On with the Nightmare travel story..... We get to the Paris airport. They have two people waiting as they think I need a "ride" as well. I tell them I am fine to walk. However, since we missed our flight, we had to go to another airline. We walked for over a mile for sure. We took at least three different elevators but only one person could fit so we had to take two trips each time.
They don't speak much English so I am trying to figure the signs out but since we got no booking information due to the bumped flights, I have NO idea where we are going or what is going on.
The next thing I know, they are pushing my mother through security. I had no warning and have three small water bottles in her carry-on and two full one's in mine with Gatorade type drink in them so I would always have something for my mother. Of course, I am so rattled as there was a long line and they took us right to the front that I didn't even think about pulling out my waters. Of course, both bags got flagged and I had to stand there looking stupid as they pulled out all these water bottles.
I had my mother drink hers so we could keep the bottle and fill it not knowing when we would get more and not having any money exchanged for machines, if we found some, and having no idea when we would reach our final destination.
We finally get to a place where we can see many planes and there are plenty of seats and I can see ramps that go to planes and they stick us near one and tell us to "sit" and "Later be back" so we sit and wait. When our "friend" shows up again, I think, "Yes, they are finally going to let us pre-board." But no, after sitting there for at least an hour, they take us down yet another elevator. I wait my turn on the small and not so safe looking elevator. When I reach the bottom and the door opens, we are headed outside.
They wheel my mother to the back of a huge white truck. They put her on the back and it starts to lift her up into the air. I start laughing out loud and the girl working the truck asks if I want her to take a photo of us in a few broken words. I hand her the camera completely shocked at what is happening and she said, "Say Cheeseburga" with a funny french accent.
I am totally exhausted having gotten all of about 15 minutes sleep total and it is 24 hours after we left. We get into the back of the big white truck/van and they strap us in and all I can think about is the Bourne movie where they get kidnapped by the Russian Mob and are in the back of a van and he gives her a pill for her heart and asks her to "get a knife from his boot while she is down there."
I am laughing and laughing and pull out my camera and take a video. It probably wasn't that funny but when you are tired and stressed and upset, things tend to seem funnier. I was even in more shock after a 5 minute drive when they pulled up to a plane near the back and pushed us out of a door at the front of the truck and basically fork-lifted my mother into the back of the plane.
I think my mouth was open with wonder. There was no heater and it was COLD. I have been many places on planes in my life but I have NEVER seen anything like this. Within seconds of being in the plane, my mother fell asleep against a window.
When we were taxing down the runway, she woke up and commented how short the flight was. I shook my head when I told her that we were just taking off. She hadn't slept more than 20 minutes and didn't go back to sleep the rest of that flight. She listened to me visit with the man next to me. The other issue was that the back door was open and the air was cold and the fuel smell was horrible for the 20 minutes before we took off. The man next to me and I both had our shirts pulled up over our faces.
We arrived so late to our destination that our driver had come and waited an hour and then left and did a few other jobs and came back later. We were so tired but still had an hour drive to our hotel from the airport.
My mother was so stressed and tired and confused by the time we got to the hotel she ended up yelling, crying and hitting me. Not a good time for anyone.
On the way home, the flights went well but DELTA lost our luggage making me stay another night away from my kids. When I called DELTA customer service they offered me a $200 voucher! They give people a free flight for getting bumped off a plane! I am so not happy with them.
Also, because last time I flew to Peru with my five children, we had problems as well and they don't seem to care.
They KNEW my mother was handicapped. They KNEW she had a restricted diet and they could have easily talked with me before the flight and rebooked us with another airline to make the trip more direct. However, they chose to ignore all that and caused me to have a very tired, moody and disoriented mother for the two days we were there due to her not sleeping for 36 hours or so. I'm not sure what they were thinking about sending a 76 year old handicapped person on such a journey but my guess is that they weren't thinking. Even the flight crew was upset and we talked about it on the way home as it was the same flight crew both ways since we had such a short trip.
Oh, on the way home, we had to sit in the cold outside again in Paris because the pregnant helper didn't want to push the wheelchair up the ramp into the terminal so she called someone for help. Like I said about the Paris airport, it is huge. The helper wouldn't let me push her up because there were "insurance" issues. We could see our breath. I tie a scarf around my mothers head to try and keep her warm. Finally, I complain and insist they get her walker from under the plane. That is against Paris airport rules but we had it going through the first time so I don't know what the big deal is so they find it and she "walks" up the ramp until we are in the terminal where there is someone who can now push her.
We end up going through security again and this time it was worse. They pad my mother down head to toe and insist I take the tied scarf off her head. They ask to see our boarding passes which the "helper" has and our flight had already boarded. They hold us there and stop anyone from going through because we had her walker. Of course, I had to dump our waters in the garbage and it took us about five minutes to get through security but my mother was totally upset and kept walking over to her walker and they kept yelling at her and our "helper" kept trying to explain it to security.
We were the last on the plane and our carry-on bags were about ten rows back stored so my mother kept crying about heart burn and dry lips as I had NO idea where they stored her carry on bag. Some kind woman sitting across from my mother had some tums she gave my mom and one of the Stewards ended up giving us a Zantac. So, I guess the ride back wasn't all that uneventful but I had already tried to put it out of my mind.
If I hadn't insisted on them giving her the walker, it would have been lost with our luggage. One suitcase ended up in Georgia and the other they weren't sure as it wasn't checked through so I was grateful in the end that I made a scene in Paris as my mother wouldn't have done well at home without it for a day.
Thanks DELTA for a nightmare that I won't soon forget.....
Tomorrow, I will share the wonderful host part. There was a silver lining to the trip. Skoda!
What to do with DELTA....... Two trips, two problems. I am thinking I may not want to fly with them anymore.....
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