Flightmares, Adventures & Delusional Driving

I'd like to share a little letter I wrote recently - to a certain airline that I will never fly again. It's also an airline I want to make sure that no one I care for ever flies, because I wouldn't wish my recent experience on my worst enemy...let alone someone I call a friend. I've added in some pictures and anecdotes from my "adventures" getting home. Enjoy!

                I am writing today concerning the recent travel experience that I had with Silver Airways; or to better phrase it, the complete lack of travel experience.  To label the experience a nightmare would be putting things lightly. I normally travel out of Jackson, MS because the flights are more affordable and the schedule is better, but on this occasion the Meridian flight schedule worked out perfectly and so since Meridian is much closer, I decided to take a chance on Silver Airways – little did I know how much I would come to regret this decision.

I was scheduled to leave out of Meridian at 5:50 AM on the flight departing to Atlanta (flight number SIL3610). I should have connected in Atlanta with my Delta flight and easily made my way to DC by 11 AM.  I woke up at 4 AM, traveled to the airport and arrived only to be told that the flight had been cancelled due to maintenance issues.  While I was a bit upset, as a frequent flyer I understand these things do happen and the desk agent was able to book me on the next Silver Airways flight at 12:26 and re-book me on another connecting flight into Reagan International Airport, arriving at 6 PM. Again, I was a bit upset that I’d now miss what would have amounted to a full day with my family, but sometimes these things happen. I went back home and tried to get a little more sleep before returning to the airport.

Imagine my shock when I checked your website around 9:30 and saw that the 12:26 flight had now been further delayed until 2:20! I was desperately trying to get to my family for Thanksgiving and I was watching my plans slowly unravel. Thankfully, since my Father used to work for an airline he was able to make some calls and book a ticket for me on a Delta flight leaving out of Jackson at 1:09 and allowing me to make my connecting flight in Atlanta. This not only cost an additional $197 but caused quite a bit of stress on my part as I had to hurry to make the hour and twenty minute drive to Jackson to try and catch the flight that would get me to Atlanta. Thankfully, Delta Airlines didn't let me down; I boarded my flight in Jackson, arrived in Atlanta on time and then boarded my second Delta flight and arrived in DC earlier than scheduled. I enjoyed my Thanksgiving visit and was sure that since I’d had such a struggle with Silver Airways on my trip to DC, there was no way I would have trouble again. Oh how wrong I was!

On Sunday, December 1^st I was scheduled on Silver Airways flight M3612; departing from Atlanta at 8:15 and arriving in Meridian at 8:50. Long before I even arrived at the airport, I checked the Silver Airways website for flight status and was upset to see that the flight was already showing delayed until 10:15! I was upset but this was still doable; I would arrive in Meridian a little later than expected but still not too late. I caught my Delta Airlines flight from DC to Atlanta with no trouble; again the flight even arrived in Atlanta early. Once I landed in Atlanta, I was horrified to see that my flight had been later delayed to 12:20. At this point I began to get extremely upset since I would now be sitting in the Atlanta airport for over 4 hours, would arrive at my destination much later than anticipated and was also putting strain on the friend who was planning to pick me up from the airport.

Supper in Atlanta...when I thought my flight had only been delayed until 10:15....

Terminal E...the end of everything; including the Atlanta airport...

The Silver Airways site - I'm not sure how a plane can still be labeled as "on-time" when it's delayed (at this point) by 4 hours...

The situation only continued to worsen as the night went on; I’d think it was something out of a horror movie had I not experienced it myself. I made my way to gate E37, literally the end of the six terminals that make up the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport and tried to make myself comfortable for what I thought would be the next four hours. My flight, as well as the other two flights that night to Hattiesburg/Laurel and Tupelo were delayed and so I had plenty of company – I sat with other travelers and we watched as the flight was delayed to 12:50, the flight to Hattiesburg/Laurel was cancelled, the flight was delayed to 1 AM, the flight to Tupelo was cancelled, the flight was pushed back to 2 AM and we all waited for what seemed to be inevitable; a cancellation. Several of us in turn tried to approach the desk to ascertain why the delays continued to happen but we were either given vague answers such as “inbounds” or that they were “waiting for the pilot to arrive” to being completely ignored. No one at the desk was particularly kind – but I’ll hold off on how bad that situation got until later. At this point in the morning; because it was now after midnight, there were no shops or food stores open in the airport, so we had no access to anything to eat – not that it would have made any difference, no meal vouchers were ever offered even though many of us had been sitting at the gate for 5-6 hours.

Trying to conserve my energy...and my Ginger Ale since it was the only thing I had to eat or drink....

Getting delusional and wondering why the artwork in Terminal E resembled Captain America's battle-dented shield...

Really Delta, has that flight already departed? I think you're confused....or at least your app is....because I'm still sitting in the airport waiting on that flight to depart!

And then at midnight...all the TVs cut off. So there went that form of entertainment/distraction....

Finally, at 2:20 AM they announced the boarding call for our flight – finally, I would get to go home! I was elated; or as elated as a person can be after sitting in a cold airport terminal for almost 7 hours. We were loaded onto a bus, driven out to the flight and then, for reasons that were never explained, locked on the bus for almost fifteen minutes while the desk agents talked outside the plane on the tarmac. We were allowed to board around 2:35 and then we sat…and sat…and sat. We were told the pilots were working out a maintenance issue; which is not what you want to be told when you are sitting on a plane. While we waited for the supposed maintenance issue to be sorted out, two of Silver Airways desk agents proceeded to get into a screaming match at the foot of the airplane stairs. From my second row seat, I could see and hear it all and listened as they cursed and yelled at one another about doing their jobs and being angry that it was after 2:30 AM and they were still stuck at the airport. I leave you to imagine the colorful language they used; I and the others sitting on the plane were not so lucky. After cutting off all the light in the plane and cutting on one engine for approximately five minutes, they turned back on the lights, turned off the engine and announced to us that they could not fly us to Meridian that night.

Locked on the bus...with no clue what was going on outside or why we weren't getting on the plane....

We were herded off the plane, back onto the bus where we waited another ten minutes before being driven back to the terminal. Once in the terminal again, we were told by gate agents that they weren’t sure that they could provide us with a hotel room because all the hotels were booked and even if they were able to get rooms, we would have to pay for a shuttle on our own since the hotel shuttles that are free stopped running at 12:30! I waited at the ticket counter for almost fifteen minutes and realized that they weren’t joking; no one was getting a hotel room, they were instead being re-booked on one of the two flights leaving at either 11 AM or 8:15 PM on December 2^nd. I couldn’t understand how they would book all 20+ people on flights that were already booked and since my experiences thus far had been that I’d not seen a Silver Airways flight that I was booked on leave, I wasn’t convinced.

I already would be missing a day of work and I felt that I couldn’t take the chance of possibly missing two days of work. Plus, I was essentially being told to just pull up a corner of the cold, hard airport terminal floor to sleep until the flight at 11 AM left and hope that 1) I could be on that flight and 2) the flight would even leave at all. Fun fact – while I’m not sure about the 11 AM flight to Meridian, the 8:15 flight on December 2^nd also cancelled! I made the decision that I had to get home and elected to rent a car and drive home – which cost me $305. At 3 AM, I walked over a mile and a half through a deserted airport to the rental car terminal and rented a car -  I am a young person living on a budget; to say that having to spend $305 on a rental car was a stretch on my limited funds is an understatement but as I just mentioned, I live on a budget and I would already be missing one day of work – and therefore one day of pay, I felt I had to act because obviously depending on Silver Airways to get me home was not an option.

I am a frequent flyer and I have NEVER had such an awful experience in all my life. Silver Airways motto is “Depart from Ordinary” and I certainly did that; and because of my departure from the ordinary, I’d like to be compensated for my experience.

I have been told you were given awards as the 2013 Best Regional Airway as well as Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers Choice Award Winner. I will assume that the people that voted in these contests have never actually used your airline and I can assure you I won’t hesitate to share my dreadful experience with anyone that will listen; perhaps I will even share this experience with Conde Nast Traveler so they can see what a terrible choice they made in choosing you; Silver Airways, as their Readers Choice Award Winner......


And now I part ways with that letter (which will be going in the mail to Silver Airways tomorrow morning) and elaborate on the journey home. After spending hours in the Atlanta airport and realizing that Silver Airways was not going to get me home; as noted in the letter above I made (as my new travel buddy said) a command decision and decided it was time to rent a car and drive home...because that honestly seemed like the only way I was getting there. Three of the other passengers on the flight that should have been overheard me asking the flight attendant about baggage because I wanted a rental car and asked if they could help split the cost of the rental car to Meridian - so I said yes; and thus began the adventure home with three people I'd never met before in my life. 

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and hope that those people aren't crazy - thankfully they weren't and so I was joined on my (seemingly) never-ending journey home by two UWA softball players and a gentleman that I'm guessing was my Dad's age. As we hiked to the Hertz rental car office, we learned that all four of us had been born in California! Isn't life funny sometimes? I don't know...I thought that was funny but I was functioning on very little sleep at the time...

Riding the sky train to Hertz...one of my traveling companions in the background....excuse my gorgeous appearance; I assure you...it had been a ROUGH several hours.

My two other traveling companions on the adventure home....

The ride to freedom - a Mazda 5 in black! Let's do this!

Even though I was dead tired, since the car was rented in my name - I hopped in the driver seat and wheeled that thing out of there. Ashley; one of my new travel friends from UWA gave me directions from her cell phone and before long, we were cruising down I-20 toward Meridian. We all talked for a little while but soon enough the conversation fell off - I think Lydia and Michael fell asleep but Ashley kept me company, talking to me as I drove. After about an hour and fifteen minutes...we stopped at a rest stop and Ashley took over with me in the passenger seat to keep her company. We'd stop about an hour later at a convenience store and Lydia would take over and drive the rest of the way...telling Michael when he asked if he should drive that she was "in the zone"...and she wasn't kidding. Let me tell you, we made good time. I think her driving might have been fueled by the 18 ounce Monster energy drink she had; but I really didn't care. I was in the back seat now and I fell asleep. 

Lydia in complete beast mode; determined to get us home...

I can assure you that I've never been so happy to see this sign. Never. I wanted to weep....but I was too tired to really function.

Look - some sort of rainbow thingy. A promise from God that he'll never destroy my faith in airplanes again? Maybe.

In the front seat once more...finally we arrived in Meridian. JOY!

The keys to our salvation!

Turning in the car after a long ride and a VERY long day....

Well, there you have it. The tale of my homecoming adventure in both letter form and story. It's only been 24 hours, so I don't know if it has fully set in; I don't know when it will set in that I just jumped in a car with three strangers and what's more, I then fell asleep in the car with three people I really didn't know. 

I should say - while the whole thing was absolute insanity, it does restore your faith in humanity a little bit. I spent almost five hours with people I'd never met and they were nothing but kind and wonderful; which is saying quite a lot since none of us had had very much sleep and we were all in a frustrating situation. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and see how things turn out! I should mention as a funny side note - I forgot to text my Mom when I finally got home; I was tired and I just fell asleep pretty immediately. I didn't mean to make her panic but she did tell me that for about three hours she was trying to decide if I was just asleep or if one of my riding companions had drug me off somewhere and murdered me. Sorry Mom! 

Thankfully my leap of faith turned out just fine and I finally made my way home!