Tough Trip to Las Vegas

[onemoretry]

No, this isn't about gambling results, it's about the gruelling day we spent on Wednesday getting to Las Vegas.

We were booked to fly on Southwest Airlines from Buffalo at 11:45 am, arriving in Las Vegas at about 5:40pm Vegas time, with an approximate two hour layover in Baltimore.

To make the trip a little easier, we drove to Niagara Falls on Tuesday, and stayed at Seneca Niagara Tuesday night. We did play an hour or so of vp where we each had a $400 session, hers was positive, mine negative.

On Wednesday morning, I checked Southwest's website to make sure our flight was on schedule. It wasn't. In fact, it was cancelled (I assume because of freezing rain in Buffalo). We called Southwest, and they were able to rebook us on a flight later in the day to Chicago, with a connection to a Las Vegas flight. We were to depart Buffalo at 4:50 pm, arrive in Chicago at 5:40pm Chicago time, depart Chicago at 6:35 pm, and arrive in Las Vegas at 8:45 pm. All in all, not too bad, but with a very tight connection time in Chicago.

We boarded the Chicago flight pretty much on time, and appeared ready to depart, but we didn't. After several minutes, the pilot informed us that there was a problem in that the too much fuel had been put on the aircraft, and that there was a bunch of extra paperwork that to be done. By the time they did whatever was required, and we waited in a bit of a line before finally taking off, we were 45 minutes late.

While we were on route, the captain advised us that those with tight connections need not worry, as they would be accommodated. I took that to mean that they would hold our ongoing flight for us, but I was wrong. Upon landing, we hustled to the departure gate for the Las Vegas flight, only to find that, while the aircraft was still there, the doors had been closed. No amount of pleading could get them to reopen them. So, we were rebooked on a later (9:10pm) flight that arrived in Vegas at about 11:30pm.

What makes all this very difficult to understand is that it was not just us two who missed the connection, there were 29 of us. Why Southwest would not delay that Las Vegas flight for 10 minutes or so to accommodate 29 passengers is beyond me.

And, to finish off with a bit of irony, when we went to the baggage carousel in Vegas, our luggage did not appear. We did finally find it, though, in a little makeshift corral near Southwest's office, along with that of the other 29 passengers. It had arrived earlier, as even though we hadn't made it onto our original connecting flight, the luggage had!

By the time we got to our room at the M, I had been up for about 21 hours and was beat. One good thing did, however, happen that day. Since we had to spend extra time at Seneca Niagara on Wednesday morning, we played a bit more vp, and I was lucky enough, on a three card draw to ace-jack of clubs, to hit a $2000 royal.

[FAA]

Fresh out of Kleenex. Just don't call me late for RF. Better late than never!

[Tedlark]

Glad to read about your nice royal at Seneca OMT but sad to read about your troubles with Southwest. Southwest wouldn't have been in a hurry because they most likely had standby's to fill those seats from Midway to Las Vegas, I've never been on a flight to Las Vegas from Chicago Midway that wasn't either full or 99% full.

Hope you and your wife enjoy Las Vegas and your return stop at Seneca too.

[Galeygoo]

Grueling to say the least; along with very suspicious... You documented many factors that seemed very possible (weather related) along with what I believe to be suspicious circumstances for delays and inconveniences.

Sadly, your day is similar to many stories about delays from Southwest I've heard about in the last year. I hope you were given, or requested compensation for this ordeal. I think, based on your account of the circumstances of events, they are well deserved.

And congrats on that win!!!

[billryan]

Traveling to Vegas in the winter is full of peril. I believe it was 2015, possibly 14 and about twenty of us were scheduled to meet up for the Super Bowl and just a week long reunion. I was scheduled to fly out of JFK on Tuesday but a once in a lifetime storm was expected so I tried to change my flight to Monday. The best Jet Blue could do was a 3PM flight to Ft Lauderdale, followed by an 7PM flight to Vegas. They had already canceled all Tuesday and Wednesday flights and we had a day of sand rodding planned on Thursday so this seemed like the best option.
The flight to Florida boards on time but then we sit so long they send us back for more de-icing.
Its looking more and more like we will miss our Vegas connection when we are told the plane that was supposed to go from Lauderdale to Vegas never left Boston so the flight is canceled. When we arrive we find out the next plane to Vegas is in 24 hours. There are about a dozen of us in the same boat and I opt for a flight to San Diego first thing in the morning. Many chose a mid day flight to Seattle that has a connection to Vegas.
So after a night in the airport I board a flight to San Diego and sleep through the whole thing. In SD, I'm offered a flight to Long Beach in six hours but there is nothing going to Vegas.
There are a number of us so I ask if anyone wants to rent a car and drive. Six hours later, after listening to one guy drone on about why three of his grade school teachers ought to be cloned while the rest should be neutered, we finally made it.
None of my friends from Boston made it out and the people who stayed in NY for the storm got in on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

[doris13]

the worst trip i had was actually my return flight from vegas to newark.the co-pilot's headset broke and there was not another 1 anywhere at the airport so we had to wait 3 hours for a flight to come in from california with an extra headset.

[Chicagoan]

I fly approximately 35-40 times per year, and have been doing this more than 20 years, so I have some experience with airlines. Your report on SW is unusual, at least based on my experience. SW is the one airline that I would always prefer to fly if possible because they are far superior to the others in terms of reliability and good service. But even the best airlines do indeed occasionally have problems, and I am sorry you had a bad experience on SW.

The worst airline ever (for me) is American, followed by United. SW is the best and Delta is 2nd best for domestic flights, in my experience. I have never flown Spirit, but I have friends and business associates who have, and the review is inevitably: horrible airline, horrible service.

[Tedlark]

It should be called "Broken Spirit Airlines." If they could find a way to charge for the air a passenger breathes on their plane - they would.

[billryan]

I flew SW twice, and had problems both times. Funny thing is many people swear by them. Some people whose judgement I normally trust have this bizarre addiction to logging on at midnight or whatever to secure a decent seat. It's been a few years so perhaps they got better.

[Vman96]

I flew SW twice, and had problems both times. Funny thing is many people swear by them. Some people whose judgement I normally trust have this bizarre addiction to logging on at midnight or whatever to secure a decent seat. It's been a few years so perhaps they got better.

It's exactly 24 hours before your flight. You check in right then, you'll get a good seat. But if you don't check in before getting the airport, your seat will likely suck, unless you like a middle back row seat. For Vegas they are often the cheapest option in many cities.