Please sir, may I have some......

I just love airline travel. The airlines are much like the utility companies or a phone company. There really isn't a good one and the only reason you are using one over another is either you haven't been shafted by them yet or there is no other option. This may seem a bit hostile, but after traveling for 25 hours, you might be as well.

We left NYC at 4 AM (GMT -5) and didn't arrive in Honolulu until 10:30 PM (GMT -10). Some of the time was consumed in waiting on the runway or waiting for the plane. Some was spent in actual flight time. This I was ready to deal with. I wasn't ready to deal with an 8 hour delay, detour and emergency landing at LAX because of slight tire (1 tire) and spoiler damage. The damage didn't seem to affect the landing and could have waited until our arrival in Honolulu. Apparently an hour and a half detour to LAX was more convenient for Delta. So Delta shafted 200 people, because it was easier to get the replacement parts at LAX than Honolulu. It would have been an inconvenience for the airline, but would not have affected us on the plane. Oh well. Let the buyer shoulder the burden.


Again, this would not have bothered me as much, if they were prepared. They were not. From the moment we were notified of the change, till we entered the terminal, approximately two hours had elapsed. Where they ready to deal with 200 people awaiting transport to Honolulu via different avenues? NO! We waited another two and half hours on a sloth line before we were given a decent alternative. Mind you, we were at the front of this line. It took then an hour and a half after we landed to cancel the flight. While awaiting on line, we tried contacting Delta via phone and we were presented with a next day option leaving at 10 AM from Salt Lake City to Honolulu. It was approximately 2 PM in LA at the time. Was Delta going to reimburse me for my already booked hotel room in Honolulu? Of course not. If you read the fine print on a ticket, it states clearly that they guarantee nothing. This is an escape clause for them and needs to be done away with. If they had to guarantee something, maybe we'd see some service changes.

We finally got booked on another flight (Northwest Airlines, already on me sh*t list from my trip to Detroit, which I also chronicled here), which was suppose to leave at 2:50 PM but was delayed 5 hours to accommodate all these lost passengers. 5 hours in a terminal is like watching flies performing shadow puppet theater.

We finally arrived in Honolulu and were picked up by a limousine. Apparently in Hawaii, limos are regular cabs. The hotel is amazing. We're staying at the Moana Surfrider. It is the oldest hotel in Honolulu. The wedding we are here for should be great. Time to decompress. See you back in the real world sometime.

ALOHA!!