Saturday, January 30, 2016

Day 16: A lesson in patience and persistence

I have no idea what day I am referring to, but I think it is Friday, January 29th ...again although with the time change it ends up being a day and a half. Let's go back to our hotel in Hong Kong that had no heat and our clothes were wet and smelly from our suitcases getting wet. Lol. The hotel manager was getting calls from the Delta Hong Kong representatives in regards to our situation and we were not allowed to call them directly. It was like we were being held hostage and not being given any answers.  They told us to be down in the lobby at 6 30am to catch our 11:00 flight. As soon as we got all 6 bags, plus carry ons, plus 2 kids dressed and ready to go, they told us to go back to our rooms and rest because the plane was still being worked on. At that point, gaskets were being blown by people and that sent a signal to our kids and our friends' kids that something was going wrong.  Everyone starts getting on their phones and computers to get help from Delta stateside because Delta Hong Kong was miscommunicating  and not being honest with us. Our best bet was to get to the airport and work on another option, but they would not bring the shuttle buses over. Many people took a taxi and went, but we had too much stuff and kids.  We literally were in a group of people in the lobby of this hotel trying to create a plan in a foreign country with zero sympathy about how this was affecting our fragile adopted kids with special needs. We wanted to stay in the lobby so we could get answers.  We contacted other people that said to get to the airport.  We were about 45 minutes away and it was no easy task. So we kept being persistent.  Then as a group, we decided to put it out on Facebook and Twitter that we were stuck in this hotel and no one from Delta was communicating with us. Meanwhile our friend's children were hungry,  fussy, needed diapers,  sad and confused. Toby was off the chart anxious and getting into everything. The workers were following him around telling him No. I was too, but they had very high standards for their lobby. I thought to myself " If they would just shuttle us to the airport,  we would not be in the lobby." Talia was a trooper and handled it great except for her crying in the night.  We stayed in the lobby from 645 am until 130pm. We did go to another hotel for breakfast,  but we were so distraught about everything that we couldn't eat alot. We were getting conflicting reports that we might be there until Sunday.  Crazy!! Plus it was pouring rain which made everything more bleak.  Well, after the word spread from our FB friends, Twitter friends,and from everyone that posted, Delta stateside got involved. They were "mortified " that we were not getting answers.  I also got a text from another passenger that was a Sky Priority customer. Apparently,  all of those priority travelers got rebooked on other flights or put in a very nice hotel.  Have you ever seen Titanic where the poor peasants are trapped in the bottom of the boat and can't get out because the richer people could go first? Yeah, that's how we felt. Ha ha I was waiting for violin players to serenade us as we were waiting to keep us calm. (If you have seen the movie, you will get that.  Ha ha)
..First of all,
I am glad that our Priority friends got rebooked, but I think Delta should of given us more options for our individual situations.  Some people had no problem waiting, but others had situations that needed attention.   It was obvious that the  two adoptive families had a priority to take care of these kids who were upset and very confused. Delta knew we were there because both Moms went to the ticket counter to explain, but we were not approached to get us out quicker.  We did meet some new friends while waiting and that was a positive thing that happened. Now back to the story.. the rain stopped so I took a walk with the kids to see the view of Hong Kong. Wow, it was impressive!!! I had seen pictures,but this was fabulous !! The airport shuttle buses arrived at 130pm and we drove to the airport still not knowing if we were leaving or if the plane was even fixed. We found out they had to order engine parts. Not a good sign! We all checked in and hoped for the best.  They delayed us again! Oh boy ! Honestly, I did not want to fly 12 hours on a plane that was being fixed for two days anyway so I'm thankful that safety was first, but not happy with how it was handled. Don't hide facts from paying customers and do everything possible to accommodate.  We did board the plane (a different plane) and flew at 6 pm (Hong Kong time). It was exhausting because we were already frazzled and sleeping on a plane was not comfortable.  12 hours later we arrived on American soil into Seattle, Washington. Talia became a US citizen and we checked flights with United to get home. They were awesome and rebooked us for Saturday morning at 6 am . We already had a hotel reserved, but had to cancel because of our delay, but thankfully they were understanding of our situation and did not charge us more.  We ate at Taco Bell after we checked in and took a deep breath. What an ordeal that I will never forget. Thanks again to all who shared our posts and called Delta to get some action to the situation.  We have had countless apologies from them. We have always liked Delta, but the international scenario caused issues and information was lost in translation.  I'm sure they don't want this to happen again. Although it was a crazy 2 days, we still wanted to choose joy and kindness. God protected us from a faulty plane and we are thankful regardless of the frustration. We are blessed!

 It is 1:27 am PST, we have all been up since 9:00pm. Our bodies are all out of sorts with the time change. Yippy Skippy. Looking forward to jet lag with the kids. ...NOT!  (:










Mulan, of course



2 comments:

  1. I'm speechless! I pray that your stress load will diminish dramatically once you are home, despite all the adaptation issues that lie ahead. May you catch up on sleep and warm baths, and be surrounded by loving helpers from this day forward! Amen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm speechless! I pray that your stress load will diminish dramatically once you are home, despite all the adaptation issues that lie ahead. May you catch up on sleep and warm baths, and be surrounded by loving helpers from this day forward! Amen!

    ReplyDelete