Okay, now keep in mind I haven't slept in over 40 hours while I'm writing this, so I'll do my best to not forget anything. Here goes...

 

So last Saturday morning, my family and I arrive at the NKY airport at 4:15 AM for our 6:00 AM flight to Chicago, where we were to catch a 8:00 AM flight to Vancouver. We were the first people in line at the United ticket counter and everything. So my family and my aunt and uncle, who were going to Alaska with us are waiting in the terminal, and 6:00 rolls around and no boarding. The lady at the gate then tells us that there is no mechanic to do the routine look through of the plane so the flight has to be delayed. Well 6:30 rolls around and she tells everyone that if they have a connecting flight, that we should switch to another flight so we don't miss our connection.

 

We get our flight to Vancouver pushed back to 11:00 AM, with the assurance that the plane will be ready to go by 7:45. About 20 minutes later, the captain of the plane strolls on by, and starts talking with my dad. He just so happens to tell us that the plane we're supposed to be on isn't going to be leaving Cincinnati anytime soon.

 

We go back to the ticket counter to switch tickets once again, my aunt and uncle get put on a connection flight to Denver, and we're told they have no more flights that can get us to Vancouver in time to catch our cruise ship. However, she tells us that Northwest has a flight to Minneapolis and then one to Vancouver that they can book us on. So we do that. She then goes to get our luggage off the plane that isn't going to Chicago, and comes back with only 2 of our 4 pieces, saying the other two were already on their way to Chicago....How? I still don't know, considering no flights were going there.

 

We go all the way over the Northwest ticket counter only to find out that these flights that United had supposedly switched us to were already overbooked....This sent us into a realm of ticked off that I never even knew existed. We went back over to United, and the idiot they have working there gets her supervisor who within 2 minutes gets us put on a connection flight to Denver, yeah, the same one that we were told was full only 30 minutes earlier.

 

With the Denver connection, we were going to have an hour to catch our flight to Vancouver, so we had plenty of time as long as the flight wasn't delayed.....It was scheduled to leave at 9:30, and at 10:00 the plane hadn't even arrived yet. We finally took off around 10:30, and got to Denver at 11:21. Our Vancouver flight left at 11:28. What happened next was straight out of the Home Alone movie, with all of us running through the airport trying to make our flight. We made it to the correct gate as they were closing the door, so we just did make it.

 

Once we got to Vancouver, we were told as long as we had our luggage marked that it was going to the Princess cruise ship, it would meet us on board, so we had no problems there. We got on the ship in plenty of time, and it left port at 4:30 PM.

 

Around 6 or so, with the crew delivering luggage, my aunt and uncle and my parents all got their luggage. My brother and myself were not so lucky. We call up United, god bless that pathetic company, and they inform us that our luggage wasn't lost. It was delivered to the Vancouver airport at 6:15....Lot of good that did us, seeing the boat left at 4:30.

 

They tell us that they MIGHT be able to get our luggage to us 2 days later when we're in Ketchikan, but possibly not until we arrive in Juneau, 3 days in to the trip. Luckily for us our luggage joined us in Ketchikan, and besides being extremely cold and wet, the rest of the trip was very enjoyable.

 

Just thought I'd share my crazy day with you all....

Heck I'm worn out just reading about your trip...can only imagine how tired you are. Hopefully you've gotten all the kinks out of your travel early and can enjoy the cruise!!!

Man oh man...I wouldn't have been able to keep my cool through any of this...I probably would have been arrested for threatening someone..:lol:

You didn't meet up with a fat, obnoxious guy carrying a trunk and selling shower curtain rings did you?

Traveling is FUN!

 

Thanks for sharing the story, I had a similar experience when trying to fly to Dallas back in March.

 

Sad thing is, I can't help but keep flying, you never know what in the world is going to happen next. :lol:

You didn't meet up with a fat, obnoxious guy carrying a trunk and selling shower curtain rings did you?

 

:lol:

 

"Here's a good idea, when you're telling all these stories, have a point. It makes it much more interesting for the LISTENER!"

 

:thumb:

UKMF, are we going to see you on an episode of "Airline" on A&E??

You did a lot better than me...I would have lost my mind after 15 minutes of what you endured. You could have thrown someone off the ship when your luggage didnt arrive. At least it would have made you feel a lttle better!!

You're a better man than I Mustang Fan. That trip would have involved 1 night in jail for me.

That really sucks man at least it all worked out.

Definitely sounds like a nightmare.

 

Was your cruise ship in the harbor at the Pan Pacific hotel?

You didn't meet up with a fat, obnoxious guy carrying a trunk and selling shower curtain rings did you?

 

"Where's your hand?"

 

"In between these two big pillows."

 

"Those aren't pillows!"

I guess it was a good trip overall. At least your ship didnt sink!!

Or get attacked by pirates... :thumb:

OH NO. Never good when tings start out like that. I am sorry you had to deal with all that, but so glad you had a nice trip. Funny you mentioned the princess shop b/c I had FF look up Alaskan cruises and that was the ship we looked at. Was it nice? We would love to see pictures.