"With great benefits comes even greater problems".
Here is how my weekend looked like:
Phoenix - Philly - Newark - Hartford - Philly - Phoenix.
I was excited and nervous at the same time. Just like a girl before for her first high school prom. Excited, that I was going to non-rev (non revenue passenger) and nervous as to how this flying will unfold. For starters reading this, a non-rev can fly if and only if there is space left after the flight if filled with customers who paid for the flight.
Going east was awesome. I got on a red-eye on Friday night from Phoenix to Philly pretty easily. But the story is not over. I got a middle seat, sandwiched between 2 over-sized passengers. I was like a McDonalds burger - "thin patty" between these 2 giant buns (Are u listening McDonalds?). I had been reading on the Wall Street Journal that some people were supporting the call for having these bigger passengers buy 2 seats. After that trip I am a big YES for that effort. However, there was a brighter side to being sandwiched between these giants. In the morning, the flight was pretty cold inside. You guessed it right! I was so warm and cozy. Gross as it may sound, was still comfortable.
So I reached Philly and from there to Newark and there to Hartford pretty easily. I was so happy that my entire bill so far on air tix was 0.00. woot woot!
Hartford was so much fun! Meeting with old friends was awesome. It was also the first time in my life that I saw a DUI check post. Cops all over. I do agree that it was a good effort catching all those DUIers, however their strategy was totally out of place. Did I say strategy - the fav word of any MBA. Coming back to their effort, I definitely felt that they can use some consulting services to hone their placement - "McKinsey.. are u listening? New Business .. wohoo".
After all this fun ended, came Sunday - the day to travel back to the desert. My flight was scheduled to depart Hartford at 1:15 pm. However, the NE weather played a spoil sport. Flights started getting delayed and some cancelled. The revenue passengers started to roll over into next flights and boom! I could not get onto the flight to Philly until 5:30 pm. Finally, I reached Philly at 6:30 pm. Now the toughest part. Getting back from Philly to Phoenix.
All flights were full. The worst part, all airlines cease their operations to west coast by 7pm, however because of weather, all flights were delayed by a couple of hours. I was like - "OMG, I am gonna die!". I made plan A, B and C.
Plan A - Fly to Vegas at 8 pm and take early morning from Vegas to Phoenix
Plan B - Try to get onto last Phoenix flight at 8:30 pm
Plan C - Fly to Chicago and see where I can go from there
The ultimate aim was to fly south or west.
7:50 pm: I was still trying to get onto the Vegas flight (which was almost full) when gate agent announced that flight had some maintenance problem and it wont depart until 10 pm.
7:55 pm: I decided to make a sprint for Plan B and try to get a seat on the almost full flight to Phoenix.
8:10 pm: Reached the other concourse and tried my luck.
8:15 pm: I got the last available seat on the flight to Phoenix.
8:16 pm: I was the king of the world!
I reached Phoenix at 11:30 pm right on time for my bed.
I think everyone who non-revs has to go through this kind of pain, it makes you more resilient and a better planner.
Morale of story:
Satisfaction of flying 0.00 > Problems of flying 0.00
-Navster
