Back from Edmonton and still trying to catch up on my sleep. Air Canada is on my bad list right now, although my air miles are with them so there is not much I can do about it. Let me tell you a non food story.
Leaving Edmonton I was already sleep-deprived and cranky; 6 hrs of sleep in two days will do that to you! I went to auto check in, punched in my info, printed my boarding pass. Wait! What's this?? The BOARDING time on my pass was showing up as 8:35pm, a full hour and a half past when my flight was supposed to DEPART. I was changing planes in Calgary, so my new arrival time in Vancouver was 11:30pm... not good. I went over to the Air Canada desk and explained the situation to the nice young man. I was polite, but there was a definite note of hysteria in my voice (
just want to go home and sleeep). He very graciously explained that my flight was delayed by two hours, but he switched me to a direct flight to Vancouver. I loved Air Canada at that moment. I had purchased this ticket with airmiles and they didn't bat an eye about giving me a new one.
My Euphoria didn't last long. I had a bite to eat, then proceeded to my gate. Wait! What's this?? Now my flight departure time has been pushed back half an hour. I called Rob to warn him. Then, the board changed it to 8;30, now delayed by an hour. The Air Canada agent was adamant that we would depart at that time and arrive in Vancouver in plenty of time for everyone to make their connecting flights. The plane landed at 8:05. They unloaded. They loaded. We taxied out of there so fast, the inflight safety video was still running as we headed down the runway. In an effort to make up for the extreme delays (now an hour and a half) the flight attendants offered us drinks on the house (or plane). We finally landed in Vancouver at 9:30 local time. Wait! What's this?? Our gate was occupied, we had to sit on the tarmac waiting. The passengers bound for Kamloops on the last flight of the night were told that a representative would be meeting them at the gate (in other words, you missed your flight). Someone started crying.
Finally liberated from the plane, I stormed off to baggage claim where Rob was waiting. Had been waiting for an hour. The luggage came. The luggage stopped coming and 3/4 of the passengers were still standing there waiting. An announcement was made that the plane had to be offloaded by hand and would take a while. We settled back to wait. The carousel started up again, a few more bags came out. Then lights started flashing. Wait! What's this?? Now the baggage chute was jammed and they had to clear it by hand.
It was midnight by the time we arrived at home.
Oh and to make things extra sweet, I dropped my camera on this trip and seriously damaged it. If I squeeze it together as I press the on button, the lens comes out, accompanied by a high pitched buzzing noise. I can take the most basic of pictures, but zoom and macro are out of the question. "sniff"
