Cultural Clash

Our last morning of vacation was pretty relaxing since we did most of our packing the night before. Besides, check out wasn't until 11 and our taxi wouldn't be there until 11:30. That gave us plenty of time to eat breakfast and use up the last few minutes of our Internet time making sure our flight was on-time.

At the airport each bag was opened and checked before you could check in. That line took forever. Or so we thought. The security check fast. Boarding the airplane was fast enough. That was the end of anything fast.

The pilot got on the overhead speaker and told us that there was a small mechanical problem (couldn't get the fuel cap on/off - something minor). It would take a few minutes to repair and then they would have to fill out some paperwork and we would be on our way.

HA!

Mechanics were dispatched and they did their duties and fixed the fuel cap thingy. Paperwork was filled out. The little TV screens came down and the safety video was started. We learned about emergency exits and water "landings" but then the pilot interrupted the riveting safety video.

It turns out that if he flew the plane from Los Cabos, Mexico to San Francisco he would have exceeded the maximum flying time allowed for a pilot in any 24 hour period. Therefore our flight was cancelled.

Cancelled.

Porque?

The Los Cabos airport is tiny. Not just tiny but teeny tiny. There was no way another airline could take us. We were stranded!

OK, we weren't stranded really. Just delayed by a day. United hooked us up with some great accommodations. Accommodations that were just a 15 minute drive from the airport.

Here is where the cultural clash part comes in. I tend to think of myself as more of a type B personality. I found out that in when something goes a little wrong in Mexico I am type A and everyone around me is type B. There should be a rating system for personalities like there is for blood.

A+ An energetic go getter
A- An angry workaholic
B+ A happy go lucky person
B- A lazy sloth of a person
AB+ One who has energy but knows how to chill
AB- eh, I dunno. Can't think of anything for O, either.

So back to my story of frustration.

Unfortunately it would take 3 hours from the time we got off the airplane to get to our nice digs for the evening. Yes, you read that right. It took THREE hours to get our bags and into a taxi and to the hotel 15 minutes away. Time stands still in Mexico. That is a good thing when you are on the beach or swimming in a pool but not when you are waiting for luggage or taxis or flights to leave on time.

At every airport I've ever been to the baggage collection has been the same. Wait at the carousel, look with eager anticipation for each bag birthed through the black rubber flaps to see if it is yours and when, after 20 minutes of let downs, you spy your bag you grab it and figure out the best way to get out of the airport.

That was the procedure the previous Saturday when we arrived in Los Cabos. Our bags were put on the carousel and we took grabbed our respective bags and hopped in waiting taxis to take us to our respective destinations.

On this day however, the fine folks at United wanted to check each of the 153 passengers baggage claim tickets before releasing the luggage to us. While our luggage was being unloaded and lined up against a wall 15 feet away from us they sent out their most soft spoken employee to speak to the masses. The mass of people that was growing grumpier and grumpier with each passing second. They were quick to arrange the accommodations for us, maybe a half hour for that. The soft spoken employee told us, "The first 120 people will stay in hotel X and the rest will stay in hotel Y. The flight tomorrow is at 7 am. We will have buses waiting for you at your hotels at 4:30 am as you will need to be here at 5 am."



She repeated that no less than 50 times and she had the nerve to look annoyed. Could they have not sent out a louder employee? She was not the only one who spoke English. Nerdy.



So... we are standing there waiting for our luggage. The mousy woman is telling everyone to have their baggage claim tickets out. Everyone behind me looks confused because they can't hear her instructions so I hold up my baggage claim tickets and say, "Have these out and ready." Everyone says, "Oh." Then they look confused again because NO ONE EVER USES THEM. So I then hold up the envelope with the tickets where they stapled them. That cleared up confusion about where they were but not about why they wanted us to have them out.



People start getting antsy about an hour into the wait for the luggage that is sitting there, so close yet so far away. People start going to get their bags after 15 minutes of the employees telling us they are going to call names and check tickets without one name being called. United employees balk at the passengers as we storm over to get our bags. We go commando on them and break through the sturdy barrier of red plastic tape and get our bags in a nice and orderly fashion.



With our bags in tow we all go to the front where we are told buses are going to be to take us to our hotels. We go outside and lo and behold there are no buses. We ask, "When will transportation arrive for us?" "Ten to fifteen minutes," we are told.



Ten to fifteen minutes pass, then a few more minutes. We again ask, "Where are the buses?"



Ten to fifteen minutes away.



An hour and a half later we are one of the last of the passengers to get into a taxi van. There are three seats open in front of us. The driver is standing outside the van. Our luggage is loaded in the van. There are other passengers milling about, there are United employees milling about. We are sitting in the taxi waiting to get out of there.



I waive a United employee over. I ask her what our taxi is waiting for. She says, "More passengers." Duh. I say, "Can we just get three more people in here and leave?" She pokes her head in the van and I hear, "uno, dos, tres..." as she takes tally of the people in the van. She turns around and another United employee sticks his head in the van and I hear, "uno, dos, tres..."



(#*%&#@(*&



We only need 3 more people!



It doesn't take 10 minutes to find 3 people to stick in the van. Lame. Finally three more people are loaded up and we are off to the hotel.



The hotel was nice. We check in and try to make a free international call but they were smart enough to not make that a part of our package so Ryan gives the front desk man our credit card information so I can call my friend who is house/dog sitting and let her know what was going on.



By this time it was almost 7 pm. We take advantage of the last bit of warmth and get into our bathing suits and hop in the pool for all of 10 minutes before getting out to eat dinner. Dinner was OK. I had a cold so the food on vacation was at time completely flavorless.



With just a few hours to sleep before our 4 am wake up call we had the lights out at 10 pm. Four am came early especially since Gavin wanted a midnight snack ala Mom at a quarter to 3.



Being the good passengers that we are we were downstairs ready to go by 4:30. We ate a muffin that the hotel provided as our breakfast and I had a cup of coffee.



Other passengers were getting into taxi vans. I was waiting for a big bus to show up. Lots of us were waiting for a big bus to show up. It was nearing 5 am and we realized United lied to us again. There was no bus coming to pick us up. We eventually got into a taxi who told us $25 to go to the airport.



We get to the airport and the taxi driver tries to get $5 a person. There were 9 of us in the van. I don't think so, Mr. Taxi Driver.



We negotiate with him to give him the $25 cab fare between the 9 of us and we see him try to get reimbursed from the airline, too. We let him take it up with the airline but make sure he gets paid. The airline pays him.



At this point we are all really, really grumpy. They stole our day and made us wait at that cursed airport for 3 hours then they don't pick us up like they promised us. To make matters worse for United we had 3 hours to bond with our fellow ticked off passengers the day before, that evening at the hotel, that morning waiting for our transportation, the ride to the airport and finally while waiting in line to have our luggage checked again. We were like a big family all united against United.



At long last we have our bags checked. It was about an hour from the time we arrived at the airport until we had our bags checked. Save our flight the airport was closed. The same crew that helped us the day before was there to help us again. I use the word 'help' very loosely.



Mr. United employee checks us in and gives us our boarding passes. Ryan says, "What about our connecting flight to Seattle?" Mr. United gives us a blank look with a hint of annoyance. "Seattle?"



Ryan, "Yes. Seattle. We were told yesterday that all connecting flights would be taken care of overnight."



Mr. United, "Hmm. No. I don't see anything."



Me: "What?!!! We were told this was going to be taken care of last night. Why wasn't it taken care of? We were promised! Why? Why?" I think I said more but it was incoherent babbling.



Mr. United, "Oh. I see. Seattle. Your connecting flight is at 6:00."



Me and Ryan: "No! 6:00? We have to hang out in the airport all day?!"



Ryan to me: "Don't worry, we'll get an earlier flight when we get in San Francisco."



Mr. United doesn't give us any connecting flight information when Ryan asks for it because he says we will get it in San Francisco.



LIAR.



So we go through security and dump all of our waters even though they allowed us to keep one the day before "for the baby."



7 am comes and goes. All stores are closed. We are growing restless and hungry. The United employees tell us nothing. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7, maybe 7:30. 7:30 comes and goes and still we are waiting in the terminal. We are finally told the pilot is trying to secure food for us on our our less than 3 hour flight.



That nearly brought us to riot stage. Food?! Our flight was delayed another hour for food? It's a nice thought but we just wanted to get out of there.



At 8 am we finally board the plane and the pilot tells us that he thought he had secured food for us the night before by talking to corporate who apparently were less than helpful and really ticked the pilot off. So much so that he has the flight attendants hand out his business card with the CEO's information on it. I think I'm going to send the CEO a link to this post if he wants the full story.



We take off and land in San Francisco. Yipee.



The story is not over yet.



We go to the nearest United counter in hopes of catching an earlier flight. The United employee is very nice but says, "You don't have a connecting flight."



What?



Me to Ryan, "He lied to us! He was just trying to get us out of his hair! Why would he do that? Why? Why?"



Nice United woman looks for another United flight for us. They are all booked so I ask her to check other airlines because Alaska has flights like every hour. They are not only booked the whole rest of the day they are all oversold.



It was at this point I felt tears forming. I tried some self talk, "April, pull it together. Don't cry. Wait, cry! Don't fight it! Cry like there's no tomorrow."



Waterworks ensue with me babbling about my baby (who is crying in my arms), my cats and dog at home with no one to let them out or to feed them. She tells us we can try to fly standby.



If we try standby then our luggage goes to Seattle even if we don't. What do we do then if we don't get on a flight? Besides are we supposed to spend our WHOLE day in the airport in the hopes that we get a flight? I ask for her supervisor. She was very nice but supervisors can do just a little more.



She checked connecting flights and told us there were going to be some close calls and that we had a shot of getting on the 12:41 flight. So we did what any good Christian folk would do and prayed that some people would be a wee bit late for their connecting flight so we could get home since we were already a day late. We were put to the top of the list and we actually made it on that flight!

Now we are trying to go to the website United gave us so we can "select a token of our appreciation for your patience and understanding" (gag) and the site can not be found. Lame.

OK, that's enough for a rant on United. They did get us home safe and with all of our luggage so it could have been worse.