RANT WARNING ~LEVEL 4!~

You may have read my recent Delta rant. I left off another side story I thought I should share.

We recently booked a trip using Skymiles. We only had so many in my Delta account and so many in B’s NWA account so we had to split the bookings. It came back to bite us when we saw the difference. Here is how it broke out:

Same dates.
Same flight.
Same cost.
Same partner airline.
Same everything!

Ok, $180 vs. $45 FOR USING FREQUENT FLIER MILES which should be a free trip may not be that bad except:

1. You can instantly swap NWA for Delta miles, so had I known I could have done all three tix from NWA at $45 each!
2. Delta TOLD me to go book online EXCEPT you can’t book from Taiwan for reward tix online (e.g. multiple phone calls).
3. Delta says it is a partner airline. NWA says it is a partner airline, but only Delta charges.
4. Think you can call Delta and explain this and get your 30k EXTRA MILES YOU HAD TO SPEND WHICH IS 1.5 TICKETS ON NWA BACK? No.
5. Think you can call Delta and explain that THEY ARE THE SAME AIRLINE AND THE SAME FLIGHT AND THEY SHOULD HAVE THE SAME POLICY AS NWA? No.

The sad part is I cannot blame anyone other than myself, because when you actually obtain enough frequent flier miles to use OF COURSE you should then spend hours of internet and phone research to determine the most efficient way to use them, especially when they are being used by the same company! Now I have half a brain (contrary to popular belief) and even I got tricked by this one and I/we travel A LOT. It makes me wonder what other chicanery is going on. I promise you this: if/when we return to the U.S. the U.S. airlines I.T. offices will be heavily targeted by me for a new job as I intend to fix this nonsense. Until then, God Bless Cathay Pacific!

WARNING WARNING – This post is extremely ranty!

Delta, Delta, Delta… What are we gonna do with you? Let me first say that this is the nicest most non-ranting title I could come up with for this post. Some people have asked why I have not been blogging lately? The reason is my Momma. My Momma said, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Hmmm.. come to think of it, she didn’t say don’t TYPE anything at all, and seeing as I need to get this post off my chest before I can post more, here goes:

Delta You Disappoint Me!
The only time I have to fly on Delta is when I travel back to the U.S. thus thank goodness it is not too frequently. I will not bore you with the usual spiel about how the planes are as old as the staff, etc.. instead lets talk about the actual experience.

• expensive ticket
• 14 hour flight
• crossing multiple times zones
  and this is what Delta feels you deserve:

1. $7 drinks – this is for liquor, but at $7 I say you might as well charge me for OJ.
2. No personal movie screen – seriously? I don’t want to watch the same G-rated movie that the rest of the plane enjoys. Nor do I want an infomercial on the U.S. destinations that I can’t fly to since I LIVE IN ASIA, hence this is an International flight!
3. No leg room – I know you may have expanded first class, but it should not have been at the expense of the rest of coach. 14 hours! You should at least get an inch per hour!
4. No manners – Fly Cathay and learn. When the food comes around the stewardesses on Cathay will always politely ask the guy in front of you to raise his seat for the meal. Not so on Delta. I enjoyed each and every (sic) meal with a healthy helping of hair. On the plus side it did allow me to watch my G movie easier with his seat down.
5. No Vanity Kit – let’s see here: 14 hours, 2 meals, no personal entertainment, can we at least get a lil kit that says you love us? No? No socks, no eye mask, no toothpaste and no toothbrush!!!! We can’t bring large tubes of toothpaste on the plane due to security and now you don’t provide it!! Come on.

The Immigration Merry Go Round
I could go on and on but the Internet is running out of HTML. Now add all this up and you get some pretty unhappy passengers. If it was an hour flight up to Raleigh then fine, but this is an International flight. So, I’m tired, haven’t slept, and have the faint taste of hair in my mouth and I enter the Immigration merry go round. It is not Delta’s fault, but I am willing to lay guilt by association. Immigration should be a line. Line up, get passport stamped, go. If you think there is an advantage to having visitors versus residents you can have two lines. Hartsfield employs people. A LOT of people. Now in Asia these people have roles like shuttling passengers to the right location. In Hartsfield these people have no roles. Passengers wander aimlessly seeking assistance and finding none. They attempt to form a line, but ultimately there are too many passengers for the line and the queue backs up. This is when the line doubles and you have illegal mergers. “I’m with him,” “I was here behind here,” etc… You would think that the employees would organize the chaos. You would THINK that all the boards lit up showing the arrival of Flight 123 from Damnfaraway would give you a clue that you were about to have a lot of people and MAYBE you should get ready? No. Instead the line slowly proceeds. That is until I am actually about to enter the corral. You know the part where the line actually starts? That is when someone decides that we should break off and go to the other side. I follow my zombie passenger friends who enjoy taking a 14 hour flight and then walking a marathon to another side (the long route, not the short way) and start a line again. Of course people have skipped at this time. Then when I get to the front of the line (1 hour later) they decide it is time to change the immigration officials. Yes, that makes sense. Lots of airlines arriving and you time your shift change in the middle of when the passengers are there, never mind that these flights are on SET schedules. No one would ever think that one of the best logistics schools in the country is just up the street.

Luggage – Two Times is the charm!
Now, when you finish immigration you are done right? Oh no. You still have luggage and customs. One would think that after 1 hour in immigration my luggage would be patiently waiting for me. Nope. You need to wait again for the luggage to come out then proceed through customs and then…. RECHECK YOUR LUGGAGE! That is right. You have arrived, been admitted to the country, picked up your luggage, but can you go outside? NOPE! You must RE-CHECK your luggage and then GO THROUGH SECURITY AGAIN even when staying in Atlanta! This is the biggest thing that irks me. I am dead tired and now I have to take off my shoes, take out my laptop, and get frisked ALL OVER AGAIN even when I am not taking a flight. Not to mention the riding of the train and waiting for your luggage to arrive at yet a different carousel.

Phew. The lesson here is that if you have to fly to Atlanta, fly 1st class and fly to Raleigh first then drive down. Hartsfield and Delta suck.

We now return you to your regular scheduled less ranty posts.

You know, I am all about saving the environment, but there are some industries that shouldn’t try to crash the party. Fly greener? You still are flying a jumbo jet of burning fuel even if the crappy food is served on recycled cardboard. This, to me, is like saying eat less shark.

Ohhh India… How easy is it to blog about you…

My flight to India started out the same way it did when I flew to Shanghai in 2005. YOU WILL BE SPRAYED! Dude. I am sorry, but it is just wrong to walk down the aisles spraying stuff over people’s heads.

Delhi’s airport is under construction. Apparently, it has been under construction for the past 2 years. Should be ready any minute now, NOT. I had to move loose wires from a junction box to get at my bag. Airport authority, here is a tip: Just calling it a world class airport, does not make it so.

Coming out of the airport I saw an interesting ad. “Diet now, Don’t wait!” Really? How big a market is obesity in India?

Speaking of signs, check these out:

Space for shooting? Who are we shooting?

and…

Is chat more or less expensive than a hotdog? (it should be ChaAt. Even I know that.)

Ohhh India…