DC2CERUMA - Day 0.5

Today started the Disney Coast to Coast-er Universally Magic Adventure (DC2CerUMA). This trip will take me to Walt Disney World in Orlando and Universal Studios Florida. I'll then be heading over to Anaheim to visit Disneyland for the DPN Westfest event with a day for Universal Studios Hollywood and Magic Mountain.

I'm writing this earlier than I expected and hence the 0.5 day. I was hoping to be writing this after my first full day at Disney World. But I got hit with the bug a boo! Got Delta's flight to Los Angeles from Honolulu. In a weird plus to the event I ended up sitting across the aisle from the guy who invented LOL cats at the Icanhascheeseburger web site. How do I know that it's him? I used to work with Eric. We hadn't taken off when the crew came on and let us know that we were heading back to the terminal for a sick passenger to get off. OK, at least we weren't airborne!

We're sitting at the gate and I see the ramp moved to the plane, see a person leave the plane and then the ramp pulled away from the plane. Then we sat. I was already a bit worried for a tight connection since when I originally made the reservation I had like an hour for the connection. The week before departure I received a notice that flight had moved and had 40 minutes for the connection. So we're sitting for a little bit when the pilot comes on and says that they were receiving additional fuel and that they would be leaving in a few minutes. But we sat. When we finally moved it was almost an hour later. According to the official information on the Delta web site, departure was 1:59pm. Maybe the pilot can put the petal to the metal or put the muster in the thruster and get us to LA on time, 9:30pm LA time.

The airlines have their rules, when the plane pulls away that is departure time and when the wheels hit the ground is the arrival time. That arrival time doesn't include the time to taxi to the arrival city's gate. When we arrive in LA, we approach the gate and then stop. The pilot comes in and tells us that he's got to power down the plane and wait for the tractor to be towed into the gate. UGH! When I checked-in in Honolulu, I talked to the agent about the tight connection and she moved me to the second row in the cattle car section so I was closer to the front of the plane. When the door opened and people started to deplane, as I passed the flight attendants they were making announcements about connections and said the the flight to Orlando had already departed.

Long story short, they couldn't get me out that night. When told about the time of departure and arrival into Orlando for the next day, I told the agent, Azali that I'd be loosing a day at the Disney parks and that ticket was $131 (Single day park hopper). He offered me a $100 travel credit good for one year on Delta. Well, to the best that I can remember, this is only the second time EVER that I've flown Delta. He said I could give it to someone. Asked him why would I give money to someone for me loosing money and told him it wasn't good enough. He had no answer. They are putting me up at the Holiday Inn with a meal voucher for all of $6.00. Heck I can't even buy a combo meal at McDonald's for that amount. Ashley at the front desk of the Holiday Inn LAX said she didn't know what they had that would be covered by the voucher cost. While Azali and Ashley, oh, how funny, both their names begin with A, were pleasant, neither have gone above and beyond to get one of the AWESOME JOB cards that I plan on using during the trip.

I'm gonna cut it here. It's after midnight in LA and I'm going to need to be at the airport for 6am for a 7:55am United flight. When I check in tomorrow, I'll see what else they can do for me and let you know.

Aloha for now!