The Big Breakdown
Posted on May 7, 2007 8 Comments
(written on 5/4/07)
Do you ever get the feeling that the universe is totally, inexplicably, invariably against you? Today was one of those days. It culminated with me breaking down mentally at JFK airport in New York, crying big, dramatic crocodile tears (yes, chin quivering) and blubbering into the phone, “I just want to go home!” amidst hundreds of travelers in a chaotic swirl (all while trying to keep it out my supervisor’s sight).
Ordinarily, I’m not a crier when things get stressful. Like stomping down Michigan Avenue on a windy day, I put my head down, square my shoulders and plow right into whatever situation needs resolution. But there’s so much on mind right now, both in the world of work and in my personal life, it got to be too much. And try as I might, I’m simply not Wonder Woman (ok, I may have had the entire outfit in a nifty cotton pajama set at one time in the mid-80’s, but that’s entirely beside the point).
What’s weighing on my mind? Well, for starters, I won’t be home until at least 10 p.m. tonight. I am NEVER flying out of JFK again. It is awful and run down and confusing and the people who work there are mean and don’t care at all. They took us from one security line to another all around the airport, outside onto the street, in front of cars with all our bags, only to wait in another security line. Everyone who went through the charade missed their flight. Then the Delta airline staff berated us for being late, and when we tried to tell him we had been at the airport in security for 90 minutes, he replied, stone-faced, “security lines are not my problem,” and shrugged us off. We tried three two different desks to rebook our flight and finally had to go out of the terminal to rebook, causing us to go through a third security line. At that point, I’d had it. I broke down right before the security checkpoint, exhausted at having to do it all again.
At that point, I was thinking about a race I am supposed to run tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m., and how I’d planned to eat a big pasta dinner and be in bed by 9:30 p.m., and how now instead, I’m going to feel shitty and likely have a bad race on little sleep.
I was also thinking about the upcoming Ireland trip, which I’ll now refer to as THE FRIGGING FIASCO (TFF). I still have a mountain of tasks left to do before we leave (Who’s taking care of my pets? What hotels are we staying in? How do I buy a bus pass? Why won’t an Irish travel agent write me back?) But who knows if we’ll ever get to Ireland because Brian still doesn’t have his passport and our trip is in six days (four business days). Here’s what we’ve tried doing to secure the passport:
- Brian has called the passport agency every single night for the past week. He’s waited on hold for no less than 40 minutes each time we’ve called, and only got through to passport service on some days. They informed us that his passport is “processing” and there’s little we can do, ten weeks after the application was submitted, to speed up the process. They’ll make a special note to expedite the passport, but no guarantees will be made
- The passport office says to make an appointment with your local passport servicing center two weeks before your trip is scheduled if you still have not received the passport
- Exactly 14 days before the trip, Brian called the local passport servicing center. The first appointment they had available was 16 days from the day we called.
- Brian went to the passport servicing center yesterday (eight days prior to the trip). They told him not to come back until two days prior to the trip.
- We called our congressman, Danny Davis, to see if he could get us an appointment. His assistant, Jarvis, told us to fax over the information and he’d try to ensure that Brian could get a passport the day he goes to the servicing center. So we’re trying that two days before our trip is scheduled.
If the trip doesn’t happen, American would hold the tickets, but we’d have to pay an extra $100 per ticket to transfer them to a later date. So that means to use the tickets, we’ll pay a total of $1,290 for two tickets to who knows where.
There’s also the issue of work, which I won’t get into, suffice to say I have a lot to get done before I leave for my trip. Luckily I was able to cancel my business trip to New York that was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday because I was starting to feel so stressed that I could barely breathe.
It feels better to write it all down, get it all out. It’s the only thing left. Certain situations are unfixable, and without a magic lasso, star-spangled undies and a red-leather, golden-eagled corset, you just have to deal with them and hope for the best.
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8 Responses to “The Big Breakdown”
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May 7th, 2007 @ 10:04 pm
Travelling can be very stressful, and airline workers are generally wankers with a few exceptions. I think they feel the same way about passengers though. Have you ever been to Heathrow? There are signs everywhere saying, ‘Please don’t abuse our staff.’ I think the grumpiness is contagious; one surly passenger snaps at the check-in guy, who then berates the couple behind them… and so on. All I can say is, I’m glad I don’t work at an airport!
May 7th, 2007 @ 11:52 pm
We made zero plans when we went to Ireland a few years ago. We got there, rented a car, and spent the next week or so wandering around the countryside, staying at the abundant B&Bs that were everywhere. Just look for the four leaf clover signs; it means the B&B is decent.
Good luck!
May 8th, 2007 @ 2:24 am
This is the second Delta horror story I have heard today…don’t fly with them!! NO ONE SHOULD.
May 8th, 2007 @ 4:56 am
Budgeting Babe, your boyfriend’s passport situation is a shame. This is where I think the attitude by some personal finance bloggers about living frugally goes too far. You can use a passport expediting service for a couple hundred dollars they can literally get you your passport within a day. I’ve used such services, they basically have a network into the fast-track at the passport agencies and take care of the whole thing. I watch my spending on certain things, i.e. I don’t live lavishly even though most in my profession and income level do, but I pay for conveniences and expedited service on things. It makes things so much easier and you don’t have to waste your time on the little things.
May 8th, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
I cannot believe you are still waiting for the passport, that is outrageous! I had no problems with getting mine they told me 10 weeks but I got it in 2 without any extra money, I guess it all depends who gets you paperwork. I really hope you will get it before you have to pay more money for you trip.
May 8th, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
Sorry about your airport troubles. I am also not a huge crier, but I have lost it more than once in an airport line. We nearly missed our flight home from Europe because we got off our plane from Frankfort in Amsterdam, had to go through customs again, had to pick up our bags, recheck our bags, go through security again, and then we had to go through an additional security line thing once we got to the gate, since the plane was going to the US. I had to pee! We had planned on getting lunch! We had two hours between flights, and we still almost missed our flight. Oh, I feel your pain.
Passports suck post 9/11. I hope he gets his- you may see if you can pay to do expedited service if it is not too late. Meredith at Like Merchant Ships is having trouble getting her kids passports now as well!
May 9th, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
Nicole, I feel your pain, BELIEVE ME!!! I had a similar experience at JFK Airport with Delta a few short weeks ago: http://theurbanmuse.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-delta-nearly-ruined-my-trip.html.
I am trying to get Delta to reimburse me for some of my expenses like cab fare and breakfast while I was stranded at the airport, but I doubt it will happen. We should boycott Delta for their abysmal customer service!
I have to fly through La Guardia in a few weeks, so I looked into buying traveler’s insurance in case I get stranded again. Unfortunately there is NOTHING that covers “stranded in the airport due to rudeness” (but $13 would cover illness or weather emergencies).
May 14th, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
I feel your pain concerning the passports. My wife and I dealt with the same problem a few weeks ago. We applied 10 weeks exactly (Feb 21) before we were to leave for our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico(May 2). The friendly post office worker here in Raleigh, let us know it would be 6-8 weeks so we felt we had plenty of time. Come Monday, April 30, after we got married and two days before our flight, still no passports. After countless tries to get through to the passport workers with similar wait times to what you described and a call to our congressmen’s office we found that they were still processing and we would have to visit our regional passport office. The closest office to Raleigh, NC is in Washington, DC which is a 4 1/2 hour drive. We scheduled an appt for Tuesday morn at 8am. After arriving promptly at 8 we had to wait until 3:30 that afternoon to receive our passports. We still had to pack and deal with rush hour traffic in Wash DC which enabled us to move 20 miles in 2 hours. We got back to Raleigh at 11pm and nearly missed our flight the next morning at 7:30 due to our fatigue.