We hate the world (ie Delta, Cathay Pacific, Vayama.com & Spilanes)

This will probably be the longest (and certainly the most angst filled) blog that we write but I'm hoping this will be cathartic.

First we show up at the Burlington airport to catch our Delta flight on Tuesday to discover that it was canceled. At the ticket counter they told us that it was because of weather in NYC. They said the reason all the other planes were allowed to go to JFK that evening was that the other airlines had bigger planes. They reaccommodated us for 24 hours later. That night we did some investigation and found that when our plane was supposed to arrive at JFK, the weather was cloudy with 6mph winds. It's a good thing Delta canceled our flight because we would have never been able to make it safely under those conditions.

Day 2 the weather in New York is horrible with flood warnings, lots of thunderstorms and long delays both leaving and arriving in JFK. Luckily, this day Delta apparently had a gigantic jet and didn't need to cancel the flight. We waited at the gate for our boarding time while the overhead computers reassured us that our flight was "on time". However, when our departure time came and went and no Delta official even came to the gate desk we couldn't help but wonder whether our flight really was "on time." Eventually we were told that it was canceled.

On day 3 we get up at 2 AM to begin our journey toward our 6AM departure. At Delta's counter we discover (after about an hour of them furiously typing and mumbling and getting frustrated) that there is a problem with our tickets and they can't print out our boarding pass. The problem was apparently due to Cathay Pacific but their office didn't open until well after our flight so we weren't allowed to board. We raised a big stink but to no avail.

Then we decided to just rent a car to JFK to get our connection.

No rentals available except in Rutland.

We reserved the car in Rutland but realized that to get there we would need to use the car that we drove to the airport to get there. The car was in the airport garage patiently waiting for the Pelkeys to pick it up later in the day. The problem is that we locked the key in the car for them since we wouldn't need it once we were on our way. Doh! So we called AAA and they assured us that they'd be there in about 20 minutes. That would allow us to still get to Rutland to get the car and get to JFK in time. Two hours and many calls to AAA later, we had access to our car. There goes any hope of getting to New York to catch our connecting flight to Manila.

Next stop: Montpelier. Since we disconnected our cell phones, we decided to go to Montpelier to regroup and get on the phone with Vayama, our online ticketing agent (similar to Expedia), to get reaccommodated on Cathay Pacific for the last flight on Thursday. That way we could still drive to JFK.

Road Block. Cathay Pacific refused to switch our ticket to the later time. For one thing, they consider it a "rerouting" if we don't begin our trip on Delta. Heaven forbid we enter JFK from an external exit instead of a jetway. Also, they are sick of Delta's problems and no longer want to reaccommodate us at all. So even if we do go on another Delta flight, they won't honor our ticket to Manila and since "it's not their fault" we keep getting rescheduled, they won't refund our ticket. Nor will Vayama refund our ticket since it's not their fault. Hence, as it stands, we are $1850 in the hole with no tickets to Manila through no fault of our own.

There is some hope that once Vayama's west coast head ticketing office opens they will be able to persuade Cathay Pacific to accommodate us yet.

Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion...(which may involve us trashing the whole Philippines idea and spending the next two years developing hip hop and break dancing routines to audition for America's Best Dance Crew....or hopping in Dorie's kayaks and paddling to Manila--Lake Champlain will connect us to the Pacific right?...or joining the professional Corn Hole circuit.)

-Heather & Matt