Triumphant return?
Okay, I finally got back to Darwin. Even getting back was a bit of an adventure. My flight from Reno to L.A. was fine - no problems, planes on time, etc. When I got to L.A., I proceded to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, where most international flights leave. As I had no luggage to check (it had been checked through in Reno), I got in the line marked "no luggage". Big mistake. The person working that counter seemed to be working in some sort of time warp, so it took nearly an hour for me to get to the front of the line of 6 people. Once I got there, the woman looked very confused, and walked down the counter to make several phone calls. Ten minutes later, she told me my flight had been cancelled because of the big storm in New York, and that I should proceed to terminal 4, and go to any open counter to work out what to do.
Once I got to terminal 4, I walked up to the first open counter, which happened to be First Class check in. The woman there, explained the problem. Apparently the actual plane I was supposed to be on, was delayed getting out of New York, so instead of a 11:35pm departure, they were estimating a 4:15am departure time. At this point, the computer system apparently locked up. It seems that the system does not let you check in until there is a definite departure time, and since our plane had not yet left New York, we did not have a definite departure time from L.A. So I chatted for a while with the people behind the counter - the First Class people were much more friendly than those over at the Economy class check in, who were pretty quiet. After about an hour of small talk, we got an announcement that the system would be up again in about 40 minutes. So We all took a seat. It was quite a scene - everyone was sitting waiting. The line for economy class, with about 50 people in it, was all seated, about 20 of us were seated along the benches at the side of the terminal, the staff behind the counter was seated. Everyone was sitting, waiting for about a half hour.
Once the system finally came back up, I went back to the woman at the First Class counter, and she proceded to process my check-in. Somehow, something went very wrong at this point. She printed my boarding pass to Sydney, and I asked if she could print one for my connecting leg to Darwin. Now, originally, I was supposed to have a 1-hour connection in Sydney, and I would miss that flight with the 5 hour delay. So there was a flurry of activity behind the counter as about 5 people tried to figure out how to get me onto a flight to Darwin. At one point, they tried to put me on one flight that went from Sydney to Adelaide, to Darwin. That one left Sydney earlier than the direct flight, but of course arrived in Darwin later, so I told them I would really rather wait the extra hour and get the direct flight, that arrived an hour earlier. After about 40 minutes of this, they finally printed another boarding pass, but somehow my nice seat on the flight to Sydney had been changed to a middle seat in the last row of the plane! I complained, and managed to get an aisle seat about 5 rows from the back. I mentioned that my insurance company had requested a wheelchair assistance for me to get through customs in a timely manner, etc. and requested an upgrade to a more comfortable class. At this point, the people behind the counter confessed that they didn't actually work for Qantas. Apparently, when the flight was delayed, Qantas contracted a bunch of American Airlines employees to deal with the mess. They directed me to see the actual Qantas representative, who would be up at the gate 'soon'. He never showed up.
About 4:00am, the plane from New York arrived, and a large contingent of very weary looking travellers descended on our gate, and we started boarding. When I got to the ticket check, they pulled me aside. After about 10 minutes of watching people board, I was given a new boarding pass, for a seat in business class. Not sure how I ended up with the upgrade, but I didn't question it.
Qantas business class seats are marvels of modern technology. On the armrest is a bewildering array of buttons for adjusting just about every angle you can imagine in a chair. They even have a massage feature, which was described to be as being 'subtle' - I'd call it 'ineffective'. But the seats are wide, and they fold out flat for sleeping. Very nice on a 14.5 hour flight. I actually managed 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep, after being served 'dinner' at 6:00am. I won't brag too much about the other amenities in business class, except to say that there were fresh orchids in the lavatory. A bit decadent, but pretty.
Once we were in the air, we got a surprise announcement. It seems that the ground crew in L.A. had screwed things up a bit. No one told the flight crew that the plane was delayed, so they left for the airport in time to arrive for our original departure time. Once they got to the airport, they were told about the problem and went back to their hotel, but that amount of time was long enough that the flight to Sydney would put them on duty longer than they were allowed by law. So we had to make a stop in Aukland to exchange crews. In Aukland, we were parked somewhere out on the tarmac, and took on fuel and a new crew. The old crew announced that no one would be allowed off the plane, even though there were a number of people whose final destinations were Aukland, because it would take too much time to unload individual pieces of luggage. So, after another hour and a half, we were under way again.
In Sydney, I found out a bit about the rest of the story of the delay. Apparently, the original flight from New York was delayed by 30 hours because of the snow storm. After about a day, the airport was getting full, so they boarded the plane, and parked them on the tarmac for 12 hours before flying to L.A. I'm glad I wasn't on that flight.
The rest of the travel was pretty uneventful, and I'm back in Darwin, trying to adjust to wet season humidity. Oh, and trying to recover my apartment from the mold and spiders. After nearly 2 months without use, my apartment was full of spiders, and somehow, my bed and one pillow succumbed to mold. Nothing like seeing fuzz on your much anticipated bed, to really make you feel travel weary. Good ol' Darwin weather.
Once I got to terminal 4, I walked up to the first open counter, which happened to be First Class check in. The woman there, explained the problem. Apparently the actual plane I was supposed to be on, was delayed getting out of New York, so instead of a 11:35pm departure, they were estimating a 4:15am departure time. At this point, the computer system apparently locked up. It seems that the system does not let you check in until there is a definite departure time, and since our plane had not yet left New York, we did not have a definite departure time from L.A. So I chatted for a while with the people behind the counter - the First Class people were much more friendly than those over at the Economy class check in, who were pretty quiet. After about an hour of small talk, we got an announcement that the system would be up again in about 40 minutes. So We all took a seat. It was quite a scene - everyone was sitting waiting. The line for economy class, with about 50 people in it, was all seated, about 20 of us were seated along the benches at the side of the terminal, the staff behind the counter was seated. Everyone was sitting, waiting for about a half hour.
Once the system finally came back up, I went back to the woman at the First Class counter, and she proceded to process my check-in. Somehow, something went very wrong at this point. She printed my boarding pass to Sydney, and I asked if she could print one for my connecting leg to Darwin. Now, originally, I was supposed to have a 1-hour connection in Sydney, and I would miss that flight with the 5 hour delay. So there was a flurry of activity behind the counter as about 5 people tried to figure out how to get me onto a flight to Darwin. At one point, they tried to put me on one flight that went from Sydney to Adelaide, to Darwin. That one left Sydney earlier than the direct flight, but of course arrived in Darwin later, so I told them I would really rather wait the extra hour and get the direct flight, that arrived an hour earlier. After about 40 minutes of this, they finally printed another boarding pass, but somehow my nice seat on the flight to Sydney had been changed to a middle seat in the last row of the plane! I complained, and managed to get an aisle seat about 5 rows from the back. I mentioned that my insurance company had requested a wheelchair assistance for me to get through customs in a timely manner, etc. and requested an upgrade to a more comfortable class. At this point, the people behind the counter confessed that they didn't actually work for Qantas. Apparently, when the flight was delayed, Qantas contracted a bunch of American Airlines employees to deal with the mess. They directed me to see the actual Qantas representative, who would be up at the gate 'soon'. He never showed up.
About 4:00am, the plane from New York arrived, and a large contingent of very weary looking travellers descended on our gate, and we started boarding. When I got to the ticket check, they pulled me aside. After about 10 minutes of watching people board, I was given a new boarding pass, for a seat in business class. Not sure how I ended up with the upgrade, but I didn't question it.
Qantas business class seats are marvels of modern technology. On the armrest is a bewildering array of buttons for adjusting just about every angle you can imagine in a chair. They even have a massage feature, which was described to be as being 'subtle' - I'd call it 'ineffective'. But the seats are wide, and they fold out flat for sleeping. Very nice on a 14.5 hour flight. I actually managed 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep, after being served 'dinner' at 6:00am. I won't brag too much about the other amenities in business class, except to say that there were fresh orchids in the lavatory. A bit decadent, but pretty.
Once we were in the air, we got a surprise announcement. It seems that the ground crew in L.A. had screwed things up a bit. No one told the flight crew that the plane was delayed, so they left for the airport in time to arrive for our original departure time. Once they got to the airport, they were told about the problem and went back to their hotel, but that amount of time was long enough that the flight to Sydney would put them on duty longer than they were allowed by law. So we had to make a stop in Aukland to exchange crews. In Aukland, we were parked somewhere out on the tarmac, and took on fuel and a new crew. The old crew announced that no one would be allowed off the plane, even though there were a number of people whose final destinations were Aukland, because it would take too much time to unload individual pieces of luggage. So, after another hour and a half, we were under way again.
In Sydney, I found out a bit about the rest of the story of the delay. Apparently, the original flight from New York was delayed by 30 hours because of the snow storm. After about a day, the airport was getting full, so they boarded the plane, and parked them on the tarmac for 12 hours before flying to L.A. I'm glad I wasn't on that flight.
The rest of the travel was pretty uneventful, and I'm back in Darwin, trying to adjust to wet season humidity. Oh, and trying to recover my apartment from the mold and spiders. After nearly 2 months without use, my apartment was full of spiders, and somehow, my bed and one pillow succumbed to mold. Nothing like seeing fuzz on your much anticipated bed, to really make you feel travel weary. Good ol' Darwin weather.