Azores Shore Leave – Day 0

Portland/ Tampa/ Boston
Date: Friday 06/06/2008
Heading: 90
Speed: 350 mph

Eric asked me to write the blog for the time that we were with them in the Azores. I guess he thinks he’s the one on vacation!

Like all good vacations, ours started with stress.

Robyn & I planned to meet in Boston on Friday for the flight to the Azores. Our flight, on the Portuguese airline SATA, was scheduled to depart at 10:15pm. Because we were flying domestic airlines to get to Boston we made sure we left plenty of time for the connection.

Robyn’s Northwest flight from Portland was leaving Thursday night at 10pm, arriving in Boston at 8:30am, leaving a comfortable 14 hours leeway.

My flight from Tampa was leaving at 11:35am Friday and arriving in the Boston area at 2:35, giving me 8 hours leeway. If we missed the SATA flight, there was not another flight to the Azores until Wed.

I received a call from Robyn Thursday night as I was packing. Just hours before it was scheduled to leave Portland, Robyn’s flight was canceled due to bad weather in Minneapolis. Northwest rebooked her on a Friday flight that would arrive in Boston at 8pm – an uncomfortably close 2 hour layover.

When she explained her situation to the Northwest Customer Service Rep and begged for NWA to come up with an alternative that would get her in earlier, she was told that it was not their fault that Robyn had not planned better. The conversation eroded from there, culminating with the NWA rep hanging up on Robyn! Apparently she (NWA) did not want to hear that a reasonable person would expect that allowing 14 hours for flight delays would be adequate. And they wonder why their airline is in trouble.

Not trusting NWA ‘s ability to get the rebooked flight off on time, Robyn immediately starting searching for her own alternative. There was only one flight available that would get her from Portland to Boston before our SATA departure time, and it was not cheap. It was a non-stop flight on Alaska Airlines that left at 7am and put her in Boston at 3:15pm.

The next day when my 11:35am flight was delayed two and a half hours due to mechanical problems, it seemed anti-climatic.

I finally arrived in Boston at 7:00pm – just in time for the 3 hour international check-in. I met Robyn at what had become her favorite airport restaurant where she sent the day eating crab cakes and chatting with her new best friend, the Portuguese waiter. We checked in and then enjoyed more crab cakes and clam chowder before it was time to board the plane.

Now the vacation begins.