January 4, 2014
It's 5:00 am and my husband and I are getting ready to head to the Buffalo-Niagara Airport where we will catch a flight on JET BLUE to JFK and then from JFK to Seoul on ASIANA AIRLINES and from Seoul on Asiana to our final destination-Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our first flight departs Buffalo this morning at 9:24 am and we should arrive in Siem Reap on January 5, 2014 at 10:50 pm. Our bags are packed and ready to be loaded in the car. We each have 1 checked bag-under 20 kg. each. Then 1 checked bag of my husband's scuba gear that is around 18 kg. A carry on of camera/video equipment. A carry on of TSA approved items like prescription medicines, etc. We are wearing fleece jackets as it will be hot when we arrive in Cambodia but it's winter here in western NY. We opt not to wear our normal winter jackets as they are too bulky and heavy. Our brother-in-law Dan arrives to drive us to the airport. He will use our car as he only has a pick up truck. He will be taking care of our mail, checking at times to make sure our house is still standing, and will pick us up on April 6, 2014 when we arrive back home. It's been snowing a bit but nothing unusual for our neck of the woods. We arrive at the airport by 7:00 am which allows us to check our bags, get through security without rushing. Waving goodbye to Dan we wheel our bags inside. I check the departure board.
 |
| Our flight #2301 is listed as being on time |
Our flight is on time but there are several that are canceled or delayed. Check in Jet Blue counter. The guy says he can check our bags all the way through to SR. I show him the print out that says we're supposed to claim and recheck our bags at JFK. He says we're all partner/codeshare airlines so that's not necessary. Ok I say as we have a 2 hr. 15 mins. layover in JFK and not having to claim, then recheck will be a help. We get through security and are in the waiting area for our gate. JFK is backed up due to storm so rather than circling JFK air space our flight is delayed. I'm getting a bit worried. After about 1/2 hr. we start the boarding process. We're receiving instructions from flt. attendants when the JB pilot appears to say we are going to wait for 9 passengers who are heading to Aruba. Originally their connecting flt. at JFK was not going to wait for them but now the flt. is so we reopen the cabin doors, etc. Now my 2 1/2 layover time is almost gone. I ask the attendant about us catching our Asiana flt. She replies "don't worry, all the flts. have been affected and they're all delayed-no problem." Easy for her to say. After what seems like being on the ground at JFK forever we finally get off the plane. The attendants have asked people to remain seated until my husband and I and the 9 to Aruba are off the plane. We have to run from Terminal 4 (I think) to Terminal 5. We're 30 minutes late for our flight. Well, it wasn't delayed. It left on time at 1:00 pm. It was Asiana's only flight so all staff have left. To make a long, depressing story short, this decision by the JB pilot causes us not to arrive in SR until January 8, 2014 but our bags arrived January 6th. And we were stuck in BEIJING for 2 nights with no clothes and no one knew where our bags were! I will NEVER fly on Jet Blue again. We also had to spend all night in the terminal as no hotel rooms to be had. Plenty of others sleeping at tables, on the floor, etc. Not a pretty picture!
 |
| Phone numbers & names of people I spoke to while stuck at JFK |
 |
| Original Jet Blue tickets-boarding passes & baggage claim tickets |
No comments:
Post a Comment