palides2021
Well-known Member
- Location
- MidAtlantic, USA
Travelled to Florida a few days ago. Sitting in the hotel lobby writing this. The Allegiant Airline had some hiccups. I usually catch the flight from the small airport 20 minutes from my home (I have used this airport at least 4 times before). The flight was delayed around 45 minutes or so. In addition, at the check-in, I had to have my boarding pass already on my cell phone or else they would charge me five dollars to get the boarding pass for me! This was something new. I was somewhat perturbed that they would resort to coercing the customer to do this task by threatening to charge a 5 dollar fee (this was normally something they did for free). So I left the check-in booth and stood to the side. The people in line were watching me curiously. I guess I entertained them. It wasn't that I didn't have the five dollars, but it was the principle of the thing. I had to download the airline app and look up my passwords to get into my Google account (on my new cell phone - you know, US Cellular, the one where they charged me 50 dollars a month with a 2-year contract that I still do not have a copy of -BTW, I did get it down to 29.99/mth but that's on another thread). As I attempted to get my boarding pass, a young couple came up to me and asked if I needed help. I muttered, "No thanks. This is good for me." I finally accomplished it, and returned to the clerk to show her my boarding pass. She nodded and cheerfully said, "Just letting you know the flight is delayed."
As a result of the 45 minute delay, we arrived at St. Pete airport a few minutes past 6pm (I should have been there 5:20 pm). I called for the shuttle to take me to the Sleep Inn where Easirent has their small office and where I was supposed to get my rental car. No one replied. I called several times. Why didn't they reply? This company and their service had worked smoothly enough in my previous trip a few months ago.
Then I took a taxi to the Sleep Inn (there was a row of taxis on the side where the shuttle usually arrives). On the way to the Sleep Inn, the cab driver said the shuttle always came, but I told him it did not this time. He also cynically said Allegiant had only a 17% on-time rate. I don't know where he got his numbers, because I had flown before, and this was the first time it happened. The cab fare was 20 dollars to go one mile to the Sleep Inn! I had no other option (my family was expecting me that evening, but I didn't want to burden them to come "rescue" me ). At the Sleep Inn, I discover that the Easirent office had already closed at 6pm! I waited there, attempting to see if the lady behind the desk could help. But she shook her head. So I hitched a taxi ride off of another Easirent customer (who dropped off her car - I still haven't figured out how she did it if no one was there) back to the airport. At the airport, I checked around the rental car booths and no one had extras, except for Alamo, which offered a standard SUV. I ended up renting a Mazda SUV from Alamo that cost me twice as much as what the Easirent economy car cost.
It was 8:05 PM when I finished there and went outside to the parking lot to get my SUV. I had never driven an SUV before. The Alamo lady gave me a keyless gadget and told me to pick one of the SUVs. There were five on the lot. Four of them were black and one was a subdued red. I picked the red one. But I had to return to the Alamo lady outside to ask her to show me how to start the car (press the brake and hit the start button in the car). I had brought my Garmin GPS gadget and she showed me how to hook it up. I forgot to ask her how to adjust the mirrors after she left, etc. I was racing against the clock because I still had a half hour to drive to my hotel and I didn't want to drive in the dark (It gets dark around 8:45pm). It was 8:15 PM when I drove off with the SUV and entered US 19, I could hear the cars zipping around me, but I couldn't see them because the mirrors were way out there (who could even see through them?). Long story short, I stopped to pick up a hamburger (I was starving by now) before arriving at the hotel at 9:15pm.
All this from someone who spent at least 90% of her time in her home since Covid. There was a little thrill doing this, though. Each task I accomplished felt good.
Overall thoughts, because of the inefficiency of the airline, and the failure to communicate by the rental company, it cost me over 400 dollars more to rent the SUV.
The whole idea for the trip was to come celebrate my mom's birthday. In those instances, where things did not happen as anticipated, that is when it helps to have a few extra bucks handy. Granted, I would have preferred to use that money for other things, but God had other plans for me.
Have you ever had "hiccups" in your travel plans, and if so, how did you handle them?
As a result of the 45 minute delay, we arrived at St. Pete airport a few minutes past 6pm (I should have been there 5:20 pm). I called for the shuttle to take me to the Sleep Inn where Easirent has their small office and where I was supposed to get my rental car. No one replied. I called several times. Why didn't they reply? This company and their service had worked smoothly enough in my previous trip a few months ago.
Then I took a taxi to the Sleep Inn (there was a row of taxis on the side where the shuttle usually arrives). On the way to the Sleep Inn, the cab driver said the shuttle always came, but I told him it did not this time. He also cynically said Allegiant had only a 17% on-time rate. I don't know where he got his numbers, because I had flown before, and this was the first time it happened. The cab fare was 20 dollars to go one mile to the Sleep Inn! I had no other option (my family was expecting me that evening, but I didn't want to burden them to come "rescue" me ). At the Sleep Inn, I discover that the Easirent office had already closed at 6pm! I waited there, attempting to see if the lady behind the desk could help. But she shook her head. So I hitched a taxi ride off of another Easirent customer (who dropped off her car - I still haven't figured out how she did it if no one was there) back to the airport. At the airport, I checked around the rental car booths and no one had extras, except for Alamo, which offered a standard SUV. I ended up renting a Mazda SUV from Alamo that cost me twice as much as what the Easirent economy car cost.
It was 8:05 PM when I finished there and went outside to the parking lot to get my SUV. I had never driven an SUV before. The Alamo lady gave me a keyless gadget and told me to pick one of the SUVs. There were five on the lot. Four of them were black and one was a subdued red. I picked the red one. But I had to return to the Alamo lady outside to ask her to show me how to start the car (press the brake and hit the start button in the car). I had brought my Garmin GPS gadget and she showed me how to hook it up. I forgot to ask her how to adjust the mirrors after she left, etc. I was racing against the clock because I still had a half hour to drive to my hotel and I didn't want to drive in the dark (It gets dark around 8:45pm). It was 8:15 PM when I drove off with the SUV and entered US 19, I could hear the cars zipping around me, but I couldn't see them because the mirrors were way out there (who could even see through them?). Long story short, I stopped to pick up a hamburger (I was starving by now) before arriving at the hotel at 9:15pm.
All this from someone who spent at least 90% of her time in her home since Covid. There was a little thrill doing this, though. Each task I accomplished felt good.
Overall thoughts, because of the inefficiency of the airline, and the failure to communicate by the rental company, it cost me over 400 dollars more to rent the SUV.
The whole idea for the trip was to come celebrate my mom's birthday. In those instances, where things did not happen as anticipated, that is when it helps to have a few extra bucks handy. Granted, I would have preferred to use that money for other things, but God had other plans for me.
Have you ever had "hiccups" in your travel plans, and if so, how did you handle them?
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