Spring Break flights not fun :(

[maxiesmom]

I had a flight yesterday that was not fun. I'm thinking that if I ever vacation during Spring Break again, I am taking an extra couple of days off and flying back on the following Tuesday.

First off, going from Orlando to Atlanta the stand by list for the flight was over 60 people long! Which is just plain crazy! The gate agents were also making pages that they were still trying to assign people seats. So you have a bunch of people without seat assignments, and a lot of people without seats at all. Which doesn't make for a happy group. I knew then that this wasn't going to be a nice, relaxing flight.

And then, we go to board the plane. It takes roughly 45 minutes to get everyone in their seats. Why? Because, to be blunt, people are stupid! They stand in the aisles and chat, oblivious to the fact that there are people behind them who would like to get to their seats. There were many families who were split up, so instead of getting in their assigned seats and then trying to see what they could do about sitting together, they just hop into whatever seat they want! Which made a huge mess! Then there were kids out of their seats, talking to other people, so the FAs were not sure if the empty seats were taken or not. Good grief people, get in your assigned seats! After everyone is seated, then see who will trade with you! Do not take it upon yourself to change seats!

Then to make it even more fun it seems the airline had assigned more than one person to a seat. One guy was a total jerk about it, yelling at the FA and telling her to shut up when she was trying to help him. They also had a car seat to put in and they couldn't get it hooked up right, so they blocked the aisle while they tried to figure that out.

After we finally get into the air, the flight was so bumpy that the pilot wouldn't let the FAs serve any snacks. But the same idiot family that was yelling at the FA about seating let their kids up and about, ignoring the pages to stay seated.

Funny thing is one of the moms who was switching seats to be near her kids (who I was sitting next to) wouldn't offer to move her kids back to seats by her in the rear of the plane. She wanted to move up 12 rows to where they were. Move from my nice aisle seat back to the rear of the plane in a middle seat? No thank you. But a person sitting in front of us did trade with her. She then proceeded to totally ignore her kids, except for handing granola bars over the seat back a couple of times. Yeah, it was really a dire need for you to sit next to your kids.

I won't even go into details on the fun of the next flight (people yelling at gate agents, complaints about gate checking luggage) but I will tell you that you won't find this person flying with the Spring Break hoards ever again!

 

[PSUGuy]

I don't see any relation between your valid complaints and Spring Break. I've experienced these things, singly and in clusters like you, at various times of the year, and the bumpy ride is beyond anyone's control, unless you have evidence that the pilot was intentionally jerking the wheel around. Sorry for your bad flight, but to paraphrase a great philosopher, 'Stuff Happens'.

Bill From PA

 

[maxiesmom]

Well, I have never experienced a flight like that before. And I do think the amount of totally clueless passangers does have something to do with flying during Spring Break, when you have a ton of not so frequent flyers flying with their families.

And I know that the pilot can't control how bumpy the flight is. It was just another added level of fun to an already fun flight experience.

Geeze, can't someone post an opinion here without it turning into a debate?

 

[daisyx3]

We did our break from Thursday to Thursday. It saved a lot of money on airfare ($400 over going from Friday to Friday for the 5 of us). The year before we flew Monday to Monday because our break was the week before Easter--we flew out the day after. In both cases my kids missed one day of school, and I had to play hooky for a day this year because my vacation started Good Friday, but we didn't experience any of the problems you describe.
Daisyx3

 

[Inkmahm]

Which airline was it that was so unprepared for having people assigned to seats? Sounds more like an operations issue than a Spring Break timing issue to me.

 

[maxiesmom]

Which airline was it that was so unprepared for having people assigned to seats? Sounds more like an operations issue than a Spring Break timing issue to me.

It was Delta. And the flight I was orginally booked on was cancelled weeks ago. They must have gone a bit overboard in combining flights.

 

[Inkmahm]

It was Delta. And the flight I was orginally booked on was cancelled weeks ago. They must have gone a bit overboard in combining flights.

Interesting. My inlaws flew Delta back in February and they did not have assigned seats until they got to the airport. The entire plane was assigned at the airport, not in advance. We thought that was really odd. They got to the airport hours ahead of time to make sure they got seats as we figured it would be first come, first served. It wasted a LOT of their time having to get there that early just because seats weren't assigned in advance.

 

[kirbsam]

Well, I have never experienced a flight like that before. And I do think the amount of totally clueless passangers does have something to do with flying during Spring Break, when you have a ton of not so frequent flyers flying with their families.

And I know that the pilot can't control how bumpy the flight is. It was just another added level of fun to an already fun flight experience.

Geeze, can't someone post an opinion here without it turning into a debate?

no. opinions welcome debate. so when you post an opinion , you will get other opinions. i happen to agree with the guy from pa.

 

[Alexander]

It almost sounds like there was some kind of flight cancelations that caused Delta to have so many stand by passengers. It also seems odd to have so many people with unassigned seats. Somewhere there was a glitch on the administration end of things.

However.....some people have no clue how to fly. I don't mean that literally, but some people are so rude and have no common sense. Seriously, I am a teacher, but will take a kid with a ton of common sense over a kid with a ton of academic ability anyday!

You just don't yell at people and then ignore FEDERAL REGULATIONS to obey flight attendants. I think maybe the FA's should have reminded that family directly of that law. If that didn't shut them up and get them in their seats, I would have notified them ahead in Atlanta of an uncooperative passenger.

We fly every year during spring break and Presidents week, and haven't had many issues at all. Yes, of course there are some, but nothing like what the OP experienced all on one flight.

 

[seashoreCM]

I And then, we go to board the plane. It takes roughly 45 minutes to get everyone in their seats. :

After we finally get into the air, !

It is this kind of thing that airlines analyze (or should analyze) for improving the boarding practices for the future because somebody has to "take the late" (which is one of the various kinds of infractions that might be added to his employment record).

There must be some kind of system for re-assign seats in case a flight is cancelled and there should not be so many cancellations that someone cannot manually re-assign seats and keep families (more correctly persons all on the same travel record) together.

I Move from my nice aisle seat back to the rear of the plane in a middle seat? No thank you. But a person sitting in front of us did trade with her. She then proceeded to totally ignore her kids, except for handing granola bars over the seat back a couple of times. Yeah, it was really a dire need for you to sit next to your kids.:!

Better than walking up the aisle every so often to hand granola bars and drinks across you to her kids and (for a more attentive mom) perhaps chit chat too.

 

[mousefan1972]

While I am looking foward to our Disney trip (we leave on Friday) I am not looking foward to our flights. We are going during our state's school vacation week, and every single flight on both our departure day and return home day are sold out. I am SO glad I bought EBCI (flying SW) for both flight segments the same day I purchased our tickets. This should be interesting.

 

[toywaltz]

It's quite funny to see the jokers when you hit real turbulence....I've seen a guy just too smart for it all get slammed against the overhead. Anyone that doesn't pay attention to the pilots have never encountered REAL turbulence.

I routinely tell people to stop being ignorant. They obviously don't have the common sense to know better so someone needs to tell them.

 

[DebbieB]

I think the fact that you were flying on Saturday and it was the end of spring break was a factor. I travel alot for work mostly on Delta and when you have a flight with mostly business travelers, things go much smoother because everyone is familiar with procedures, there aren't many issues with seat reassignments. There had to be a flight cancellation for there to be 60 standbys or perhaps people trying to move up to an earlier flight.

 

[maxiesmom]

I think the fact that you were flying on Saturday and it was the end of spring break was a factor. I travel alot for work mostly on Delta and when you have a flight with mostly business travelers, things go much smoother because everyone is familiar with procedures, there aren't many issues with seat reassignments. There had to be a flight cancellation for there to be 60 standbys or perhaps people trying to move up to an earlier flight.

I fly Delta a lot, and this is the first time I have run into such chaos. Which is why I am putting a lot of the blame on it being Spring Break. Maybe I have just been really lucky. I have run into my fare share of delays, but never have I encountered a flight like that one. You could actually feel the tension at the gate.

 

[blenny]

We were also at DW over spring break but our flights went rather seamless. Instead of doing the Sat to Sat thing, we pulled DD our of school for a couple days and did a Wednesday to Tuesday thing. That went rather flawless and saved several hundred dollars.

I'd consider it a lesson learned. I would make sure seats are assigned before getting there and having ideal flights times. About 5 years ago, we did an offsite stay near Disneay and then had 6am flights out of MCO. What's the point of staying (trying to sleep) then to wake at 2am, get to the airport, shake the car rental and have extra time to catch a flight.

Thanks for your posting though - something else to consider to streamline the vacation.

blenny

 

[Funwith4kids]

We flew home yesterday without issue on Airtran (who gets a bad rep from several on this board. Funny you mentioned you were on Delta which is one of the legacy airlines that could do no wrong according to some of the FL haters.)

Our flight was full, left on time, no issues with seating, service was good, and arrived on time. Unfortunately, what you described could happen to anyone at anytime on any airline. There are really some clueless and rude people in this world and they can really stick out in a tin can with wings with 100+ people.

 

[maxiesmom]

We flew home yesterday without issue on Airtran (who gets a bad rep from several on this board. Funny you mentioned you were on Delta which is one of the legacy airlines that could do no wrong according to some of the FL haters.)

Our flight was full, left on time, no issues with seating, service was good, and arrived on time. Unfortunately, what you described could happen to anyone at anytime on any airline. There are really some clueless and rude people in this world and they can really stick out in a tin can with wings with 100+ people.

I love Air Tran! When I have flown on them, they make multiple announcements meant to help the boarding process. They announce that each person, even children, must have their own boarding pass in hand. They announce that you are to get to your seat, stow your over-head luggage, and move off of the aisle asap. And the FAs reiterate that on the plane.

We could have used some of that on the Delta flight. Instead people were doing their own thing, which was not efficient at all!

 

[TheWog]

Geeze, can't someone post an opinion here without it turning into a debate?

Nope, I don't think so.

Sorry it was crazy for you.

 

[lugnut33]

Really, if they would just add more fees that would help.



(OK, I'm kidding)

 

[Mom2OandElle]

We are flying on Delta tomorrow and do not have assigned seats! I was nervous before and am even more so after reading this post. Wish me and my party of 6 luck! We plan to get to Logan two hours early and hope for the best.