Time to Go to Maui!
5:30 AM EST: The day had dawned...well it hadn't really even dawned yet when we left the house to head to the Cleveland Airport. It's about an hour and 15 minute drive. The weather was good (always a concern when flying or traveling in the winter months) and it was smooth sailing to the airport. We were through security and parked in our seats in the United Club in plenty of time for our flight which left around 8:00 AM.
8:00 AM EST: Flight leaves Cleveland on time and we are scheduled to arrive at LAX EARLY! Even better! We are in comfortable in our first class seats (purchased with miles) and enjoy a breakfast and snack on our 5 hour trip to LAX. The plane we are on has absolutely no entertainment....odd for a west coast flight but hey...not even this minor detail can ruin our day. Temperatures are looking great in Maui and we are just excited to be going.
9:30 AM PST: (12:30 PM EST): We land in LAX. We have a 5 hour layover before our flight leaves for Maui but no big deal....time to have some lunch before we leave and we have access to the United Club so we have plenty of time to sit back relax and recharge all of our electronics. Within a few minutes of arriving at the United Club....we found seats and plugged everything in and were settling in when all of a sudden my husband noticed a potential problem with our connecting flight. And so the fun begins....
What Happens When Flight Plans Change?
Now...the flight looked like there was no problem at all if you looked at the departures board in the lounge. Departure showed "On Time" However...being the seasoned travelers and techies that we are we have learned to check the United App on our iPhones to get the latest information. One thing you can do when you check your departing flight is click on the little button that says "Where is this flight coming from?" Well we did that. Our flight was coming from San Francisco and was showing a delay of about 2 hours for mechanical problems. Ok.....thinking that we still have enough time at this point...still almost 5 hours before we leave. I thought about when we were heading to Alaska earlier in the year and were in San Francisco and a flight to Maui was cancelled. I had said to my husband at the time.."Boy that would be horrible to be going to Maui and have your flight cancelled." Little did I know....
We kept checking the app...flight kept getting delayed longer and longer...finally another flight from LAX was sent to pick up the flight in San Francisco and then immediately after we saw that development our flight was cancelled! Not delayed CANCELLED! Last flight to Maui that day from LAX....full flight....next flight not till the next day! WHAT??? Well here's where the technology and frequent flier helped us.....while I was freaking out...hubby went to the desk and talked to the ticketing agents and was able to get us rebooked on a Delta Flight leaving later in the day! This all happened before the board even showed the flight as cancelled at which time the entire flight was in line looking to get rebooked! By using our resources wisely we were able to get to the front of the group who needed to be rebooked and were able to actually get a flight out the same day!
So here we are....no United Flight. We are now booked on a Delta Flight but have no seat assignments. We lose our First Class Seats that we used our miles to get. But we are supposedly going to Maui on a Delta flight later that day. Ok....so now of course Delta is in a whole other terminal at LAX. The United ticket agent tells us that we will have to walk down 2 terminals outside after getting our bags from United baggage claim and then go check in at Delta for our flight and going through security again. Ok.....at least we know what we are doing now right? Wrong!
We head down to United Baggage Claim. I head to the restroom...hubby heads to the baggage counter. He is told that it will come off the carrousel but could take up to an hour to show up! AN HOUR??? Seriously?? So we find empty spots on the floor and sit and wait for the bags. About 15 minutes goes by and hubby decides to ask another person in the baggage area about what the procedure is when your flight has been cancelled and you have been rebooked on another airline. Oh....the airline will send your baggage over to the new airline....no need to pick it up! Ok??? So we aren't really sure who is right but decide to take a chance that they will send it to Delta and that it will get to Maui with us and not be riding around and around on the belt for days!
Off we go to Delta....2 terminals away is like 2 miles away! We are trying to get there quickly to make sure that we get checked in and actually get seat assignments! At this point we are sprinting or at least doing our imitation of sprinting to the Delta Terminal. We finally arrive and what a difference. The Delta people were actually NICE! They couldn't tell us if our luggage would make it to Maui with us but did everything they could to make sure that it would. They gave us seat assignments and we went through security again and headed to our gate. We were really early and there was nothing in the terminal so we sat and sat and sat.... At one point we got really bored so hubby decided to see if we could upgrade to the Delta version of economy plus seating. We were able to do so for a fee...so we did. By doing that we were able to get seats together so we were happy and kept sitting at the gate.
Getting close to time for our incoming flight to land....it was coming from Minnesota. Guess what? That flight hit a bird and the windshield cracked! Once that plane landed they were going to have to change the windshield or get another plane to take us to Maui. REALLY???? The biggest difference between United and Delta though was that Delta actually made arrangements to get another plane there to take us! They changed flights around and got another flight there to take us....of course there was another long delay to sit through but they even gave us free snacks at the gate while we were waiting!
We were bored again....it had been a really long day already and we still had a 5 hour flight...baggage collection....picking up the rental car and 30 minute drive to the hotel ahead of us. They announced that this flight was a larger aircraft so there were first class seats available at a reduced price....we jumped on that...figured we could at least try to sleep on the way. So with our new First Class tickets in hand....we finally left LAX around 10:00 PM PST (12 1/2 hours from the time that we landed!).
We were off and the Delta crew was wonderful...they gave us free Mai Tai's once we got on the plane and kept apologizing for the delay...they couldn't have been better! I cannot say how much we appreciated everything they did to get us on our way and make our flight enjoyable. Big difference from United who just left us stranded in LA!
Arriving in Maui
We had called ahead from LA once we knew the flight was going to be seriously delayed to alert the hotel and rental car company that we were going to be late arriving so they held our room and vehicle. We were pretty sure that we were going to be ok on both accounts.
11:30 PM (Hawaiian Time) 2:30 AM PST and 5:30 AM EST we finally got into the airport at Maui. First stop....baggage....holding our breath that our bags would arrive. There they were....much happiness when we spotted them!! Now to head to the rental car shuttle. Of course everyone had chosen to rent with National and they had one shuttle and a huge line of people. The driver was wonderful though and quite helpful! He shoved as much luggage and as many people on at one time as he could. The process took about 30 minutes or so to get to the lot and then another 20 minutes to collect the car and get through the checkout process. Now we just had to get to the hotel!
1:30 AM (Hawaiian Time) we pulled into the drive at the Grand Wailea. 27 hours after we left our house! What was supposed to be a 15 hour trip with layover had almost doubled! But we were there...with our baggage...our check in was quick and before we knew it we were off to our room. We didn't have time to see much and fell into our bed.....there would be time to take it all in the morning....
Things to Keep in Mind When Traveling
1. Most of the time air travel goes without a hitch. Oh there might be a delay here and there but usually you land when you are supposed to land. This is not always the case when traveling to Maui....on talking to other guests and the valets at the hotel, it seems as though long delays and cancelled flights are sometimes the norm. Be prepared to spend the entire day traveling!
2. It really paid for us to utilize the iPhone app for United to get an early heads up on what was happening with our flight. All airlines have apps for Android as well as iPhone....download them and make sure you know how they work. You never know when it might save you time or aggregation!
3. Make sure you call ahead if your flight is delayed or cancelled. It's better to be safe and make sure that the hotel and rental company are aware of your delay and hold the room and vehicle.
4. Don't let the travel issues affect the rest of your stay!!! Everything was uphill from here on out for us!
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