Well That Sucked!

So much for having a nice easy return to Buenos Aires. I got a voicemail from American Airlines as soon as I got into the car on the way to the airport informing me that my flight was delayed. I appreciated the phone call, but it did me no good at that point. The bad part was that my 10:10 flight was not due to leave until 3am. ¡Ay Dios Mio! ¡No bueno!

I get there and check in, because I have nothing else to really do, and just kind of wander around. At this point, I still don't have a seat assignment as I booked the Saturday flight on Tuesday of the same week. I paid a lot of money for this last minute booking. Of course when I say 'I', I mean 'work'. But keep this in mind.

I wonder into the little bar next to the gate because they had the Islanders game on. I figured if I'm gonna be stuck I may as well watch some hockey...if you can call what the Islanders play 'hockey'. I wind up hanging out there until it closed because 1, I had no where else to go and 2, Kim rocks! (shout out Kimmy!)

When the gate agents first show up, I run up to get my seat assignment. Of course, it's a middle seat. Not only is my flight 5 hours late, but I have a middle seat. Yuck! I ask the gate agent if there is anything she can do. She said to stop by around 2am when the flight check-in closes, and if someone doesn't check in she could switch my assignment. Kim and I started praying.

2am rolls around and I get called up to the desk with a new seat assignment! She got me any aisle seat - I was happy and very grateful.

We start boarding a few minutes after 2, and I start thinking we may get out a little bit early. Badass! No...I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

Thanks to my helpful new friend Kim, I learned that there was a music group of about 60 kids on the flight. This would explain why the flight was sold out. As I get on the plane (I'm one of the last...cuz honestly, why rush to get on the plane just to sit down and have someone's ass in your face as they try to find overhead room) and I see a handful of these music people at the counter. I could tell because they were all wearing matching t-shirts. Yeah. I held my tongue...barely.

At about 3am, an announcement is made on the plane: the flight is oversold. By 9 passengers. They are asking for volunteers to be bumped.

Let that sink in for a moment. We sat around the airport for 5 hours...and American did not realize that they oversold the flight? Even if they found out by 2am when check-in closed they could have asked before we boarded the plane, right? But when you think about it a little more (as I did amidst an 11-hour flight) it gets better. I was assigned a middle seat, but was given an aisle seat, which means whoever originally had that aisle seat did not check in. That means that the plane was oversold by MORE than 9 people. Further, I paid a TON of money for my seat on Tuesday...which means that I am one of the people that bought a ticket on a sold out flight. Even with the vouchers that American was offering to the people that volunteered to be bumped, there is no way that it cost more than my ticket. American just made money by doing that.

That's all well and good, but here's the part that really ticket me off for that 11-hour flight. By doing all of this stuff, and waiting until the entire plane was boarded to figure out that there just weren't enough seats, they had to then take the bags of the passengers that bumped off of the plane. We didn't leave the gate until 3:50am. After being delayed 5 hours, we were delayed again for almost another hour so American could make a buck. That was unacceptable. I understand delays for equipment issues and weather...I worked for the airlines once-upon-a-time...but this is just plain wrong.

We finally land (the obnoxious, similarly-garbed music group actually CLAPPED for the landing...ugh) and I get off the plane. Thanks to my previous trip, I knew that they weren't too stringent on the "Tourists vs Argentines" separate lines for customs, so I was able to blow by the gaggle of musicians by going on the Residents line. That was nice.

The ride to the hotel was uneventful. I checked in and showered. I'm on the Executive floor of the Sheraton. I'm not sure what that means, but I have a view of the Rio de la Plata this time, which is cool.

I went out after my shower to grab a bite - but the 2 restaurants that I wanted to revisit were both closed (Sunday). I walked around and got some Sprite for the room, then headed back to the good ole Lobby bar for the Turkey Club sandwich. It did not disappoint.

I'm going to bed now. Hopefully my next entry will be more fun and less bitchy.