Life on the Road - The worst business trip of my life

[auditguy]

I posted this to my blog on January 26th:
------------------------------------------
I experienced the worst business trip of my life this week.

I plan my trips out quite far in advance, in order to avoid stress and higher costs. I wanted to go from my home in SE Washington State to just above the New Jersey line in New York State. I planned to leave the Pasco airport at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, with an hour and a half connection time in Seattle, in case the morning fog was slowing traffic into SeaTac. From there I booked a non-stop flight to Newark airport in New Jersey. Arriving about 4 in the afternoon, I would have plenty of time to rent a car and drive up the freeways to my destination. I might have even had some time to stop along the way to look acrosss the Hudson river over to Manhattan. It should have been an enjoyable journey.

The day started off fine. I awoke, brushed my teeth, petted the cats, then drove the 15 minutes to our small airport in Pasco. Since I had my boarding pass already, I went directly to security screening, then onto the airplane.

The temperature was slightly less than freezing, so the airline crew needed to de-ice the airplane. In their hurry to complete their task, they hit the airplane tail with the de-icing cart!

Just a week ago, there was an airplane that depressurized shortly after takeoff. That was caused by a baggage cart hitting the airplane to create a crack. The cart drive was too ashamed to tell anyone and hoped nobody would notice his little dent in the airplane. Well, they did. He no longer works for them. The Pasco people knew they had to tell someone.

The pilot explained what happened and said a maintenance man would come right over to look at what was expected to be cosmetic damage. It probably wouldn't take more than 15 minutes to get the OK to leave for Seattle. That was no problem for me. After all, I had a 90 minute cushion in Seattle.

Half an hour later, the pilot asked us all to leave the airplane, as the flight was cancelled.

Bummer.

The Dash 8 airplane holds 35 people and it was completely full. That meant the 3 Horizon Air gate agents needed to reschedule us all. Needless to say, the line was long. I was nearly at the end. But there really was no rush, as the next flights on some other carriers didn't leave Pasco for about two hours.

While standing in line, I called the Alaska central reservations desk. (Horizon Air is a part of the Alaska Air Gropup.) No, they didn't show the flight as cancelled. There was nothing they could do.

So I called the Horizon Air number. Yes, they heard about the "unfortunate incident" in Pasco. So, what were my options?

The only way I could get from Pasco to Newark would be to take an evening flight over to Seattle, then fly the Alaska red-eye night flight to Newark. I would arrive at 6:30 Monday morning! So much for my advance planning. Not only would I arrive dead tired, but there was no way I could get up to New York in time for the 8 a.m. training class. He explained that I had additional options, but they involved rerouting onto other carriers. Only the gate agents could do that.

So I stood in line.

When my turn came, she said, "Oh. You're the one going to New York." I could tell it was not going to be easy.

It wasn't.

We finally settled on a reasonable route. I would get on the taxi they hired and ride up to Yakima with four others. (It was a comfortable van, so there was plenty of room.) From Yakima, I would stand by for a mid-morning Horizon Air flight to Seattle and possibly get on the second Alaska Air SEA-EWR direct flight, arriving at 9 p.m. If I couldn't get on the first Yakima flight, I had a booked seat on the next flight to Seattle. Then I would get on a Continental flight to Newark.

Well, the first Yakima flight was full.

So I waited. And waited some more. It seems the plane from Seattle was still on the ground. An hour later, it was released and made the 30 minute trip over the mountains to Yakima. If they unloaded, loaded, and left in a hurry, I could make my Continental Air connection just as they started boarding. Hmmm. We actually made it to Seattle sooner than expected.

I rushed over to the B gates and made it on the Continental airplane. Whew! They closed the door and prepared to leave the gate. Then the pilot announced a small maintenance problem that was detected on the flight in. It would only take another half hour to "complete the repairs and do the paperwork." 45 minutes later, he announced another problem that was found while fixing the first one. Then they unloaded the passengers and said it would take another two hours to fix the second problem. They had to get a part from Boeing, about 20 minutes away.

We finally left Seattle at 7 p.m. Pacific time. It was now 10 p.m. in New Jersey. Looks like I was going to ride the red-eye after all. Did I mention my pinched neck nerve? I got very little sleep.

I landed in Newark at 3 a.m. Eastern time. After getting off the plane, I walked to the shuttle train station and discovered they were on a "reduced schedule." Finally a train came and took me to terminal C, where I had to get off and take the next shuttle train to the rental car station. About 50 feet from the station, the train stopped! Station personnel were walking around talking to one another on the radio to see what was causing the delay. After about 10 minutes, we finally made the last 50 feet. The door opened and I got off -- quickly.

By now, it was raining quite hard. The short walk to Hertz was under cover, and my name was up on the board. I found my car, adjusted the seat and mirrors, checked my maps, and headed out into the rain storm.

Getting onto I-95 North and the New Jersey Turnpike was fairly easy and well marked. I'm cruising up the road, with the turnpike to myself. It was nice not having big trucks riding my back bumper. About the time I got to the end of the Jersey Turnpike, it was snowing. Big fat snowflakes. I had to go through a major intersection of roads and bridges and construction and snow. I missed my turn.

Now I'm going down a different freeway and I think I'm heading towards Pennsylvania. Sure enough, after I stopped and checked my maps, I concluded I was heading West. (At least I didn't take the George Washington Bridge the other way into Manhattan.) After a few U-turns and side roads, I finally got onto the Palisades Parkway, heading north up to New York.

The snow was really coming down now and the road was covered with white stuff. The visibility was very limited in places. The road edge was hard to see. With only two or three cars going down the road, there weren't tire tracks to follow. I basically relied on the rumble strips on the edge of the roadway to keep my car on the pavement. Occasionally, I came up to a car going down the road at 20 mph with all flashers going. They presented a challenge for passing.

I got to my hotel at 5 a.m., woke up the nite clerk, went to my room and crashed for two hours. I left the hotel for my class at 8 a.m.


So goes life on the road.

[wslabey]

It's **** when you have one of those trips.

10 years ago I decided to stop being a road warrior. I had done it for 12 years and finally wound down by shutting down my consultancy business and taking a regular job 4 years ago. It was time. I remember one trip that really fried me as well. I got tired of going on two week trips and coming back and having to re-bond with my baby daughter. She is now 16.

[Wes Bucey]

I sympathize with all road warriors. I have double sympathy for the family left at home that has to cope with all the problems of running a home short one member.

It must be really tough to come home and have the dog bite you, thinking you are a stranger attacking the family!


My road warrior days were all pre-9/11. Even when weather or mechanical delays fouled the system, you could pretty much count on the airline to find a way to get you and your baggage where you were headed, even if it meant putting you on a competitor's aircraft. I think those days are gone forever. No wonder so many top executives fly corporate planes versus commercial aircraft. I've done corporate flights about 15 times over ten years and it's just wonderful.

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Thank's for the tale, Dennis.

I suppose many of us have had similar trips, but I have to say that you seem to have had rather a lot of bad luck in one go. I guess that's what happens when things start going wrong: They have a nasty tendency to keep going wrong. What really amazes me is that you actually made it to the class.

/Claes

[QualityPhD]

Auditguy,

From a fellow (possibly all) Road Warriors we can certainly share in your frustration, exhaustion and similar experiences. You didn't share if you were the instructor or a participant in the class... (makes a HUGE difference if one has to "perform" before an audience or if one can try and "blend" in...). It still does not lessen the tale of your trip.

While on the road, I generally read to pass the time, if not sleeping. I have perfected the art of sleeping in chairs, planes, cars, couches and even standing up leaning against a shovel -- only got 45 minute nap there... not quite a "good rest"... Anyway, several months ago I picked up some light reading about life on the road by Robert Jolles, a trainer and consultant. If you really want a quick read and a laugh -- take a look for:


The Way of the Road Warrior : Lessons in Business and Life from the Road Most Traveled (Hardcover)
by Robert L. Jolles

I tend to journal to "exciting" events of my trips.... like the best places to sleep in airports... Cincinnati, Terminal B, Starbucks - best chairs, overstuffed, pull 2 together and you have a "virtual bed" and the alarm clock is the sound of freshly brewed coffee... does get any better than that!

Best airport sinks - Evansville, Indiana,... have handles that are NOT motion activated -- better for washing your hair in a pinch... it does take a while to keep the hand/hair dryers on though...

Oh, the tales we could tell....

[Randy]

Ahhh..Road Warrior stories. One passtime I personally enjoy is listening to them on the airport shuttles and while waiting in a line somewhere. Hopefully I'll never have an experience likethe tale above. Wait a minute! Been there, done that.

Whatever your frequent airline is, if they have a club..JOIN! I've found that delays and layovers are more comfy in a nice chair and quiet atmosphere. I just cash in a few airmiles every year and keep my membership up.

Oh yes, the answer is American Airlines if anyone is curious and over 140K total miles last year.

[tomvehoski]

I always love the comments I get from friends who think it must be great to get to fly for work all the time.

Some hints I have learned:

1. Always know backup flight options. I took a quick look at the website for Pasco airport and see that Delta and United offer service there also. Airlines don't like to send you to competitors since they have to give up the revenue, but will if you ask and the issue is their fault. If you went to the desk with the request, "could you put me on DL9999 to SLC, then DL123 to EWR" you may have just done the ticket agent's search for them. If you don't ask, they will be inclined to make you wait until their next flight to SEA. I keep current flight schedules for Northwest and Delta on my laptop so I can look up options quickly.

2. Keep the number of your airline in you cell phone and call immediatly instead of standing in line. It really helps if you have elite status and can jump ahead of other callers.

3. Clubs are nice, but may not help at small airports. I have not joined yet since my flying patterns have not justified it in the past - I tend to frequent airports that don't have them. I probably will join the Northwest Worldclub since my international trips will be up this year, meaning more connections in airports with clubs.

4. Go to www.flyertalk.com and absorb everything you can. There you could learn how to turn this headache into tons of frequent flier miles, vouchers for future travel and possibly even a first class upgrade.

[QualityPhD]

Another option for knowing what flights are scheduled on which airlines is to subscribe to OAG, the "Official Airline Guide". You can try the guide for free at http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/en/Home/

It includes all flight schedules on every airline... I began using it several years ago when required to book my own travel. Just beware that after the trial option has ended, the sales folks there are very persistent about getting you to subscribe. The guide does not include pricing information, only scheduling.