was perfect up until the last day. It took over 26 hours until we got home. It was crazy and we were dead tired as we never slept a wink. They are such money hungry people and they gave us a joke voucher for 10 bucks  each for breakfast and what did that cover? Barely nothing we had to give them more, and everything is expensive at the airport. It is unbelievable. We were starving and didn’t care. we just ate the breakfast, left to go back to our gate and we still had a delay then cancellation. Then we made friends with other frustrated passengers and we all became a team and started mouthing off and yelling and bickering. I really felt for the girl who broke her ankle in Vegas and had to get home. She was so upset and crying. They didn’t care about her either. What a drama it was. Then they give us 300 bucks each for a voucher to use within one year with another United Airlines flight, but I will never step foot on another United Airlines plane again. United States needs to improve A LOT on Air travel. It sucks and airport and plane travel is no fun anymore!