Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Goin' to Kansas City - They got some crazy little women there and most of them work at the airport.

So I got done working at Stowers Institute in KC after a day of everything going wrong and just enough time to make it to one of the worst laid out airports in the country. Got off the rental car shuttle but when the driver announced "Terminal B". He didn't mention that Delta is not at the beginning of the concourse but 3/4's of a mile away at the other end.

Signage isn't particularly descriptive either. Consequently I barely made it to my gate in time toooooooooo............wait for 2 hours while mechanics tried usuccessfully to repair the wing flaps. When it was officially a 'mechanical' problem, the Gate Fairies began to work their magic. We all stood in line once more for 45 minutes to see what they could do for us.

"Well Mr. Papp, since you are Double Platinum Purple Gold and Diamond we are going to switch that nasty 1st Class seat on your old plane and get you into Row 38 on this plane and get you out right now. You've got plenty of time in Atlanta to make your connection to Roanoke tonight!"

Well, maybe. Assuming the plane doesn't leave a half hour late and the plane you're trying to catch isn't leaving from C47 and you land at A15 and the damn thing left 10 minutes early anyway. So now I'm in line again, eagerly anticipating the next part of my adventure. No, actually I'm getting pissed at this point. "So how do I get my luggage?"

"You can't Sir. It goes to a secured area and will be put on your plane to Roanoke tomorrow morning, where you will have no access to a hotel room since you are now staying in a flophouse on us in Atlanta tonight. No really, you CAN get your bag, it will just take 6 hours for us to find it assuming it made it onto this plane in the first place, which is unlikely since, in a cost-saving move, Delta is hiring baggage handlers directly from Mrs. Fergusson's 4th grade class in Sussex County Mediocre Minds Elementary. But cheer up. Here is a bag of essentials to cover up the fact that you're one step away from living under a bridge, and it contains a dandy SkyTeam tee shirt so you can advertise to your friends how we took care of you tonight. Have a nice evening."

So I get in another line - this one to wait for a bus to the Courtyard Inn North, only there isn't a bus to Courtyard Inn North, so I ask the driver of the Courtyard Inn South if there is another bus. He says "Yeah, but I'll drop you off myself". So the nice man drops me off in front of the hotel, I give him a couple bucks for going out of his way and walk in waving my airline chit. The clerk looks at it and says "Sir, this is the Country Inn. The Courtyard is across the street". She points to another building. So I walk across the street, but being smarter now, I look at the sign this time. "Wellesley Inn". She pointed across the wrong street!

I give up. So I dumped my laptop and new tee in my room and went down to the "Mexican" restaurant. You don't wanna know..........Hoping to be back someday.

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