The trip of many changes August 2017 - Day 1 travel day

[jothp]

Index

This day will be pretty boring with lots of drama and no pictures I'm afraid so we'll get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

We were flying on the 9.30 am Gatwick to Dublin flight followed by the 14.10 Dublin to Orlando with Aer Lingus so we left home at the crack of dawn feeling excited but very tired. The girls had been arguing a lot and generally being unhelpful the last few days and so it was a lovely surprise to find 'thank you for our holiday' cards from them waiting in the car when we got in. We arrived at Cophall Parking about 15 minutes later than expected after the road the directions recommended was shut but not to worry, we had allowed plenty of time. Checking in the car and getting the shuttle to the airport was simple and efficient but the drive did seem to take a bit longer than last time. It has just occurred to me that it might have been because of the road closure.

We had booked our flights with BA but were flying with Aer Lingus. I'd been unable to do online check in on either website and we were unsure who to check in with at the airport but went with Aer Lingus. There was only one family in front of us and we were soon at the desk. I was thinking to myself that things were going perfectly and we'd have time for some breakfast before the flight but unfortunately it wasn't to be that easy. The check in assistant asked our destination and I told her Dublin as it was her first flight which apparently was wrong as I should have said Orlando and for some reason her system wasn't linking our flights. Luckily just as she was weighing our first case I double checked that our bags would go straight to Orlando. The lady then got in a little bit of a flap because our Orlando flight hadn't come up on the system. Initially she tried to tell us that we'd just have to collect bags and check in again in Dublin. I knew this was wrong and queried it. Thankfully the check in lady on the next desk from one of the other partner airlines overheard our conversations and also had customers on the same flight as ours whose flights hadn't linked. She showed our assistant how to check we were on the Orlando flight and link them so she could transfer our luggage straight through. I thought the problems were solved and our 3 cases went off with their transfer labels. Sadly we were then faced with the next problem that it wouldn't let the assistant print us boarding passes for the Orlando leg of the flight. She advised us that she could only deal with simple check ins and directed us to go and wait for her more senior colleague who would sort us out after the family she was currently dealing with. All sorts of terrible thoughts were going through my head about not being allowed to fly but I kept calm on the outside so I didn't alarm the girls.

We went over and stood just a bit back from her current family to give some privacy. The lady we had initially been dealing with very quickly sent another large family over to wait with us for her colleague. At this point I saw red as the large family went straight forward as soon as the existing family looked like they were leaving and pushed in front of us. I felt that the check in assistant could have said something at this point as the look she gave me clearly indicated that she knew we should have been first. I decided not to say anything as I didn't want to ruin the beginning of our holiday and assumed that they'd be dealt with and we'd be able to have our turn fairly quickly and we still had plenty of time. As it worked out their flight had been cancelled and it was taking a lot of time to find them an alternative the next day and accommodation etc. 45 minutes later we were still waiting and I think the assistant realised I was getting really quite stressed and struggling to stay calm as she called us forward whilst still on hold on a phone call about the other family. I calmed down immediately when she called up our booking and uttered the words, 'I can fix this for you easily' It took a little while but we were leaving check in with all our boarding passes in hand and the little bonus that she had moved us into 5 seats together instead of a three and a two.

Apart from me feeling a bit sick no real harm had been done but we'd used up a lot of time so went straight through security and grabbed some snacks and drinks. The girls were so starved they'd eaten them before we even got to the front of the queue for boarding!

The flight to Dublin was uneventful but the next drama wasn't far away! We'd followed the directions for connecting flights and just started to browse the shop to kill some time when Hattie realised she'd left her phone on the plane! Ollie went off quickly and found a member of staff who directed him through to get back to the plane. He spoke to a member of Aer Lingus staff at the gate who was just telling them that there was no phone when thankfully a member of the cleaning staff overheard and confirmed that a phone had been found in Hattie's seat and went and got it for us. She was very relieved when her dad returned phone in hand. I on the other hand was thinking that I couldn't cope with any more stress in one day!

US pre clearance was very quick and straightforward and we were soon sat at the gate waiting to board. The flight left a little late and arrived about an hour late after we had to avoid some storms. It was great when feeling tired after the flight not to have to queue for immigration. We had collected the car from Avis, driven to the Residence Inn and were in our room within 90 minutes of landing. It was still well gone midnight UK time and we pretty much collapsed into bed straight away.

[Goldia]

Oh no what a horrid time you had at the airport check-in and then the drama of the lost phone. At least you made it in the end. I hope the rest of the holiday went really well.

[Pussycat Doll]

How stressful?! You're there now, your hols can start properly!

[jothp]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Oh no what a horrid time you had at the airport check-in and then the drama of the lost phone. At least you made it in the end. I hope the rest of the holiday went really well.

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Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

How stressful?! You're there now, your hols can start properly!

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Thanks, the check in and lost phone was stressful but on the whole the rest of the holiday went well with no major problems.

[CU2016]

Thanks for posting that. We are doing the same route, booked in the same way so it's good to hear about some of the issues we might face. Will make sure we leave lots of time at Gatwick. Our Gatwick flight was moved to 10:10 so really hoping that will leave us with enough time at Dublin.

[collybird]

What an absolute nightmare at the airport, I would have been fizzing! I don't really think 'I can only deal with simple check ins', is a suitable response. The first check-in assistant should have called someone over to help her instead of sending you elsewhere. Not a good experience! Glad you made it in the end.

[Twinklestar1]

oh no! I have nightmares about those sorts of things! Thankfully all sorted and an uneventful entry into the U.S.

[Palm trees]

Despite what sounds like a fairly stressful travel day it was nice to read about your daughters giving you a pre holiday thank you card, what a lovely gesture.

[jothp]

Originally Posted by CU2016

Thanks for posting that. We are doing the same route, booked in the same way so it's good to hear about some of the issues we might face. Will make sure we leave lots of time at Gatwick. Our Gatwick flight was moved to 10:10 so really hoping that will leave us with enough time at Dublin.

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I'm not sure why we had a problem but I'm sure you'll be fine. Jus make sure you tell whoever checks you in that you are going to Orlando. The US pre clearance was very quick. We had to see an immigration officer who checked our passports, took our fingerprints and asked us a few questions about where we were going etc. After that we had our hand luggage screened again and we were done. I had heard of people having to identify their checked in luggage on a screen to confirm it was theirs but we were never asked to do that.

Originally Posted by collybird

What an absolute nightmare at the airport, I would have been fizzing! I don't really think 'I can only deal with simple check ins', is a suitable response. The first check-in assistant should have called someone over to help her instead of sending you elsewhere. Not a good experience! Glad you made it in the end.

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Thanks - I think the problem was that there were no other staff to call to help. The only Aer Lingus staff we saw were her and her colleague who sorted our problem. I think it wouldn't have seemed so bad if the other family hadn't have pushed in front of us making us wait much longer than necessary.

Originally Posted by Twinklestar1

oh no! I have nightmares about those sorts of things! Thankfully all sorted and an uneventful entry into the U.S.

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Thanks yes, I was beginning to stress a little!

Originally Posted by Palm trees

Despite what sounds like a fairly stressful travel day it was nice to read about your daughters giving you a pre holiday thank you card, what a lovely gesture.

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Thanks, I must admit it nearly made me cry when I opened it and made all the saving and planning worthwhile.

[Custancia]

It sounds a long and stressful first day, hopefully it was better the next day... I’ll read on and find out!