A Glitch in Departing

Thunderstorms on the East Coast of the United States caused our flight from Newark to Charlotte to be canceled. So Viking has taken us to the airport hotel here in Porto. It is an excellent example of European minimalism—clean, comfortable, utilitarian and spare. We have checked in with one other couple scheduled to be on the flight to Charlotte. So we’re going to have a gentle, relaxing afternoon and we will leave the airport tomorrow morning at 6:15 AM.

As things worked out, we stayed overnight in an airport hotel. United airlines said that they swapped our ticket for another of equal value, however, the new ticket turned out to be economy class. We had booked business class. So they shoehorned us in the economy, section of the airplane for a long and arduous flight back to the United States. United airlines has not offered so far to reimburse us either for the difference in the ticket price or for our hotel accommodations. We will be talking with United today to see if we can come to some sort of resolution. We made friends with Sandy and Joe, two people from Charlotte, who are in the same situation. We had supper with them at the hotel, and took the airport shuttle with them as we left Puerto.

When they picked us up at the Charlotte airport, Randy and Angela told us that there had been an accident on a runway in Charlotte the day before. The nose wheel of an airliner failed to lock, and the runway was blocked for hours. Many flights were canceled. That may have been the reason for our cancellation. On the other hand, some people mentioned that the day before there had been thunderstorms and hailstorms on the East Coast. Airline traffic was so backed up that many flights were canceled just so that the airlines could clear the backlog of passengers. I don’t know what caused our cancellation.

At any rate, we finally made it home, a little bit sore, and Glenda has a cold. But it’s good to be home, the best place in the world.Read more