Why I hate airlines, festivals and people in general

Do you have those negative days where nothing goes right and everyone just seems out to ruin your day? Yes, even that guy who "accidentally" brushed (no, whapped) your arm as he walked past you on the street, and you are convinced that he did it on purpose. And, those idiotic people (in this case, I am talking about Japanese) who are actually ATTRACTED to crowded places, so everyone who is anyone goes to the hugest festival, which happens to take place in your very neighborhood every single year! And, then there are the airlines!

Okay, I remember writing a post last January about my harrowing experience on American Airlines, which I vowed that I would never use again. On a positive update for that story, I did receive a very long and detailed letter (no, email) apologizing for this problem, but also full of excuses as to why these things happen. I had since neglected to acknowledge this email, but I was nonetheless, grateful for it. Anywho, Suk and I were not planning to fly back to the USA this year for a variety of reasons, one very important being the existance of MAX. However, it was suddenly decided that we MUST fly back to the USA at the end of the summer or we would not have a chance until next summer, and this summer is turning out to be a very very very important summer for me and my family. So, I looked into using our saved-up mileage, which I had never attempted to use before, and lo and behold, found that we have saved up so many miles that we can fly there and back virtually free on business class. So, here I am again dealing with American Airlines, but I am sure that the experience will be much different on business class. I hope.

So, moving on with my negativity about airlines. This time, it is United. Perhaps, it is not United's fault persay. It could have been a simple mistake, like a newbie trainee employee running out onto the pavement when he wasn't supposed to, or they forgot to pack the sushi, or worse yet, they found the sushi to be tainted and had to wait for a new delivery of meals. Okay, so here is the story.

My friend (if I say "best", she gets annoyed with me), Shannon, is coming to Japan to visit for 5 days. Her flight was scheduled to leave Chicago at noon. She was to arrive at 3 pm today, get on a bus by herself, and come to my train station. This is easy, and I am sure she could have managed, and as I was working all day, could not go to the airport to pick her up myself. I predicted which bus she would be riding on, and when I should be there waiting for her at the bus stop, in the fucking hot weather we are having now that summer has hit.

All day long, I checked the flight status on United.com. According to their website, the plane had left 20 minutes later than scheduled, but that it was due to arrive 4 hours later (4 HOURS LATER) than scheduled! I asked my co-workers how this could be possible, and one of them checked the status on Narita Airport's own website. Status unknown. That wasn't much help. But, after more digging, I found that according to United.com, the flight had indeed left 20 minutes, but was due to arrive 7 minutes earlier (7 MINUTES EARLIER) than scheduled. I believed that, and I continued to believe it all day until I found myself waiting at the bus stop at the appointed time. Three buses went by, but no Shannon.

Finally, I called Suk and asked him to check the internet again, and he found that the flight was due to arrive at 7:20 (four hours and 20 minutes after the original time), and that I should get my butt home immediately. When I got home, I found an email from Shannon's fiance explaining that after final boarding, everyone had been instructed to "un-board" immediately, due to security issues. And, this, in itself, caused at least a 2 hour delay. What the hell?