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Homeward Bound

JUST KIDDING! Today I made one of the more expensive mistakes in my life - I missed my flight home. Apparently Virgin Airlines is the most popular airline in the world and this week is the most popular travel week of all time because I can’t get another flight until the 28th. Unless…

I book with another airline (Cost = 700GBP) or book an upgraded flight with this airline (Cost = 500GBP). Now if you remember from my first post, the USD sucks pretty hard over here. 500GBP will run me $815 USD but 700GBP will be $1,150 USD. So upgrading and staying with Virgin is cheaper, but not cheaper than $0 USD which is the price of not being late. So…

I am flying Premium Economy on Monday and landing in Newark, NJ at 11pm. Now I have to take a train back to my hotel to see if I can get a Contiki discounted rate for another night. Then I’m coming back to the airport 12 hours early so I never do this again. And now for the fun part that comes after every disaster: Finding the silver lining!

  • I get another day in London to see the changing of the guard, Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
  • I get to spend the seven hour flight in Premium Economy instead of sucking on my knees in coach.
  • I finally got that horrible, horrible feeling out of the way that you get when you miss a flight and it costs you $1,000.
  • TBD Awesomeness.

PS. For anyone who is curious about how someone who is usually so prepared can miss a flight as important as this:

  • I didn’t check in online this morning because my hotel wifi wasn’t working.
  • The subway to the airport is supposed to take 45 minutes but took 2 hours due to construction and delays.
  • I got to the kiosk just before 1pm but it wasn’t scanning my passport properly. I went to a 2nd kiosk and this one  did scan my passport properly but printed an error message that I had to take to the window. I waited on line to get helped and the guy didn’t find my booking when he looked it up. He made a phone call to find my booking and they realized the computer was trying to check me into the 4:15 flight instead of the 2pm flight – that’s why it couldn’t find the booking. Now by the time all of this shit went down, it was 1:02pm. Everyone must be checked in at least 60 minutes before the flight – no exceptions. And that is how I missed my flight.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 24, 2011 at 11:05 AM

    I think this was planned from the get go.....you do eventually have to face reality and come back and go to work. Enjoy another day!
    Barb

    ReplyDelete
  2. AdamJH31July 24, 2011 at 11:37 AM

    Damn. Let me know if u need a ride from Newark, I don't care what time. I'll get u at 10 if u can't get a room. Let me know...

    ReplyDelete
  3. PatrickJuly 24, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    Ya i was REALLY upset with myself this morning. Yes they screwed me over with their shitty passport scanning system and multiple phone calls that made me miss the deadline by 2 minutes, but I ALWAYS check-in online. ALWAYS. I would have made it.

    So yeah they put me on the later flight apparently. I get in at 1120. It's going to be quite a trick getting through customs and then making it from Newark to Penn before the 1am LIRR train. I'm just going to cab it to Penn and hope for the best. Otherwise it's a 3am train. Thanks dude.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dick MostlyJuly 24, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    I will be in the city tomorrow, I usually catch the 12:50 train from penn to LB. I can trip and injure myself in the doors of the train for as long as it takes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. PatrickJuly 25, 2011 at 5:15 AM

    Cool. See you on the train.

    ReplyDelete

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