Starting a new tag – upgrade. It’ll be applied to anything relating to the process of upgrading from MD-11 F/O to DC-10 Captain.
Yesterday was day 0 of that process. This morning I start ground school. It’s in Atlanta, so I had to come down last night. I got to the airport in Manchester and tried to check in for my flight. They didn’t have a reservation. When I whipped out my reservation number they were able to find it. It was cancelled due to no-show because it had been made for the previous day. Oops. I called our training department, they called Delta (who does our training and booked the ticket), and determined that it was “all screwed up”. So our travel department booked me a new ticket. Nearly $500 later (totally unnecessary), I was off to board my delayed flight. I’m glad I didn’t have a connection to make.
So, of course, I got here later than expected. That wouldn’t be a problem ordinarily but, as they say, the early bird gets the worm. In this case, the worm is a hotel room. After standing at the desk for a few minutes, the front desk manager offered to buy me a drink at the bar while they iron out the details of my room. Of course, when I went there I ran into several other World people, including the other Captain who will be going through this whole process with me (and one of our new hire F/O’s, quite possibly my sim partner, though we don’t know yet). Needless to say, we chit chatted for quite a while.
I went back to the desk thinking they surely ought to have things figured out by then. They told me I’d be in the conference room with a rollaway. I called our hotel department. Several hundred more dollars later, I was across the street at another hotel. I’ll move back tonight.
I just hope World gets their money back from Delta and the Doubletree. To be fair, none of this was World’s fault. And to be extra fair, they took care of it even though they didn’t screw it up. I’ve complained about them in the past (and rightly so), but this time the went over and above the call of duty. Good for them…
Off to class.
V-
Sounds like you need a (((((Varrin)))))… I hope your first day in training goes much smoother than the trip to get there… Good luck and I’m sending good vibes your way…
The conference room?
With a rollaway? WTF! If you were able to cross the street and get a room then the town was not sold out – which would be the only excuse to even *think* about offering that as an alternative. (And yes, that has happened here in ANC with the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Run – and NO, it wasn’t with *my* hotel!) Let’s hope it was just an off day fer ya and everything is smooth sailing tomorrow and beyond!
Re: The conference room?
Well, I have a hunch if you were managing this place I would have had a room 😉 I did get moved back over here and they’ve done their best to make up for it, though they have yet to send a fridge and microwave up to my room :/
I agree… a rollaway in the conference room? Wow! I’ve never heard such a thing offered. They must have KNOWN they screwed up big-time! Glad you didn’t have to go far. XOXO