After CoVid & Before CoVid

If you thought that traveling is fun, you can think again. Especially air travel. What was once perceived as glamourous, exciting and fun can be quite a challenge as I found after my recent trip to the US.

It all began with an invitation to attend a wedding in New Jersey. So I decided to thrown in a short visit to New York City as well.

While both the visit to New York and the wedding in New Jersey were wonderful and well worth the effort, the journey to and from was disastrous. Despite the fact that I was flying Premier Economy in a well established airline.

This trip has convinced me that the long term effects of CoVid are far from over. And it will take a while before things return to pre-CoVid days.

In fact there is a marked difference between life BC ( Before CoVid) and AC ( After CoVid).

Offices still wear a forlorn look with many employees preferring the newly evolved hybrid pattern that allows them the freedom to work from home and go in to the office for only two or three days a week. Some businesses have closed down while others are struggling to get back on their feet.

The lifting of strict quarantine rules in several places that had severely restricted the free movement of people has resulted in an almost maniacal urge to travel. People are dying to break the confines of their safe safe bubbles go out in the world and explore they’ve always wanted to discover or even catch up with old friends and family having learnt the transience of being during the CoVid years.

And, stuck in our homes, we’ve developed a new skill : navigating the internet to fulfil our needs from shopping for the most basic stuff to attending zoom meetings and wedding ceremonies streamed live!

It is no wonder then that even though several travel agencies have downed their shutters, once silent airports, the world over, are now hives of activity. But sadly, though many airports are improved, many airlines face manpower shortages and operational glitches which account for many a delay and even cancellations!

New York to Mumbai

My travel this month was totally unexpected and even though it was well planned, I had quite a few heart stopping moments – particularly when I was huffing and puffing through large airports, making my way to the connecting flight.

Ever since Russia and Ukraine went to war, American planes do not fly over Russian airspace. Now that is understandable but considering that Delhi is as much in India as Mumbai is, I can’t understand why United can fly to Delhi but not to Mumbai. Of course, the airline must have its reasons but this meant that I had to go to Newark either via Delhi or Dubai or any other European transit airport. With visa restrictions and rules changing by the minute, I thought it wiser to fly via Delhi.

So I took the late evening Vistara flight to Delhi to catch my onward flight ( UA 83) to Newark. Everything was fine and we were all ready to take off when the pilot announced that a passenger had to be off loaded because of a family emergency. That’s when my heart started beating faster because every minute in Mumbai meant less time to clear customs and immigration at Delhi. And the plane was an hour late because the cabin baggage had to be identified for security reasons before take off.

However, United made sure a Staffer was waiting for me at Delhi airport to whisk me through a deserted Customs and Immigration though I had to literally hot foot it.

I just about made it to the boarding gate. Whew!

Once inside the plane, I was all prepared to enjoy the experience of travelling United Premium Economy ( a first for me) but I should have been forewarned when I was handed a bottle of water at the air bridge. Oh oh! This generally means that the cabin crew weren’t going to be handing out beverages very soon.

And I was right! The in-flight service left much to be desired. The food was disappointing and after the first round of beverages no one came around asking for more . Nine hours later, we were given a mid-flight snack best described as doughy stodge. Similarly, the breakfast before landing was pure rubbish.

But in fairness to United, the Cabin Crew did attend to you if you asked for assistance.

However, the nonworking head set, the dirty blanket and the dodgy buttons controlling the seat backrest and leg rest wasn’t something I was expecting from United.

Delays & Cancelations

Delays seemed to be the theme of my journey. If my journey to Newark induced heart racing anxiety, the return journey was a downright nightmare.

I was all set to leave with my baggage checked in, my boarding pass in my Wallet and my good byes said to my host.

After identifying the assigned Gate, I wandered around the vastly improved Newark Liberty Airport and made my way to the Gate. It looked surprisingly empty but I didn’t receive any notification indicating otherwise on my United App.

I waited for a while before gathering courage to ask someone if I was waiting at the right place. “Yes you are,” she drawled, “but the plane is not boarding from here”.

I dashed to the nearest signboard and began my frantic walk to the other end of the terminal. There were just minutes to spare before pre-boarding.

When I went to the right location, I found the Gate number missing. Was I dreaming up everything? What do I do now? Who do I ask?

Customer Service was nowhere in sight and every body else seemed to know where to go, striding confidently with their cabin baggage. Everyone except me. Luckily, I spotted another Indian and hesitantly asked him if he was traveling to Delhi. I meekly and followed him to the right Gate when he said yes.

As mentioned before, I heaved a sigh of relief when I found my seat and was relieved that there were still 12 minutes before take off. But the computer systems decided to play up and we were de-boarded instead.

The next few minutes we were told that the problem would be sorted out soon but after an hour, we were given food vouchers on our United Apps. By this time the airport restaurants were out of food and our only options were the vending machines or Cibo Express a Food and Beverage outlet that had a few fresh items on its quickly depleting shelves.

Before any of us could make a sale, we were told to clear our bags and make our way home as the flight had been cancelled. All this was by word of mouth with one passenger telling the other with no notification on the United App.

Customer Care Where are You?

Waiting for checked baggage at Baggage claim was surprisingly easy but once the bags were picked up there was no Customer Care around to help with the next step that was availing of a hotel stay for the night and re-booking the next flight!

Customer care was a whole floor up, accessible by an escalator ( the elevator was impossible for me to locate), a feat that would have been difficult with my heavy bag. Fortunately, I caught the eye of a young attendant at Baggage Assistance and asked her if she knew a way out. And EVA, this young lady turned out to be a Godsend.

I am nervous about using a mobile app because I might just choose the wrong option with my fat finger pointing to a small screen. But Eva not only accessed my United App but helped me choose the hotel, book a taxi to the hotel and re-book my flight to Mumbai.

Thank You Eva!

This time I would go directly to Mumbai via Dubai which suited me fine as I’d heard horror stories about Delhi Airport being a mess with the G20. And I could do without any more hassles on the way home.

Post midnight in a taxi

By this time it was way past mid night and my host in New Jersey who was tracking my flight’s progress in her home, was insistent on coming to the airport to fetch me. But she had already made a trip to the airport which was hardly a hop, skip and a jump away from her home and it wasn’t fair to bother her so.

Besides, it was the airline’s responsibility and not hers to see that I was safe and sound. So, despite her protests I waited in the Taxi line with my taxi voucher and hotel voucher in hand.

By now I wasn’t surprised when the taxi service operator came out to announce after a 10 minute wait in the slight drizzle that there weren’t any taxis available. But within a few minutes, she began banging away on her key board and assigning taxis to passengers waiting in line.

When it was finally my turn, I was taken aback when a tall, hefty man in a Stetson and dark glasses stepped out of the cab to load my suitcase in the trunk. My imagination began working overtime. Was I being brave or foolish? Would I sleep in a bed or would my body be found lying dead in a ditch?

With my heart thumping in my chest, I tried to look out for any road signs that would indicate that I was on the right road. Having visited this part of New Jersey before, I tried to look for names seemed remotely familiar but for all I knew we were going deeper into the darkness to a place that I’d never heard of before.

My relief at making it to the hotel in one piece was short lived: United had booked me only for a night with a check out at 11 am while my flight was taking off only at 9 pm the next day!

I would deal with that tomorrow, I thought, as I slipped the key-card in the door.

I wasn’t shocked when the door refused to open.

Once again, I lugged my suitcase to the lobby, got a new key and went back to a new room. It didn’t matter that the air-conditioning made a racket, it didn’t matter that the bed was too high. I was too tense to sleep anyways.

Watch this space for more as I conclude my travel troubles back to Mumbai.

Ciao