ON THE ROAD IN WENTZVILLE, MO

We are among the unfortunate with United cancelled flights. No flights available out of the DC airports until after July 6th. So we are driving back to Colorado, now in Wentzville, MO with better internet service that we get in the mountains. Reading Fred's comments on the SC decision as I posted reminded me of Jonathan Swift's pamphlet "A Modest Proposal". Very good Fred.
Will post a lot about Biden's personal involvement in Ukraine. It is difficult to find any supporters for Slo Joe and his policies. Perhaps we can all get the number of his burner cell phone and call him for a person to person talk.

Getting on the road at 6 AM and plan to be back in the mountains by 6 PM. For Westerners a 900 mile drive is not a big deal

Wishing everyone a happy and glorious 4th of July.

CONFIRMED flight United to DIA (from Montrose) at 3:30 (made last nite)...on to Ft. Lauderdale ETA 11PM
their time.....mother in law,with days to live. Get text this AM DIA CANCELLED...on hold for TWO HOURS FOR RP.......only to be told only thing available is thru Dallas/Ft. worth with 13 hour layover ...NO WILL NOT PROVIDE HOTEL VOUCHER (weather related)...arrival on Sunday to Fla. ( I have a NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE explaining weather related was the delay.....the perfect storm of factors that UNITED set in motion
because of management of schedule....flight attendants and pilots could not get to their dead head destinations,resulting in massive delays ALP WARNED THE COMPANY months ago that their summer schedule was far too aggressive and not doable.


spent all day but FINALLY got flight out of Grand Junction on Delta to Dallas/Ft worth (1 hour lay over) ETA to Fla. 6'30PM (Sunday travel time 1030 to 630PM (EDT).....MOTHER IN LAW RELATES TO MY DH.....I WILL HOLD ON FOR U)


paid extra fee for flexibility, ticket will be refunded in 7 business days....the ONLY bright spot in this whole fubared scenario.....ALL THE OTHER AIRLINES GOT IT TOGETHER FASTER THAN UNITED....POOR
DECISION MAKING.....UNITED IS TO BLAME NOT THE WEATHER.

Left Wentzville, MO, at 6:45 AM CST. Beautiful drive, Fields of corn, wheat, etc. on both sides of I-70.
Arrived at our home this evening, pleasantly surprised to see no traffic until Richmond Hill, and that was minor at 6:30 PM.
Drove through 8 states, MD, WVA, PENN, OHIO, INDIANA, ILL, MO, KANSAS, CO. The Interstate roads (I-70) are the worst by far in Colorado.

I empathize with HA. Our issue was a return after a great visit. I do not know what we would have done if it was an outgoing flight where one had to be there for a specific occasion. I sincerely hope that they got to their destination in time.

Now onto the fight with UA to get our money back.
Got an email from UA asking to rate out flight from BWI to DEN 3 days ago. Reminds me of the joke,

"Aside from that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

We are vacationing in New England in July. We are so worried about air travel that we scheduled our trip to Boston two days early just in case.

www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/airline-mayhem-faa-00104158

On Monday, as his company faced mounting cancellations far worse than other airlines at its hub in Newark, N.J., United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told employees in a memo that “the FAA frankly failed us this weekend.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also weighed in, saying he will use his perch as the top Senate Republican on the committee overseeing airlines to change how the agency staffs its air traffic controllers.

“Staffing at FAA’s air traffic facilities in NY is at 54 percent,” Cruz tweeted. “Yet DOT is blaming weather for delays. Nonsense.”

HERE'S THE REAL REASON FOR THE CHAOS......NOT THE WEATHER, JUST MISMANAGEMENT

FAA and its air controller policies are certainly a problem but other airlines have managed this issue. United is having a labor issue, plain and simple, Pilots and attendants are not answering their phones while on call. Very effective. UA simply cannot staff the planes.
My primary complaint is the lack of customer support. Would you agree that 9 hrs on hold is excessive?

This will increase road traffic. I just had a friend from Fort Collins spend 12 hours in airports trying to fly from SLC to DEN. It would have been a six hour drive.

ramage wrote: Left Wentzville, MO, at 6:45 AM CST. Beautiful drive, Fields of corn, wheat, etc. on both sides of I-70.
Arrived at our home this evening, pleasantly surprised to see no traffic until Richmond Hill, and that was minor at 6:30 PM.
Drove through 8 states, MD, WVA, PENN, OHIO, INDIANA, ILL, MO, KANSAS, CO. The Interstate roads (I-70) are the worst by far in Colorado.

I empathize with HA. Our issue was a return after a great visit. I do not know what we would have done if it was an outgoing flight where one had to be there for a specific occasion. I sincerely hope that they got to their destination in time.

Now onto the fight with UA to get our money back.
Got an email from UA asking to rate out flight from BWI to DEN 3 days ago. Reminds me of the joke,

"Aside from that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

last Friday made it to Florida....both sons there for 1 week,she is experiencing "the surge"......fatigued,but in good spirits(singing along with TINA TURNER CONCERT.....SIMPLY THE BEST.....JUST RECEIVED full refund from United.....return flight to Montrose.on Saturday.