Airline Anger

I woke up the next morning to see that my flight was cancelled online. I called my mom to see what to do about this, and she said there was a flight with Turkish Airlines I could take that could connect in Chicago and get me to Vancouver instead. Either way Delta should get me on another flight if theirs is canceled, so I went to the airport.

The airline had nothing to offer. They were swamped with people. It seems they could not get enough staff to handle the situation because they all looked flustered. I waited in one line, then another. Finally I was at a desk and I was told that there were no alternative flights I could take that they knew of. Delta doesn't really have affiliates in Istanbul, so all they could do was try to look up a different option I could take and give me a phone number to get a refund.

I had to get home though! I was very angry that the woman barely even looked at her computer before telling me there was nothing they could do. They just wanted to give out sticky notes with a delta 1 800 number, say sorry, and get the next in line. Everyone was agitated! It was not being handled well... there were loads of angry new yorkers trying to get home for Christmas yelling at people, staff yelling back; it was ugly. I'm surprised it didn't turn into a mob.

I told my retarded staff member "helping" me that my mom had looked up a possible connection through Chicago that would get me to my home. She looked it up and went all "Oh! I might have something here!" So my mom was better at finding flights online then the staff. *ugh*

I was told to go to the Turkish Airlines kiosk thing, and just get a refund for the Delta flights later. I went over with this older guy that had talked to me in the line up. He just needed to get to the east coast of the States, but the Delta staff were unable to comprehend this. He was in front of me in line and it was painful to watch because he kept explaining and they just didn't get it.

The Turkish Airlines thing were able to find a flight for me next day for 200 more than what I paid 2 months in advance on Expedia, and this was going to Vancouver which normally costs about 200 more to get to compared to Seattle (where my Delta flights were going). Same day would cost me 5000 or so, the Chicago flight only had first class available which was 2500 plus a connecting flight to Vancouver... this looked like my only choice.

I sucked it up and used the Visa card. I was livid about how I was treated, and so was the American guy. I tried to go online to call my parents at the airport to let them know what was happening, but the internet wasn't free. I got even more mad. The guy and me had anger cigarettes outside, then took the bus back together to Taksim and ate McDonalds. This calmed me down a little. There was an internet cafe across the street so I used it to call my parents, Delta, people at the house, etc.

There was a Brazilian staying over that night at the house, but they said I could stay on the other couch as long as he wasn't creepy haha. Soooo I came back very mad and decided to do the best thing for my nerves: go shopping.

I bought a lamp, a skirt, and I can't remember what else. Sheri came with me shopping and showed me all the little mall plaza things I had missed :) We had a latte and I was feeling better about the situation. I would be going to Vancouver, which was way better than Seattle. It could have been worse!

The Brazilian showed up, and we went to get some food before we went to sleep on our respective couches. At least I would be fresh for the plane this time.