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Getting here - the adventure
So, the adventure started with the 2am phone call from Northwest telling me that my flight was cancelled. It was an auto-call type thing, so I couldn't do much immediately.
I got up, went online to nwa.com and searched for flights from Ottawa to Monterrey on Saturday, and found one that went Ottawa-Newark-Atlanta-Monterrey. Then I called the 1-800 number on the back of my sliver-elite card. After answering a few questions on the voice-prompt system, I ended up with nwa-com support. They couldn't do anything about my reservation, and said I had to talk to someone that didn't open until 8am, or maybe I could talk to reservations. They forwarded me to reservations, who after hereing my story said they couldn't help me, I had to go to international reservations. After still more hold music, I got someone who said that yes, they could look at my booking, but there was nothing else available until Sunday (the original re-booking from the start). So, I said that I'd seen the Ottawa-Newark-Atlanta-Monterrey path when I searched on the website... and lo, they were now able to see that, yes, that was a possibility. But, apparently, they need special approval to reroute me onto those flights. *sigh* But, I got it.
Back to bed, then up & out to the airport. Do the machine check-in, it finds my routing, but it says my ticket needs special attention, and I should go see an person. I do so, they can't find me on their system, we go back to the kiosk, and they go through the same steps I did, and get the same result. Back to their system, confering, etc. Finally they get my route up, but they can only do seat selection for the first leg, not the other two. Gah. Apparently the first leg was Continental, the next two Delta (though all were Delta and, I think, Continental code shares) but, oh well.
I emailed my contacts in Mexico after making my changes at night, and I phone the only number I had (Becket, USA cell) after checking in, to tell them about the flight changes.
The flights go relatively smoothly, and after picking up my luggage in Monterrey, I walk out and look for a sign that says "David" or "Gibbs" or "Posada" or "El Potrero Chico" or anything that suggests the pick up is there. Nada. I wait about twenty minutes. Nada. I walk one end of the airport (not too big) to the other looking, nada. Also no information booth or tourist help booth or anything. Finally, I go back to the Delta desk where there is someone. He tries calling the Mexico cell number I have a couple times, but there is no answer.
He has heard of El Potrero Chico, so he arranges a cab for me.
I hop in the cab -- the cab driver seems to have no English, I have no Spanish. We start driving. After about 40-45 minutes, he pulls over and asks for directions. This makes me nervous. 5 more times he asks for directions. I get more and more nervous. But, eventually we find signs for an El Portrero Chico pool/bathing area. We follow those signs, and end up in the parking lot for a pool/bathing area. I show him the name for the Posada, and we go back down hill a bit, and stop by a sign that looks right. We pull in, and I'm greeted. The people here were quite relieved to see that I had made it.
Apparently the phone I called had been left in the guy's car, and tried calling back, but got no answer. He also called the people that were supposed to pick me up and a couple other places trying to locate me.
At least I made it. Getting home should, hopefully, be less of an adventure.
Then again, I tried to do online check-in this evening, and it found my flights, then redirected me from Northwest to Delta (which, according to their FAQs is wrong for NWA flights) and ended up on an error page. I guess we'll see what happens when I actually get to the airport. At least the taxi driver shouldn't have any trouble finding the airport.
I got up, went online to nwa.com and searched for flights from Ottawa to Monterrey on Saturday, and found one that went Ottawa-Newark-Atlanta-Monterrey. Then I called the 1-800 number on the back of my sliver-elite card. After answering a few questions on the voice-prompt system, I ended up with nwa-com support. They couldn't do anything about my reservation, and said I had to talk to someone that didn't open until 8am, or maybe I could talk to reservations. They forwarded me to reservations, who after hereing my story said they couldn't help me, I had to go to international reservations. After still more hold music, I got someone who said that yes, they could look at my booking, but there was nothing else available until Sunday (the original re-booking from the start). So, I said that I'd seen the Ottawa-Newark-Atlanta-Monterrey path when I searched on the website... and lo, they were now able to see that, yes, that was a possibility. But, apparently, they need special approval to reroute me onto those flights. *sigh* But, I got it.
Back to bed, then up & out to the airport. Do the machine check-in, it finds my routing, but it says my ticket needs special attention, and I should go see an person. I do so, they can't find me on their system, we go back to the kiosk, and they go through the same steps I did, and get the same result. Back to their system, confering, etc. Finally they get my route up, but they can only do seat selection for the first leg, not the other two. Gah. Apparently the first leg was Continental, the next two Delta (though all were Delta and, I think, Continental code shares) but, oh well.
I emailed my contacts in Mexico after making my changes at night, and I phone the only number I had (Becket, USA cell) after checking in, to tell them about the flight changes.
The flights go relatively smoothly, and after picking up my luggage in Monterrey, I walk out and look for a sign that says "David" or "Gibbs" or "Posada" or "El Potrero Chico" or anything that suggests the pick up is there. Nada. I wait about twenty minutes. Nada. I walk one end of the airport (not too big) to the other looking, nada. Also no information booth or tourist help booth or anything. Finally, I go back to the Delta desk where there is someone. He tries calling the Mexico cell number I have a couple times, but there is no answer.
He has heard of El Potrero Chico, so he arranges a cab for me.
I hop in the cab -- the cab driver seems to have no English, I have no Spanish. We start driving. After about 40-45 minutes, he pulls over and asks for directions. This makes me nervous. 5 more times he asks for directions. I get more and more nervous. But, eventually we find signs for an El Portrero Chico pool/bathing area. We follow those signs, and end up in the parking lot for a pool/bathing area. I show him the name for the Posada, and we go back down hill a bit, and stop by a sign that looks right. We pull in, and I'm greeted. The people here were quite relieved to see that I had made it.
Apparently the phone I called had been left in the guy's car, and tried calling back, but got no answer. He also called the people that were supposed to pick me up and a couple other places trying to locate me.
At least I made it. Getting home should, hopefully, be less of an adventure.
Then again, I tried to do online check-in this evening, and it found my flights, then redirected me from Northwest to Delta (which, according to their FAQs is wrong for NWA flights) and ended up on an error page. I guess we'll see what happens when I actually get to the airport. At least the taxi driver shouldn't have any trouble finding the airport.