(Written on 12/28/07 ….or you could consider it late night on 12/27)
So first of all, the four of us had a WONDERFUL 10 days on the Big Island celebrating Christmas with Tutu (AKA Grandma Karen), Great Grandma Mary, and the Winter-Cusi clan (Joe, Mitch, Hannah and Una). We hiked through a volcano crater, surfed for a couple days, had some good 'ole relaxation time and I even caught a yoga class (Anusara at that too)! And, we were spoiled WAY too much (especially for Christmas) and enjoyed all of it. Tutu, Caitlin and Sean all got “honu” tattoos that Sean designed. (I would have gotten something too, but I wasn’t prepared for a last minute stop to the tattoo parlour.) We also had some good success with some of the travel “toys” that we tested out during this trip, as well as receiving some awesome new one’s as presents. We definitely want to stop by here again next year when we're on our way back to the states, either early December or maybe for Christmas again.
Now….. it’s 2:05pm (that’s 4:05 West Coast time) and we were supposed to board the plane 4 hours ago…. After two security screenings, we finally made it to the gate. Then, they announce that a couple of the flight attendants were injured due to turbulence on the flight over to Kona, and weren’t sure what would happen to our flight until the attendants got checked out at the hospital. The announcement continued with “if you would like to re-route your flight, please proceed to the ATA ticket counter IN AN ORDERLY FASHION”. Had I jumped a little faster on this with Kailani in arms, we would have been mauled by the crowd. Needless to say, we ended up in the back of the line with all the other kids and elderly. That didn’t matter though. Because, after retrieving our luggage, we waited….and waited….and waited for a couple hours in a non-moving line. THEN, they announce that the flight WILL continue. So, we go to ANOTHER line to check luggage back in, and BACK into the security screening, to the gate to hear them announce that the flight is now cancelled. “Why?”…do you ask? Because the hospital gave the flight attendants vicodin and said they were OK for flying. But, once the airline got word of this, we were a no-go! So, here we are…picked up the luggage AGAIN ....back in line, waiting for them to send us to a hotel. Luckily, Kailani’s sound asleep in her car seat (with these great new add-on wheels so you can roll it around). And, I just can’t wait until she wakes-up at 6am tomorrow morning all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! (Do you hear the sarcasm??!?!?!) At least, we don’t have any future flights booked with this airline!
(Written later after the whole ordeal)
OK, so after sitting in line for another few hours without moving, I hear that the reason it took so long is because ATA is having a hard time locating available hotel rooms because of the holiday season. I get on the phone and call the Fairmont (my brain was quite dead and that’s the only hotel I could think of). They have a room available for $579/night. I pull aside a gate agent, and tell her I already located an available room and all I need is a voucher for ATA to pay for it. I guess that’s what you need in order to get anywhere with them! It ends up that, at the ticket counter, they DO have a huge list of rooms at several hotels. Someone in line behind me called the ATA 800# and was “apparently” able to reroute their flight. So, I tell the gate agent that I’ll call for my flight changes when I’m on route to the hotel. When I do call, the person on the phone tells me that the only way to change my flight is at the airport ticket counter - the one that I just left! Luckily, she put me on hold and called them for me. This is where my dead brain didn’t connect - she tells me she was able to reserve us on a flight, but we aren’t ticketed. And yes, this DOES become an issue when we arrive for our flight! Back to the hotel…I do have to admit that they put us up at the nicest place! I could have stayed in our 2 room villa at the Kona Cost Resort for at least a month! I guess, because we are a family (as opposed to a single person or couple), they actually got us a larger-than-normal room. Unfortunately, we only stayed there from 4am – 11am. We get back to the airport with “ticketing” issues. THEN, along with all the other people on our cancelled flight, the four of us are chosen for a full security screening – body and bag search and all! Gee thanks TSA! FINALLY, we made it to the Oakland airport a little after 10pm the next night. But, one more snag – one of our checked-in bags was lost! (And, after all the hauling of luggage back and forth, I'm so glad I made the decision to ship 4 boxes of gifts and dirty clothes instead of taking them with us on the plane! All the sudden the $80 seems worth it!) All I can say is that I hope we got all of our “bad luck” out of the way before our big trip!
So first of all, the four of us had a WONDERFUL 10 days on the Big Island celebrating Christmas with Tutu (AKA Grandma Karen), Great Grandma Mary, and the Winter-Cusi clan (Joe, Mitch, Hannah and Una). We hiked through a volcano crater, surfed for a couple days, had some good 'ole relaxation time and I even caught a yoga class (Anusara at that too)! And, we were spoiled WAY too much (especially for Christmas) and enjoyed all of it. Tutu, Caitlin and Sean all got “honu” tattoos that Sean designed. (I would have gotten something too, but I wasn’t prepared for a last minute stop to the tattoo parlour.) We also had some good success with some of the travel “toys” that we tested out during this trip, as well as receiving some awesome new one’s as presents. We definitely want to stop by here again next year when we're on our way back to the states, either early December or maybe for Christmas again.
Now….. it’s 2:05pm (that’s 4:05 West Coast time) and we were supposed to board the plane 4 hours ago…. After two security screenings, we finally made it to the gate. Then, they announce that a couple of the flight attendants were injured due to turbulence on the flight over to Kona, and weren’t sure what would happen to our flight until the attendants got checked out at the hospital. The announcement continued with “if you would like to re-route your flight, please proceed to the ATA ticket counter IN AN ORDERLY FASHION”. Had I jumped a little faster on this with Kailani in arms, we would have been mauled by the crowd. Needless to say, we ended up in the back of the line with all the other kids and elderly. That didn’t matter though. Because, after retrieving our luggage, we waited….and waited….and waited for a couple hours in a non-moving line. THEN, they announce that the flight WILL continue. So, we go to ANOTHER line to check luggage back in, and BACK into the security screening, to the gate to hear them announce that the flight is now cancelled. “Why?”…do you ask? Because the hospital gave the flight attendants vicodin and said they were OK for flying. But, once the airline got word of this, we were a no-go! So, here we are…picked up the luggage AGAIN ....back in line, waiting for them to send us to a hotel. Luckily, Kailani’s sound asleep in her car seat (with these great new add-on wheels so you can roll it around). And, I just can’t wait until she wakes-up at 6am tomorrow morning all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! (Do you hear the sarcasm??!?!?!) At least, we don’t have any future flights booked with this airline!
(Written later after the whole ordeal)
OK, so after sitting in line for another few hours without moving, I hear that the reason it took so long is because ATA is having a hard time locating available hotel rooms because of the holiday season. I get on the phone and call the Fairmont (my brain was quite dead and that’s the only hotel I could think of). They have a room available for $579/night. I pull aside a gate agent, and tell her I already located an available room and all I need is a voucher for ATA to pay for it. I guess that’s what you need in order to get anywhere with them! It ends up that, at the ticket counter, they DO have a huge list of rooms at several hotels. Someone in line behind me called the ATA 800# and was “apparently” able to reroute their flight. So, I tell the gate agent that I’ll call for my flight changes when I’m on route to the hotel. When I do call, the person on the phone tells me that the only way to change my flight is at the airport ticket counter - the one that I just left! Luckily, she put me on hold and called them for me. This is where my dead brain didn’t connect - she tells me she was able to reserve us on a flight, but we aren’t ticketed. And yes, this DOES become an issue when we arrive for our flight! Back to the hotel…I do have to admit that they put us up at the nicest place! I could have stayed in our 2 room villa at the Kona Cost Resort for at least a month! I guess, because we are a family (as opposed to a single person or couple), they actually got us a larger-than-normal room. Unfortunately, we only stayed there from 4am – 11am. We get back to the airport with “ticketing” issues. THEN, along with all the other people on our cancelled flight, the four of us are chosen for a full security screening – body and bag search and all! Gee thanks TSA! FINALLY, we made it to the Oakland airport a little after 10pm the next night. But, one more snag – one of our checked-in bags was lost! (And, after all the hauling of luggage back and forth, I'm so glad I made the decision to ship 4 boxes of gifts and dirty clothes instead of taking them with us on the plane! All the sudden the $80 seems worth it!) All I can say is that I hope we got all of our “bad luck” out of the way before our big trip!
PS - Tried to post a couple more pictures, but it's not showing up where I want them to. I guess I'll have to figure this out!
