A Really Long Trip (or, United Airlines Sucks)

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Trip Start Jun 24, 2008 Trip End Aug 10, 2008 Next
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  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Thursday, June 26, 2008

After a week of packing and preparations (that would be Paul--my preparations only took 4 hours of frantic packing and no sleep the night before), a bachelorette party, a wedding shower, and marathon shopping, the day had finally come.  We woke up excited and ready to go.  Since our flight wasn't until 5:00 p.m., we spent the day fidgeting and waiting.  While looking through the paperwork from Air New Zealand, I saw that it was recommended that we check with the airline operating our flight to LAX before going to the airport.  Since the airline operating our local flight was United, I decided that was a good idea.  After doing that, I realized that, according to the United Website, our flight number was scheduled to leave Chicago at 3:00 p.m. and not 5:00 p.m.  Panicked, I called both United and Air New Zealand and was told that my paperwork was wrong--we were actually on a different flight number that was, in fact, scheduled to depart at 5:00 p.m.  Panic alleviated, I calmed down.  Because I was traveling with Paul--who does not share my slacker ways--we had to get to the airport earlier than I would have liked.  My parents picked us up and took us to the airport, and we arrived without incident.  Except for the numerous times my mom almost rear-ended the cars in front of us.  She has a serious lead-foot problem. 

In any event, we arrived at the airport in one piece (although with years of my life taken off because of the aforementioned mother's driving), said our good-byes and headed into the airport 2 and a half hours before our scheduled departure time.  We got in the self-check line, and then everything started to go wrong.  The little self-check machine made me call some support person who told me  that we were all checked in and we even had seats.  However, when we did not receive either our boarding passes or baggage check slips from the machine, the man on the phone told us we were fine and just to talk to one of the agents.  After waiting for about 10 minutes for a free agent, she spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong.  Finally, she told us that our flight had been canceled and that she couldn't help us rebook our flights.  We were then sent over to another line. 

While waiting, I ducked out of line briefly to check the screens and realized that our flight wasn't even on the departure board, which means that it had to have been canceled way ahead of time--and that someone at either United or Air New Zealand should have figured that out.  Anyway, after waiting another 30 minutes in a different line, we finally talk to the agent.  Turns out she's completely confused, because on her system the flight is not canceled.  Finally, another agent confirms the flight is canceled and our agent spends what feels like forever trying to rebook us.  Eventually, at about 3:55 p.m. (an hour and a half after we got to the airport) she tells us that we have been booked on an American Airlines flight (my other not-favorite airline) to LA that leaves at 5:10 p.m.  Which means that we have to go to a terminal two terminals away and get our bags checked in by 4:10 p.m.  I was like "there's no way we can make that."  The United agent's very unhelpful response?  "That's why you need to hurry."  So we run around to the other terminal with our 40 pound backpacks and are directed to the international destinations line--which is pretty long and not moving.  I finally decided that we should just try to check in on the domestic self-check machines and see what happens, since there was no line.  With the help of two very friendly agents, we actually were able to get checked in with our bags all the way through to Australia with 5 minutes to spare.  And did I mention that United Airlines sucks?   By this point, we were sweaty, tired and irritated, but still have to get through security and to our gate before boarding, which started about 15 minutes from that point. 

In any event, things worked out and we made it to LAX, where we spent a fun 4 hours during our lay-over, and then eventually on to our flight to Auckland, New Zealand.  It was a very long flight--about 13 hours of being cramped into tiny spaces.  Poor Paul was in the window seat and was miserable and had a mild anxiety attack half way through, which we think is probably attributable to claustrophobia.  Luckily, we had our own TVs, so I got to watch a few movies.  Eventually, we made it to Auckland for our connecting flight to Melbourne.   The flight was about an hour longer than scheduled, because of very strong head winds.  Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem, but after a 4 hour flight to LAX and a 13 hour flight to Auckland, every additional hour in a plane was torture.  We made it, however and, miracle of miracles, our baggage made it as well.  We arrived at our hotel about noon and gratefully showered.   We had decided that we should try to stay up until nightfall so that we could more easily adjust to the time difference.  After a valiant effort (okay so not that valiant, I will admit) I explained to Paul that I was just going to take a quick nap and then get up for dinner.  15 hours later I woke up wide awake at 4:15 a.m.  So much for the quick nap.  And now, fortified with breakfast and some ideas of places to visit from our very friendly waitress, we begin our exploration of Melbourne.  

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