Supposed to Be In Puerto Vallarta

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

Instead of sitting in PV waiting for the sunset, we are at home after the morning from Hell.

We (3 couples) got to the Sacramento Airport at 4 a.m. for a 6 a.m. flight on America West/U.S. Airways and there were no agents there yet. At 4:30 a.m. they arrived and the line seemed to be moving but--someone came by and said the flight to Phoenix would be delayed 3-1/2 hours; however, in our case, there would be no connection to PV today (too late to catch our connecting flight and the last one was full) or tomorrow and they cancelled our flights and gave us a number to call to get refunds.

We live about 5 miles from the airport so we came home and I got on the computer and my daughter on the phone and the available seats on any plane were going fast and the price was going up by the minute. We found one flight but didn't want to put all 6 on one credit card without a confirmation so called Expedia and tried to confirm it, but by that time they were gone.

My daughter was on the phone for 3 hours talking to Expedia and then U.S. Airways and finally was able to get a flight out tomorrow (Saturday) on Continental and return on our regular flight on Friday (U.S. Airways) and keep the same "tickets" - i.e. pay the same as we paid before. We did a lot of praying and they came through.

They were ready to go home and head for the California Coast - one couple from Lakeport (Clear Lake) and one from Tuloumne. Of course they would have lost the weeks they paid for at the Krystal.

Then we needed to call the Krystal and couldn't get through and we called RCI and they couldn't get through, but after a long hold RCI said they got through and it would be okay to check in tomorrow.

Our reservation is for Saturday at Lindo Mar and we were planning to spend tonight at the Krystal with one of them so no problem there. We will be be ckecking out Friday so Saturday is free if anyone wants it. LOL.

So we are keeping our fingers' crossed for tomorrow. I never did get to sleep last night before our ride got here at 4 a.m. and I am really tired. We are having a barbecue now and then I'm going to bed.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

What happened? Why the cancelled flight? Our trip on AA was cancelled because of East Coast snowstorm but AA put us up in Dallas & got us to PV the next day. What is going on with the airlines? This is the pits. So sorry about the sucky start to your vacation, Muriel.

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

Thanks, Barndweller

Apparently it was the storms in the east that affected the Phoenix flights which, in turn, affected the flights to PV ???

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Muriel....Sorry to hear about your dreadful morning. I'm glad that you were finally able to get a flight out tomorrow. Enjoy your trip!!!!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Could have been worst. Like what happened to me a few years back. Stranded in Mexico city airport floor for a day wondering if you will make it home.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Oh Muriel, what a sucky way to start a vacation....there seems to be a lot of this going around

Just try to relax and enjoy your trip tomorrow - looking forward to hearing all about the resorts.

[SciTchr Member Find all posts View Profile Close SciTchr]

Muriel,
What a mess. I am sorry about your problems. Enjoy the trip. Sounds like you have made the best of it. Have fun at Lindo Mar!

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

That was a strain! Glad you found seats at the same prices for tomorrow! You'll need a few festive drinks and sunsets to get over that but HEY you are going to the land of festive drinks and sunsets!

Hope the rest of your trip is stupendous to make up for today.

[katiemack Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close katiemack]

Glad there was some way to recover from a bad start to your trip....the airlines are getting so unreliable, I am beginning to seriously consider hiring donkeys to take us to our destination....they may be slow, but they sure know how to get the rider where he wants to go.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Wow. What a story. I hope things get better and you put it all behind you tomorrow. Good luck and have a great time.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

That is awful! I feel so badly for you. We had our US Airways flight cancelled out of Denver to Maui last year, supposedly because the hop to Phoenix had some trays missing and some seats were loose? We didn't believe it for a minute and Rick went immediately to the counter and got us booked on the flight to HNL. We arrived into Lihue on the last Go flight at about 10 p.m. We were all very tired and had to drive all the way to Princeville that late, after the long day. At least we got there the same day.

I think these airlines have other reasons for cancelling flights, probably because they are running planes that are not full, so they just cancel one and it all works out for them, but not for the unfortunate travelers.

[IreneLF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close IreneLF]

Wow. And here I assumed it was only weather related east coast problems that would strand/delay us on the east coast....
Maybe it's affected the west, or you know what, they could tell us anything...

Air travel sure isn't what it used to be. The only vacation I go on now with no sense of trepidation is a DRIVING one... (my last flight home from FLORIDA took over 10 1/2 hours from the time i got checked in at the airport AND they lost my luggage, which was eventually delivered...)

Muriel, this was bad, but let this be the last bad thing to happen. Hope you can enjoy and glad it worked out as well as it seems it will.

[tim Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tim]

Muriel -- wishing you the best on your trip. Hopefully, years from now you can laugh about what happen. Last year, my entire family of 5 was flying from Chicago to Sydney, Australia with a connection in San Fran. Due to the weather, we missed the connection in San Fran. There was only one flight each evening flying to Sydney. UA told us to come back the next evening to try and catch that flight. All hotels in the area were full. It was around midnight and the entire family had to spend the night at the airport. The next day, I was the first person in line at UA and was told that the evening flight was full and we would be standby. Boy, what do you think the chances of getting 5 seats on a full flight? I asked the agent when is the next flight that he could guarantee us 5 seats. He said in 3 days. Imagine our pain in thinking that we might be stuck in San Fran for 3 days instead of Sydney where we had planned this vacation for over a year. In any event, to make this long story short, I argued and argued for another routing to get us to Sydney. Finally, UA came through and put us on a flight to Japan with a connection to Sydney. We arrived ONLY one day late. Now, we all laugh about the adventure and the kids think it was cool to have flown to Japan. I can tell you at the time though, it was not a laughing matter!

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

Muriel,
I hope you are happily sipping margueritas from your patio, soaking in rays, as you read this...
connie