I hate flying
Well, it’s not so much that I hate flying as such, I hate what flying entails. Yesterday’s flight back from San Francisco was a prime example. It was the exact opposite of the smooth sailing down and — unfortunately — a much more familiar experience.
When we booked the flight (in January), it was scheduled to leave SFO at 5:55pm (this is Air Canada flight 565). A week or so after booking, we were informed that it had been pushed back to 6:55pm. So far, so good.
Like every good traveller, I confirmed with Air Canada, yesterday morning, that the flight was actually scheduled to leave at 6:55pm. It was. When we got to the airport yesterday afternoon, at about 4:30pm, we went to check in. First we found out that my seat reservation (20E) could not be honored, because the plane didn’t have a 20E. Great! After all the trouble we went through to get seats next to each other (since we had to book separately), this is what happens. 
The nice schematics the had up on the Internet booking sites to pre-reserve your seat showed 3 seats, isle, 3 seats. The actual plane had 2 seats, isle, 2 seats. Since my seat was the middle seat, they couldn’t guarantee where I’d end up, given that there was no middle seat. They’d try and have us sit together, they said, but they couldn’t promise anything.
Next we were told the flight had been delayed till 8:15pm, due to mechanical reasons. The plane hadn’t left Vancouver yet, as they were still trying to fix the issue.
Not the best experience, so far, but still not too bad. We had dinner (with some beer) at the airport, after which I went to check the schedule displayed at the gate. I was expecting that the flight would be further delayed than 8:15pm. What I didn’t expect was reading 11:00pm as the new departure time. What the hell?! Another three hours and a bit of delay — it only takes two hours to fly down from Vancouver!
By this point, we were 100% certain that the flight would eventually be cancelled. We’ve experienced before how this works. So, we tried to be pro-active and inquired about alternative flights on Monday (today). We were told that the first flight out that wasn’t booked solid was the 7:50pm flight Monday evening. The only other option was to pay over $1000 per person to upgrade to business class. (To top it off, they were being bitchy about even offering that option.) The only thing that went smoothly was that we did get seats next to each other (29D and 29F).
So, there we sat, with our $20 voucher (not good for alcohol, too bad), waiting and waiting some more. Soon, they pushed back the planned departure time to 11:35pm. By this time it was about 9:30pm. We went to have our free snackie, paid for with the voucher.
At around 11:00pm, the plane actually arrived. We had not really been expecting that. Instead, we were still waiting for the announcement that the flight had been cancelled. They didn’t cancel it. We boarded quite quickly, but had to sit docked at the gate for a while and again before getting onto the runway. By the time we took off it was midnight. We landed in Vancouver at 1:50am. By the time we grabbed a cab it was 2:15am. We got home at pretty much 3:00am on the dot.
Of course, this Monday morning, of all Mondays, was a very important day for my wife at work. She had to hold an orientation for new employees at 9:00am and wanted to get into work early (like 8:00am) to prepare. So three and a half hours of sleep for her, that was all she got.
I decided to go in a bit late and got myself two more hours of resting, dozing (not really sleeping). It certainly helped, though. I am feeling much more human than I expected I would after a night like this.
One thing’s for sure, though: early bed time tonight.
