We don't like flying

We finally arrived in San Francisco about five hours late thanks to fog at SF airport. This was the end of the line for us as we had had another awful Quantas flight thanks to their inept administration and lack of organisation. The crew on the aircraft did try to salvage something from the debacle but basically there is little hope when your try to make sure everything is organised:-
1. Travel agent contacted Quantas when ordering the flight to ensure gluten free meal for Chris and extra legroom for me
2. All confirmed on March 17
3. We emailed the airline in Australia, after the first mess of a flight
4. They responded to this advising us to ring their free help line number and Chris confirmed yet again that we needed a Gluten free diet and extra legroom.

We arrived at Melbourne Airport and checked in and the clerk had details of all requests, including gluten free meal, which was supposedly on board but Tony still had no extra legroom. The seat was even worse than before but he did have the aisle seat so he could stretch out his leg as recommended by their agent, but the only problem with this is other passengers and crew moving through the plane seem to be unable to do so when others are sleeping without hanging on to the seats or walking into passengers in the aisle seats or walking on his foot!

Came the meal and we were approached by the steward and we asked for the Gluten free meal and surprise! There was no record of this on board. All of the other Gluten free meals had been issued but Chris had been listed only as a special meal. No one asked what her requirements were so we are led to believe that this statement is BS.

Steward Troy did manage to obtain a first class meal of Lamb Shank or chops with a fresh salad for Chris which was a larger portion than the one Tony was given. The crew did work well to sort out the muddle but we wonder, what is the point of ordering the service that both Virgin and Qantas offered and neither could deliver as promised?

A bloody awful flight, with the fart and his wife in front of us unable sit still, and the girls behind us giving them back-up. LA airport and a 747 400 with about 95% occupancy and immigration cum Homeland Security work very slowly. Japanese travellers fearing Swine flu are wearing masks but not over their noses and it was hot and getting hotter but, we were on time. We were not let through quickly as promised at Chicago and we had to be scanned again. We, unlike a lot of passengers had filled in the paperwork correctly though!

This has to be one of the worst run airports of all with no direct links between terminals so we have to run the gamut of panhandlers posing as charity workers who are trying to shake you down. They are aided by confusing signage, blurred announcements and the fact you have been awake for more than a day.

We arrived at the next terminal after dragging the cases around for 300 metres in what is now HEAT! Lack of information again and staff doing their utmost to look busy and oblivious of customers and we clamber upstairs via the escalators and arrive at Homeland Security again. Surly staff and lack of interest will cause yet another incident and it will be someone else’s fault when it happens and, despite checking that I had removed all of my metal gear my wristwatch was not detected by machine or the member of staff. O Hell! What hope is there?

We eventually got to the American Airlines area along with the other passengers to be ignored by the staff and we were confined behind glass for the duration. When they were happy we were good and cooked we were then informed that the flight would be delayed due to problems at SF. More and more delays and then more delays were announced.

Our contract to fly with AA was arranged by Quantas and our paperwork was clearly marked that we were still intercontinental passengers but, the dead ringer to the sister from Doc Hollywood with the withering look informed us that our carrier bag was. “One too many and would have to be left behind!” Chris repacked the contents and only afterwards did we think to put the laptop inside and thereby reduce the numbers.

We got onboard the MD 80 and on seeing Tony’s hat the chief stewardess enquired if we were Australian. Being punch-drunk from travelling he blurted out that we were flying in after seeing our daughter and this was our anniversary present to us. We were right at the back just in front of the engines. The staff made ready and our anniversary was announced over the Tannoy and we were presented with Champagne (two glasses) and two packets of nibbles. The plane filled and we got ready to go and received the quickest safety bulletin and demo, ever.

Not too fast, after start up we taxied out and stopped in the middle of nowhere to sit and wait for clearance to taxi the rest of the way to the perimeter. Stop again and after 40 minutes we moved onto the runway and took off. Oh the noise! But we were moving. After more than an hour and a half we were informed that we would have to wait to land. While we had stuttered around we awaited our promised refreshments which consisted of two or three plastics cups of iced water and a separate delivery of one tin of coke, for us to share, with ice.

The noise in the aircraft was awful and was similar to being in an empty van with growling wheel bearings and differential problems. It eventually landed and we rattled to the terminal and after a long wait with some relief we got off. We are not doing that ever again.