How I almost didn't get home for Christmas: A comedy of errors brought to you by Jetsgo - Part I

I wrote this blog as I sat in my parents' home after the trial and tribulation of getting to Montreal. This is part one of a two part blog. Enjoy...

It's just about five o'clock Christmas afternoon and I'm sitting comfortably at my parents' dining table. After a harried Christmas Eve at Pearson International Airport thanks to the kiss-muh-ass airline, Jetsgo -- or Jets Don't Go if you are an irate passenger whose been sitting at the airport for 36 hours.

So, this long blog is dedicated to all the miserable holiday travellers who were at the airport or had to deal with delayed flights and especially those who couldn't make it home to friends and family.

Thursday, December 23
Lawd! It's snowing. And raining. And just miserable outside. A winter storm -- nothing out of the ordinary, really -- hit Southern Ontario. Being a born and bred Montrealer, a winter storm is just some snow -- put on your coat and boot and go along your merry way.

Well, in Toronto, it doesn't work like that.

The buses and street cars were barely running. The roads were bad and my sister wasn't going to work. As we watched Breakfast Television, we saw the confusion at the airport. Flights were delayed and cancelled and guess who was all up in the fray? Jetsgo.

Now, we had decided to fly to Montreal. Not because of any other reason than my sister didn't have any more vacation days. If we took the train, we wouldn't get into Montreal until the night of Christmas Eve. So, we found some cheap flight to Montreal on Jetsgo at 4 pm. We were scheduled to arrive at Trudeau International Airport at 5:15 pm.

Hmmph.

Anyway, the 'storm' (which was really just snow and ice. It was nothing like the Ice Storm of '98 -- now, that was a storm) ended Thursday afternoon. Being the naive traveller that I was, I believed that all the problems at the airport would be rectified by the time I was ready to fly out Friday afternoon. If I had only know, I would have scotched on a VIA train.

Friday, December 24 - before check in
I'm going home for Christmas! Yay! I'm going to get in at 5:15, go to my parents' house, freshen up, eat some black cake, get dressed, go to church and start my Christmas right!

I went to work and was back home by 12:21 pm. The boyfriend was coming to pick us up and take us to the airport. By 1 pm, we were on our way. We drove up Markham Rd. to the 401. As soon as we got on the 401, we were snarled in traffic.

C'mon. It's flippin' 1:15 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, why is there traffic? The skies were bright blue, the roads were clear and dry and there were no accidents.

Foreshadowing, maybe.

Maybe the Lord was trying to send me a message -- don't go, child! There is still time to cut your losses and get a train. Or drive -- you'll be better off that way!

Alas, we did not heed the heavenly warning and we fought our way to the airport. Now, my sister is someone who like to get to the airport early, so I"m sure she was getting antsy as we eased our way along the 401. Finally at minutes to two o'clock, we rolled up to PIA. I breathed a sigh of relief. I said 'bye!' to the boyfriend (who I now believe is psychic 'cause he said, "If your plane doesn't leave, hee hee, call me") and headed inside.
Gasp.

Oh. My. Goodness. The line for Jetsgo snaked around the front of Terminal 3's entrance. My sister gave me a nasty look that said: "We should have gotten to the airport earlier!" Toots, I don't control the crazy, unforseen traffic jams in T.O. Relax -- we have a WHOLE two hours to check in. We got in line and actually, it was moving pretty quickly. We made fast friends with a lady named Susan who was standing behind us.

We all had the same fear -- sitting at the airport all night. Susan's niece was an angel in her very first Christmas pageant at 6:30 pm. My sister and I were looking forward to a candlelight Christmas service at 7:30. All of us should have gotten home in time for our Christmas Eve events.

And I should have taken Sociology as a minor in university. And I should have made the moves on hotboy Will Lemay when I had the chance (that's another blog, friends).

Shoulds don't add up to a whole heckuva lot.

A half an hour passed and we were half way through the line, which was moving quickly -- until, suddenly, three of the six ticket agents left. Just upped and left, with about 200 people in line waiting to check in. We tried to figure that out... tried to rationalize it: "they are behind the gate getting things ready for a flight that's ready to take off..."

Right.

So, the line inched along like traffic on the dratted 401. Forty-five minutes later -- maybe an hour? -- we were at the front of the line. It was about 3:15 pm and I was hungry, my feet were sore and I just wanted to check in and sit down. I wasn't too peeved, we had plenty of time to get to our gate and get home. I'm saying, the flight was leaving at four o'clock.

Ummm... no. When I turned around to survey the state of the evergrowing line, I saw that the electronic schedule board had changed. Our flight was now leaving at 5:30 pm.

Sigh. Five-thirty? Ok, I won't get pissy. I can deal with an hour and a half delay. I'll have a meal and by the time we're done eating, the plane would be ready to go.

As a ticket/check-in agent became available, my sister and I were about to step up, an announcement was made: "Any passengers on the 3:50 flight to Ottawa, please come to the front of the line for check-in." Suddenly, 60 people were lined up in front of my sister, Susan and I. We were NOT please. I understood that people needed to get on their flight, what I couldn't understand was why there were only three Jetsgo reps checking in hundreds of passengers. And, as time went on, more people were arriving at the airport, lining up to check in for their Jetsgo flight.

At about 4:30 pm -- after waiting two and a half hours in line, we were checked in. Cool. My sister and I went through security (guy, everything from my belt buckle to the zipper on my boots were setting the wand off.) But, why complain? I would be a few hours late, but soon I would be at home, eating black cake, drinking a hot cup of tea and having a few slice of ham. Until then, a Tim Horton's ham and cheese sandwich, a honey dipped doughnut and a medium coffee, triple-triple, would have to suffice.

Off to Gate B19 to eat my late lunch/early dinner. We saw Susan chilling out -- perturbed that she may miss her niece's Christmas pageant. But we'd all be home at a decent hour, early enough for me to watch CNN and get the NORAD report saying where Santa was along his journey. (Yes, I'm a big woman, but I like it. It's funny.)

At five o'clock, Susan rushed over to us. The flight's been changed! The flight's been changed! We are now scheduled to fly out of Toronto at 9:15 pm. What? Wait a minute -- there is NO snow, NO inclement weather in Toronto, Montreal or anywhere in between. What is the reason for a five hour delay? My blood began to boil -- I wanted to speak to someone because this now went from a minor annoyance to downright foolishness. So, an increasingly annoyed Urban Sista went to gate counter.

"Excuse me," I said.

"Uhn huh?" The rep didn't even look up. Guy, I understand you're busy, but this is certainly NOT good customer service.

"I'm on the four o'clock Jetsgo flight to Montreal, which has just been delayed until 9:15 tonight. Could you tell me what's the reason for the five hour delay?"

"Lack of aircraft."

WHAT? That doesn't sound right... that can't be right. I'm saying, you're running a big airline operation -- flying all over Canada and the U.S. -- and you don't have ENOUGH planes? It's not like Jetsgo started running yesterday. This airline has been around for at least two years. If you know December 24 is one of busiest travel days of the year, wouldn't you ensure that there are ENOUGH planes to take your passengers where they PAID to go?

But, then again, what do you expect for $1 fares? Obviously, Jetsgo ain't making ENOUGH money to ensure that there are ENOUGH planes to go around.

I headed back to my seat in front of gate B19 to give the scoop to my sister and Susan. As I told them what was going on, I saw a Jetsgo representative being escorted BY POLICE to gate B18. An irate group of passengers had surrounded the Jetsgo folks. Being curious and wanting to know what the heck was going on ('cause no one was telling us anything unless we pro-actively demanded information), the Urban Sista made her way over there.

"I want to know what's going on!" yelled a female passenger. She pointed to the police officer. "You tell me! I don't trust THESE people! They've been telling us lies ALL DAY!"

Dang. Somebody's mad at you.

"We're getting ready to commence boarding," said the female Jetsgo rep looking more than scared of the mini mob of 25 people.

"This is ridiculous," a woman muttered.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"We were supposed to leave for Cancun yesterday morning at six-thirty. They cancelled the flight and asked us to come back this morning. I got back here at eight-thirty this morning and we still haven't left. I've been here 36 hours."

Shoot. And I'm complaining about a five hour delay? Boy, I would be ready to cut someone if I was waiting on a plane for a full day and a half.

I saw a Black woman who was a Jetsgo rep. I thought, 'maybe, sister-to-sister, she could fill me in...' She did.

The scoop was: "The probability of a supervisor coming down here to talk to you is nil. What I can tell you to do is go back into the departure lounge and see if there are any other flights available with another airline."

Damn. When your own reps are directing your clients elsewhere things can't be good.

It didn't sound too promising at best. I thanked the woman for her honesty. After being behind the gate for two hours, this woman was the only one who would give us real information so I could make a decision.

My sister and I decided to try our luck in the departure lounge. Good grief, if you had seen the confusion out there. At that point, I should have just gotten my luggage and tried my luck elsewhere, but being a naive traveler, I wanted to investigate. So, I stood in the fray with about 75 people who were trying (trying being the operative word) to get to St. John's, Newfoundland. Their flight had been cancelled Thursday and delayed all day Friday. It seemed like the majority of these people had come to Toronto on connecting flights from out West (I'm sure many of the Toronto passenger went back to their respective yards) and didn't have anywhere to go. They had been waiting for almost two days at the airport. They had surrounded the Jetsgo employees and they weren't letting them go without answers.

It was like the Jetsgo Witch Hunt.

And someone was gonna get it.

Stay tuned for Part II...