Vancouver Trip (Part 1) - The Drama

First off, our apologies again for the unusually long delay between posts.  Time can really fly by.  Second, I also apologize for the length of this post.  But I want to vent...

We've been busy since the last time that we posted.  One of the big things (and the subject of likely a few upcoming posts) was that last month we flew up to Vancouver to visit Jen, Sue's sister.  Yep, Whitney's first airplane ride ever was an international one.  Considering that only about 28% of the US population holds a passport, Cruz and Whitney are way ahead of the curve. 

Of course, Whitney's first flight was not without drama.  Buying plane tickets for a family with young kids requires much more thinking then if you're flying, say, solo.  Too early and it means that you'll have to wake up the child(ren) early, which could potentially ruin their day, and thus yours.  Too late and you you're putting the kid(s) down to bed late, which could potentially ruin their next day, and thus yours.  Do you try to accommodate their nap time into the flight?  What part of the plane should you sit in?  The front because it's close to the exit?  The very back because it's close to the galley and lavatory so there's room to toddle in and there are less people to potentially annoy?

So for our flight out we carefully picked one that departed at 11:40 am, landing at 1:55 pm.  We could take off, eat lunch, and then Cruz could take a nap and wake up in Canada.  After numerous Southwest flights, we realized that we like taking seats in the very back row.  There's no one behind you for Cruz to potentially annoy.  And the back is generally less crowded (unless the flight is fully booked).

Of course, all of our great plans were for naught. 

For one, the flight was delayed due to "mechanical issues."  We waited and waited patiently.  Meanwhile they also made an announcement that the flight was overbooked and that they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats.  Eventually we were informed that a replacement plane was coming.  Of course the replacement plane was smaller than the original plane.  The staff at the gate were entirely unprepared for this since apparently a good number of people who had seats, suddenly didn't. 

Having seats in the last row, I went to inquire as to our status and the guy helping me said "yeah, that is a problem.  Stay here and let me find out what's going on."  So I wait, and wait, and next thing you know the guy is at the gate door beginning the check-in process.  What?!  Weren't you just helping me?  

Eventually we get confirmation that we got screwed out of the flight.  Cruz, who had been waiting so patiently was wondering why people were getting onto "his" plane, but he wasn't.  Sue made one of the staff members tell him he wasn't getting on that flight because we didn't have the heart to do so.  There have been few times where Cruz has experienced true disappointment, but this truly was one instance.  After being so patient for hours, after being so good for such a long, long time there was no payoff.  So much for positive reinforcement.  Poor Cruz began to bawl.

I think that because the flight was seriously oversold and no volunteers were coming forward, the corporate office decided to go with the smaller plane.  If you're involuntarily "bumped" from a flight, you're supposed to receive some compensation that could end up being as much as $650/person for domestic flights and $1300/person for international ones... cash. But if a plane is changed to a smaller one for mechanical issues, then they have no obligation for any compensation. SFO is a major hub for this airline and is their primary maintenance base. So I find it a bit too convenient that the replacement plane on a seriously overbooked flight was smaller than the original, thereby freeing up the airline from any need to recompense the bumped passengers when you have 9 hangars, a bunch of Tarmac, and a 2.9 million sq. ft. repair facility that services the whole fleet.

To make matters worse, they erroneously told us that our bags didn't get placed on that plane.  So we wasted another two hours, totally interrupting Cruz' nap time, waiting for them to get our bags, only to find out that they went to Vancouver ahead of us.

So now we're stuck at SFO without our bags and unable to drive back to our place because Cruz' car seat was one of those "bags." The airline at least puts us up in a local hotel but we got rescheduled for a 7:30 am flight the next day, which means that we have to wake up around 4:30 am to get to the airport by 5:30 am, since we're flying internationally.

Luckily Cruz handled everything like a real trooper.  Whitney, being the mellow baby that she is, was fine just so long as she was getting fed.  Cruz was able to sleep in the same hotel room as the rest of us, and didn't wake up when his sister was fed a few hours later.  Lastly, despite going to bed late and having to wake up 2 hours earlier, Cruz woke up just fine.  Maybe the fact that we plopped him in front of the TV as we got ready helped.

Our rescheduled flight was on another carrier, and this one was fantastic.  And finally Cruz got to board a plane again, and Whitney went on her first flight.

Here's a picture of Whitney on her first flight.

And here's what Cruz thinks of United Airlines.