By now we should have been home already, but as of this moment we're still in Iceland. A big storm hit Reykjavik airport yesterday just as our flight from Copenhagen was scheduled to leave. Initially it delayed our departure time from 1pm to around 6pm in the hope of waiting out the worst of the storm, however our connecting flight was also delayed so there was still a chance that we would get back to Seattle in time to catch the last flight to Eugene. We briefly attempted to get our flight rebooked to avoid Reykjavik completely, but the Iceland Air representative at the transfers desk stubbornly insisted that they were only obligated to get us to our original departure point. This became a common refrain.
We were at the Copenhagen airport with tons of time to burn and they got us some food vouchers for the delay so we grabbed a couple beers and personal pizzas at Gorm's after checking out all the other options. It wasn't the best pizza we'd had, but it was the most bang for our voucher bucks. Kat got out one of our card games and we took our time over lunch. I wasn't feeling especially great that morning, which could have just been from not sleeping well again due to the return of the racket-making contraption, but I was worried that I might be coming down with something so it was contributing to having a bit of a sour mood. I was fretting over everything and anxiously watching the boards for changes in our flight time or gate. We eventually moved to more comfortable seats by our departure gate once it got closer to boarding time.
Our flight wasn't canceled or delayed any longer and was off the ground by 7pm. We breathed a sigh of relief and spent the next couple hours enjoying a movie and a complementary in-flight dinner. The flight was calm all the way up until we were descending into Reykjavik, where we started to get tossed around quite a bit. Despite the high winds the landing was relatively smooth and we still had high hopes we would make our next flight. As we pulled into the terminal however it soon became evident that was not going to happen.
The captain got on the intercom around 9:20 and told us that the wind gusts were too strong right then to be able to pull a ramp up to the plane and we would be sitting there for awhile until it calmed down. The winds were no joke, more than 50mph, and the entire plane was being rocked back and forth by them. We sat and watched the minutes tick by until around 9:45 when our next flight was due to leave and then we got the email updates that our flight to Seattle had just been canceled. There was no way around it; we were spending the night in Iceland and we were going to miss our last flight to Eugene. That was bad enough, but we continued to sit there in the plane, being gently rocked all the while, waiting for the winds to die down. Finally after about an hour the were able to get some stairs up to the plane and we all disembarked briefly out into the driving wind and rain to walk the few steps to an awaiting shuttle bus that drove us the rest of the way to the terminal.
As we got into the terminal we received another update via email that we had been rebooked onto flights Saturday evening to Denver and then on to Seattle. We were confused because we were originally going direct to Seattle and the new arrival time would get us there too late to catch any flights back to Eugene. We got in line at the first help desk in order to try and straighten things out, but before too long someone from Iceland Air came along and shouted instructions to everyone who was going to Denver or Seattle to exit through the baggage area and that there would be someone at the "Meeting Point" to help us with accommodations, meal vouchers, and flight information. We obliged and headed downstairs, past baggage claim since we had all our stuff with us, through customs, and out into the airport lobby.
We followed the signs pointing to the "Meeting Point" but there didn't seem to be anyone there and all of the check-in desks appeared to be closed. I still wasn't feeling well and I began to panic a little bit at this point. Finally I spotted a single person working the counter with a small group of people lined up. We stood in line for quite some time until we could get our questions answered. In the end the attendant couldn't help us. We tried to explain that we needed to get to Seattle earlier, but the direct flight was already booked up. We also tried to see if we could change our flight out of Denver to go to Portland or Eugene directly, but she explained that she couldn't send us anywhere other than Seattle, as we had heard before.
I spotted some people talking to a guy by the exit and wandered over and it turned out he was the guy arranging hotels, but he seemed a bit flustered and disorganized and could not answer any of our questions relating to our flights or meal vouchers. He had a list of hotels and he seemed to be distributing people randomly between the shuttle buses all the while carrying on what appeared to be several different arguments with groups of people in Icelandic. I had a hard time getting his attention and all I got out of him was "get on blue bus, hotel 3, very close". We headed back out into the storm and confirmed with the blue bus driver that we were going to hotel 3, called Mar GuestHouse and it would be at least a 30 minute drive. Very close indeed.
It was past 1am by the time we pulled up to the Mar GuestHouse. A small group of us got off the bus and hunched our way through the rain to the tiny lobby. The hotel wasn't that impressive from the outside and it wasn't any more impressive once inside. In fact there was no one there at all, just a sign that said if you needed help to call a number which turned out to be not in service. Alarmed, someone shouted we should make sure the bus driver didn't drive away, but it turned out he had followed us inside and actually had instructions on how to get us our rooms. There was a bank of key boxes along one wall and he had some codes on his phone. As he punched in the numbers the boxes popped open and it became a mad dash as people began snatching keys as soon as they became available with no regard to need or precedence.
I snagged 208 and we ran upstairs to find a room with two single beds and without a private bathroom or sink. There were four shared bathrooms with showers down the hall. I could hear people downstairs complaining loudly that at least some of the 100 series rooms had private bathrooms and they began arguing over who should get them. One woman was traveling with her elderly father whom she said needed frequent trips to the bathroom at night. I never learned if she got what she wanted. It also soon became clear that there was little chance of getting breakfast or any food for that matter at the Mar Guesthouse, other than some instant coffee and coffee whitener that was sitting out. We also had no confirmation of when a shuttle would pick us up again or at all. To top it all off it turned out that the pillows and bedding were stuffed with down, which I am highly allergic to, so it made for another rough night of sleeping.
Sunrise wasn't until past 8am, but we were both awake long beforehand. We had checked all our options and had settled on trying to get back to the airport as early as possible to see if any other flight arrangements could be made. After I got showered and packed we headed downstairs to see if anyone know how to contact the shuttles. It turned out that the hotelier had arrived and was just as shocked and distressed to find everyone staying there as we were to be there. Apparently there had been a monumental screw up and none of us were supposed to be staying there and she had no way to feed us all. When we mentioned that we needed to get back to the airport a nice retired couple from Colorado said they had just called a cab and offered to give us ride in. We jumped at the chance and were very grateful. They were really very nice and the woman chatted all the way to the airport about their vacation to Rome where she fell in love the the Sistine Chapel and Paris where they visited their daughter and grandchild. She kind of reminded me of Mom. They refused to let us split the fare and were just happy to help. Travelers really can be some of the most kind and wonderful people.
At the airport we once again tried to work out a deal where we could still get back to Eugene before Sunday. Kat had done all the research and knew which flights left when and for how much and even that Iceland Air could save money by sending us directly to Eugene instead of Seattle, but the representative was having none of it: Iceland Air was only obligated to get us back to our point of origin. We pulled out all the stops by complaining about our rooms for the night, my allergies, explained how there would be no flights left to Eugene by the time we got to Seattle, and how we would probably end up missing the tight connecting flight anyway due to customs in the US. All she was able to do was get us on the slightly earlier Denver flight, which ended up bumping us back a few rows from Economy Comfort class into regular Economy, we discovered later to our chagrin.
For our food vouchers we were directed to yet another counter where the nice representative there sympathized with our plight and managed to get us access to the Saga Lounge in addition to food vouchers as compensation for our stay at the Mar GuestHouse. It seemed like they didn't do that for everyone either. We ran into the woman from our taxi ride on our way to the lounge and tried not to let on about it in case they had not received the same offer. It turned out to be a great benefit because they have plenty of things here to snack on which will cover our breakfast and lunch up until our flight. It's the fanciest airport lounge I've ever been in, with open fireplaces, freestanding stone sculptures, sleeping booths, coolers of self-serve beer and wine, and acres of comfy seats and sofas each with their own power ports. The front desk attendant mentioned that they try keep it exclusive.
As we recuperate here at the Saga Lounge we've continued exploring our travel options and have hit upon the idea of booking a cheap direct flight from Denver to Portland through Southwest Airlines and then renting a car for the rest of the journey back to Eugene which should get us back home significantly sooner than continuing on to Seattle, spending the night, and then flying back to Eugene the next day. We've already taken on significantly more travel expenses than we would have liked due to flight cancellation fees and eating in the airports so we really don't like the idea of finding a hotel and additional transportation in Seattle on top of all of it. At the end of this we hope to file a claim to recoup some of our unexpected expenses, but I have small hope for satisfaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment