Not My Final Destination, Yet Here I Am!

Oh the joys of traveling! And that is completely sarcastic in case any of you needed that disclaimer.  For as much as I love going places, I really hate traveling.  The long flights, layovers, delays, going through security, none of that is fun.  But once you get there . . . and up until you leave . . . now that is a different story.  THAT is what I love.

I may be spoiled after the Hilton.  But this is my room
here at the Comfort Inn.

So, the flight was delayed leaving DC, but I already mentioned that.  We boarded the plane just after 7:00, and that was the time that we were supposed to be leaving . . . yeah, exactly.  Then we spent the next 40 minutes waiting until finally someone told us that there were a lot of planes trying to leave and we were waiting our turn.  We were just about to take off when lightning hit the ramp and the airport was shut down.  While we were on the plane.  We waited . . . and waited . . . and waited some more.  Around 8:30 they said we could possibly leave soon.  They opened up the plane for those people who wanted to get off since they were going to miss their connecting flight.  I decided to stay on, just in case.  Plus I figured in any event I would get to Bismarck sooner by staying on the plane.

And the bathroom is definitely not
as nice.

We didn't leave until around 9:15, which was 8:15 Minneapolis time.  It's a two-hour flight, so of course we didn't get to Minneapolis until 10:10.  My flight was supposed to leave at 9:30.  Do you think they waited?  Of course not.  But then again, there were some people whose flight left at 9:50.  They didn't even hold that flight for those getting in.  There were over 140 people on that flight and over half of them missed their connections.  I was one of that lucky half.  I heard that some of the people didn't get vouchers.  I'm not really sure how that was decided, but I at least am not staying in the airport tonight.  I'm not sure what I would have done if they hadn't given me that.
I'm on the first flight out tomorrow morning which is still only at 9am.  So it totally screws up my plans for the weekend.  Well, I've learned my lesson well.  No more traveling on Memorial Day weekend, and if I do, I'm not planning on flying somewhere just to drive somewhere else.  There's just way to much depending on an undependable industry.  And why do we put up with this?  Seriously, they could have held the final flight of the evening for those coming in late.  But no.  Delta doesn't care about its customers.  After all, it is consistently ranked last in customer satisfaction.  Yet I am complicit because I continue to fly Delta.  And everyone else who flies Delta despite the poor service and absolute disregard for the needs of their customers is complicit, too.  But yet, I wouldn't fly Delta if there were more options going to Bismarck.  The other option is United.  I'm not so sure United is better.  I guess I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Or I'll have to create my own third option.  I suppose I could buy my own plane, right?