Why I Love Northwest Airlines

After struggling for five hours to get the hell out of my apartment on Wednesday, I finally managed to carve a pathway long enough to get my car out of the parking lot...with my ice-scraper(painstakingly, as my knuckles would attest). After driving around for an hour trying to find an on-ramp to the highway that was not blocked by a freakin' truck, I finally made it to the airport. My flight was supposed to leave at 11:15, and I did not make it to the airport until about 1:15. No big deal, as my flight was cancelled anyway. As was the 2:30 flight. The first flight out that I could get on was from Louisville to Detroit at 6:30, then from Detroit to Richmond, arriving in the latter city around 11:45pm. Better than nothing, I thought.

So I managed to fuck around at the airport for 5 hours(Ever been to Louisville Int'l? Not much to do.) The plane arrived on time, and I boarded. And we sit there. On the plane. For an hour and fifteen minutes. Before we start moving. The plane's fuel gauges, as the pilot explained, were not functioning correctly. So the mechanics had to use a dipstick of some sort to manually measure the fuel level. Well, their dipstick was broken, too. So they finally got the bright idea to just fill the plane all the way up with fuel.

By the time I arrived in Detroit, I had missed my connecting flight. But, it didn't matter, because the flight was fucking cancelled anyway. As was just about every other Northwest Flight leaving Detroit that evening. So I was stuck in an airport, which had no open shops, no where to eat, no where to smoke, and I had to stand in line for a couple hours with about 300 PISSED off people(you can rest assured that I was one of them.)

"Mr. Nixon, the next flight out to Richmond is at 2:00pm tomorrow. Here are your tickets. Next!," the booking agent said.

"Wait a minute! What hotel do you plan on putting me at tonight, and how much money are giving me for food?," I retorted.

"Most people are sleeping at the airport, sir."

"I am NOT most people, ma'am"

And with a heavy sigh, she filled out the necessary vouchers, and sent me on my way. I call, and get a shuttle to the hotel with zero difficulty. Finally, things are looking up! On the shuttle to the hotel, everyone was laughing about how badly Northwest screwed things up. It's amazing how total strangers can bond over near catastrophe.

At the reception desk, I handed over my voucher, and the lady told me that she would need credit card. I asked her if she is going to hold anything on the card, and she informed me that she was going to charge $50 security deposit that I would get back in 45 days. Not having $50 in my checking account, I offered to pay cash on the security deposit, and was refused. At this point, I flipped my lid. It was already Christmas Eve, and all I wanted to do was go to sleep and hope the next day would be better, and this bitch reception manager was essentially telling me "too bad."And, if it weren't for the generousity of a sweet lady from New Orleans, I would have been in rough shape that night. But she payed my security deposit, and said some choice words to the receptionist in my defense. That marks the first time that I have ever hugged a complete stranger.

The next day was rather uneventful, until I got to the baggage claim. Yeah, you guessed it. They lost my fucking luggage. Apparently, they lost just about everyone's luggage. So I got to wait in line for another hour and a half to be told that they had no idea where it was, and when or if they got it in, they would send it to me. Great. There go the clothes I bought specifically for this trip. Oh yeah, and my Christmas gifts! Thank you, Northwest!

Anyway, Christmas day was great. I haven't seen most of my family in a really long time, and most turned out this year. I hope everyone else had a good Christmas, or a good weekend if you don't celebrate.

Back to me. My luggage finally turned up today(Sunday) at 6:30am. And wouldn't you know, the shampoo bottle that I had tied up inside two grocery bags popped open, and somehow got out of the bags, getting shampoo over just about everything inside. The entire inside of my bag was coated with Redken for Men. That is always a good way to start off your journey home.

I borrowed some luggage from the folks, packed up what I could, and left for the airport again. I complained about how a lot of my stuff was ruined to the clerk at the Northwest check-in desk.

"I hardly see how that's my problem, sir."

"Well, it's not exactly your problem, ma'am, but I would like to know what your company plans on doing about it."

"I don't know. I've been here all day and I'm new. My supervisor should be at the gate."

Fine. I see they train them well. I was certainly looking forward to inform her supervisor that she never asked me for identification before handing over my tickets, but as it turns out, he was no where to be found. I resolved to settle it later.

All in all, I spent about 40 hours travelling in the past 4 days. I could have driven there and back twice, and be on my way to Richmond again, in the time that Northwest took to take me there and back once. To be fair, weather had a lot to do with it. But nowhere along the way did Northwest make the trip any less stressful. Cancellations and delays aside, I was appalled the entire time with the attitude that the Northwest employees were taking with customers. I have worked in customer service for years, and I am very good with the public. I refuse to be talked to as if I am an inconvenience. Wow, this post is getting long. I'm sure no one will read this far. So yeah, my trip mostly sucked.