Stranded at JFK: Two scenarios that caused it, plus one that should have saved me but didn't
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 7:28AM ;)
My Delta Flight out of JFK was scheduled to leave at 5:05 PM, so I reasoned that if I set out from the Alaska House guest house at 2:00, I would be in good shape. I think I would have been, too, had it not been for two setbacks - the first a miscalculation on my part and the second a bit of faulty information given to me by one of those guys who sits in little booths in the subway stations to sell tickets and answer questions.
First, my miscalculation: the guest house is very near to the subway station at Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue and so it was my plan to walk there, get on the train and go. Just before I set out, I decided I wanted to know of any train changes I might have to make along the way and so I pulled up HopStop.com. Hopstop allows one to enter his starting and ending points and then it gives directions as to what subway station to go to and what trains to take.
It instructed me to go to a different station, one in the opposite direction than Christopher, but in the actual direction of travel. So I set out for that station, thinking that it might take about 5 minutes to walk, certainly no more than ten. It took closer to 20. Even so, I should have been in decent shape.
Once I got to the station, I went to the booth, manned by an ornery man who likes to make people who do not know as much about the New York subway system as he does feel stupid.
From Hopstop, I knew that I had to take the A train, but I asked him about it and where I should go to most quickly access it. "You go down those stairs and you take the A train - the A train to Far Rockaway," he emphasized authoritatively. "Only that A train. Not the other."
I went down the stairs and found myself on an island between two tracks. To my right, an A train was arriving at that very moment. I looked at the sign above it and it said "A local." I looked to my left, where there was no train at the moment and it said, "A, Far Rockaway."
So I let the A train to the right go without me and waited for one to come in at the left, the A to Far Rockaway, just like the man said.
As I waited, a B and then a C train came in on the track to the right, but no trains on the A to Far Rockaway track. Then another A local came, but still no A Far Rockaway.
Still, the man had said to take the "Far Rockaway" only and, as ornery as he had been, I figured that he knew what he was talking about. That faith would wind up costing me over $350 that I simply cannot afford. I would put it all on a credit card, of course. While at the moment I do not have one concrete paying job set to go in April or anytime in the future and I begin the month with barely enough money to support Margie and I for about one week - as long as we delay paying a few bills that long - there are always prospects out there and perhaps enough good things will happen in the future to allow me to get that credit card bill paid off and make a living, too.
I have been a freelance photographer/writer now for 25 years and I love it - but sometimes I hate it, too.
And to those who have bought into the cynical rumor, started by one who knows better, NO, NO, NO! I am not retired.
I will retire on the day that I die, or become too incapacitated to keep working.
That is the only way that I will retire.
But I grow angry and digress. This does me no good, so I will return to the story:
The cycle of A local and non-A trains on the left track continued unabated, but not a single train showed up on the Far Rockaway track. I began to grow very nervous that I was going to miss my plane if I waited much longer. So, finally, I jumped on an "A local" and asked a savvy looking man if this would get me to Far Rockaway and JFK.
Yes, he said, but I would have to change to a different A at a certain station about 40 minutes away. As to the Far Rockaway train that I had been waiting for - it was shut down for the weekend and that damned, ornery, smart-ass, authority in the booth whose instructions cost me all this lost time and money should have known that.
Suffice it to say, though, that I eventually made it and then found myself on the Airtrain, the last leg to JFK, where I took this image of all the many happy travelers traveling with me. While I knew I was cutting it close, I thought I was still in good shape and would be fine.
;)
When the A Train dropped me off at Terminal 2, where Delta is based, I was a little surprised by the distance still ahead to walk. It was just about 4:00 PM. I was a little worried about what it might be like to go through JFK security, but still figured I would be okay.
So I made the walk, crossed the road, found the elevator, took it up and worked my way through the bustling crowd to the check-in kiosk. I used the "swipe your credit card" card method to check in. At first, the computer did not recognize me, so it asked me a string of questions before it finally figured out who I was and where I was going.
It then asked for the number of bags I would check in. I selected one. It then told me that all bags for this flight had been checked in and no more would be allowed. Did I want to continue? Yes, I did, but when I tried, the computer would not issue me a boarding pass. It told me to go to the "assist kiosk." I checked the time at that moment. 4:10 PM. My flight was scheduled for 5:05. I I had missed the baggage deadline by three, maybe four minutes at most.
Flying out of Anchorage it is never this tight. 4:10 for 5:05 departure would still easily get your bags on the plane and you would make it through security and you would fly.
Getting to the assist kiosk was a tedious, time-consuming process. It seems that many people coming to JFK arrive too late and so the lines were long and packed with frustrated and angry people, trying to get to clerks who were tried, frustrated and angry from having to deal with them all day.
As frustrated and frazzled as I was, I decided that I would be nothing but polite, friendly, and courteous to the poor, frazzled, frustrated, impatient woman who would deal with me, because it was not her fault and nothing that I could do now would change the situation. Nothing would put me on my scheduled flight home.
Indeed, she was impatient. She did not want to explain anything to me and, once she had determined that there was not a single other flight that I could take out that evening, she made it clear that she resented the fact I now expected her to help me find one the next day.
"There's just nothing," she said. Then she looked at me as that was that was that and we were done.
"I have to get home," I told her. "I can't stay here. If you can't get me out tonight, then you have to help me find a flight for tomorrow."
With an expression of great pain and annoyance, she got back into her computer. "I can put you on the same flight tomorrow, but there will be a $200 penalty."
"I have to get home," I reiterated, "but is there anything earlier tomorrow?"
She sighed wearily and then got back into her computer. After a few minutes, she told me should could put me on an earlier departure that would route me through Minneapolis instead of Salt Lake and put me in Anchorage a bit after 6:00 PM instead of 12:54 AM Tuesday morning. This would cost me another $653.
There was no way. I paid the $200 penalty and got rebooked for a 5:05 PM departure Monday, to arrive in Anchorage at 12:54 AM, Tuesday. I left the assit kiosk and headed back to the Airtrain. As I neared it, my phone rang. It was a recorded courtesy call to let me know that my 5:05 flight - the one I had not been allowed to check in for, not the new one that I had rebooked - had been delayed until 5:30.
So, you see, if Delta gave as much thought to its passengers as it does to their money, they could easily have still checked my bag in and put me on that plane and saved me all this time and money.
There was no way that I wanted to face the prospect of working my way back to JFK from Manhattan again Monday, so I booked myself at a Comfort Inn near JFK. I took the above picture from Federal Circle as I waited for the Comfort Inn Shuttle to come and pick me up.
I never get bored, but I got bored last night - only because I was too tired and weary to blog, write emails, work, or do anything. I took a walk. I ate. I called home and talked to all the Easter celebrants - that eased the boredom for awhile, as did this image of Kalib and Muzzy hunting Easter eggs in the back yard, iPhoned to me by Lavina. Wow! Look at what a huge patch of snow has melted away out of the back yard!
I lay on the bed and then stared, bored and bleary eyed, at my motel-room TV, watching nothing complete but different segments from different programs and movies plus bits of news about an earthquake in Mexico, felt strongly in California, among other happenings.
My flight is schedule to leave in just under 6 hours from now. The Comfort Inn lady has given me a late checkout time of 1:00 PM - one hour and 40 minutes from now.
I will go take a short walk, return here, see how much time I have left before checkout, decide what to do with it, then take the shuttle to the airport, check in early, go through security and then just hang out for awhile. I will buy something to eat and take a few pictures - although I already have far more pictures from this trip than I will possibly ever get around to dealing with at any time in my life.
But I will deal with some. Interested readers will see which ones. In the meantime, here is an iPhone image of Kalib and Jobe sent to me by Lavina:
Reader Comments (7)
My sympathies...once, while away from home, we had to make an emergency trip home...the only flight available included a midnight stop at LAX with a 6 am leave time from there. We opted to stay in the gate area until 6 am. It was not a restful nor comfortable time.
There's nothing you can do but get through it. At least the photo of Kalib & Jobe ended the post with a smile. Good luck & it will all be over soon!!
i'm sorry you are going through this, hope your flight will go smoothly today
Hey Bill,
I have been following your trip and experiences this past week. and have enjoyed reading.
You are so right about Delta Airlines, especially since they merged with Northwest Airlines last fall, they only care, as you say about money. As you know, I have over 2 million miles with them, and am regullary on platimum status. If you are late it is going to cost you regardless of your fare basis, If they are late or cancel flights that is your problem too. I wish we had an alternate,but with the government allowing consalatdation to the point where they have little of no competition, they can get away with what ever they want.
I worry about you, and the fact that you have cash problems, I can relate. This past year has been extremely difficult finacially for me and people like me or people in our age group.
there is no income coming in for the first time in almost 30 years, our investments have evaporated, and we are not entitled to government benefits. i would not take any if we were.
As Shu says it will be better tomorrow, I live with that hope for both of us.
Its gonna be good to have you back in AK. Jim looked like he was about to lose it from a severe lack of pets when I was out for Easter yesterday! Give him some good pets for me!
Aww Bill. Traveling can be such a pain. Shame on the transit guy, shame on the Delta assist lady. By now you're in the air, so happy return to Alaska. You deserve some rest.
you just described to perfection all that's wrong with air travel. i was at jfk last november and just dreaded every minute of being in that crowded terminal. however the people that 'served' me were very courteous. i also paid extra for a van ride to the airport so i wouldn't have to go thru the horrors you did of finding it thru public transportation and that awful man you encountered who gave you the wrong information.
well, you certainly have lots to talk about when you get home! kalib and jobe look like twins!