Fred’s Adventures TO Iceland (without a Cell Phone) - Part 1

Hi All. It’s me, Fred. This is the first part of a two part post.

As everybody who knows me, I was very excited, as excited as I can get, and I was looking forward to going to Iceland to visit my daughter, Kelly, who’s going to school there. Since Kelly is calling her blog, Kelly’s Adventures in Iceland, I was planning on adding a chapter about Fred’s Adventures in Iceland. I didn’t expect it to turn out to be Fred’s Adventures TO Iceland.

It all started on December 15 at 12:30 PM when Airways Transit picked me up. They had called the day before to move up the time from 1:30 PM to 12:30 PM because of the expected snow storm that was in the forecast for Thursday. I was finishing packing as the guy was ringing my doorbell. Off I went on my merry way.

He had one other person to pick up so he swung into Waterloo to get him. As the driver was helping the guy load up, an announcement came over his communication transmitter that there was a backlog at Sportsworld Drive and he was advised to take an alternate route. I don’t think the delay had anything to do with the impending storm which hadn’t started as yet.

When the driver got back in the van, I mentioned that there was a problem at Highway 8 and Sportsworld Drive. He called in and was advised to take the alternate. He went along some sideroads and eventually got back onto the 401.

When I got to Pearson I went to the American Airlines counter and checked in. This was before 2 PM and about 3 hours before the trip to Boston at 5 PM. We were supposed to be boarding at 4:15 PM.

So I waited. As I was waiting I made a few observations. Most of the people that were also waiting had cell phones that they were constantly using. Who were they talking to and why? There were a number of people that had these “things” clipped over their ears that they were listening to and talking to while they were browsing through a newspaper. There were also people that had headsets with these mikes wrapped around their jaw that they were speaking into while they were browsing through one of the airport shops. There was one guy who seemed to be describing every move he made while he was walking around like “I’m in front of the departure screen and I can see that the flight is still on schedule.” And he went through a lot more. Who are these people?

4:15 PM rolled around and nothing happened. Sometime later an announcement was made that the flight from New York was delayed due to the weather and since we were supposed to be using the same plane to go to Boston, our flight was rescheduled to leave at 5:30 PM. Between 5 and 5:30 PM another announcement was made that the flight had arrived and that we should be boarding by 5:45 PM.

We actually did board starting at 5:45 PM. Things were looking up. The flight to Iceland wasn’t leaving until 8:35 PM so we had two hours and fifty minutes to get there. Once we were boarded they announced that the plane needed to be de-iced before we could take off and that wasn’t expected to take too long.

It was interesting to see the de-icing even in the dark. There were two large trucks on either side of the plane each with this big arm and two hoses sticking out and a guy in a small compartment at the top of the arm controlling the hoses. They swung over the plane spraying some sort of anti-freeze or chemical (I didn’t think it was just hot water) all over the plane. I was near the front of the plane so I didn’t see anything further so I assume that they were spraying the wings and the tail of the plane for the other five to ten minutes.

By the time we got de-iced it was after 6:30 PM and time was getting tight. Now we were waiting in line for take off. At about 10 to 7 PM, the captain announced that we were about tenth in line and we should be taking off in 15 to 20 minutes. That would have made it about 7:10 PM.

I had this horrible feeling that I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight at 8:35 PM. We left at 7:16 PM and the flight time was expected to be one hour and eleven minutes, so arriving at around 8:27 PM. Plenty of time you might think.

I spoke with the flight attendant about my predicament and he said that they had no direct way of contacting Iceland Air but if they somehow did he would try to see if they would hold the plane for me. Fat chance I thought! He came back to say that they had text-messaged American Airlines in Boston who were going to try to contact Icelandair. This was between 8 and 8:10 PM.

Cell phone moment #1

If I had a cell phone, there was nothing I could have done. Cell phones were not allowed used while in flight.

He also said that our flight was landing at Terminal B at Logan Airport (for domestic flights only. Isn’t Canada its own country?) and that Icelandair was going to be leaving from Terminal E. There was a bus shuttle between the terminals.

We landed and they let me off first. I ran to the area where I was supposed to catch the shuttle, which took forever before it finally came. By the time I got to Terminal E it was 8:50 PM. The Icelandair counters were closed.

What was I to do? I went to the Information counter and the guy confirmed that the flight had left. I could try calling Icelandair on their 1-800 number to reschedule. I did that but when I dialed 2 for reservations I got a message that their system was down and I should try again another time.

Cell phone moment #2

If I had a cell phone, I could have called the toll free number for Icelandair and got the same response. I dialed the toll free number from a pay phone free of charge and got nowhere.

I went back to the information guy. He said that there wasn’t much more he could do. Then he said, just wait and he called someone. He told me to go to the Icelandair counter and someone would meet me there.

I met a lady at the counter and she said that they got the message but that Iceland Air policy was not to hold up flights so it had left. But there was good news. My bags had arrived and they were in storage. Also there was room for me on the Friday flight. I asked if I had to do anything and she said to just show up at the check-in time and show my ticket to the agent.

Also she said that airlines normally do not put up passengers overnight because of weather conditions. But she suggested that I go back to Terminal B and talk to an American Airlines representative and they may be able to do something for me.

I took the shuttle back to Terminal B. I got to the American Airlines counter and it was shut down. By this time it was 9:30 PM. Since the information guy was so helpful at Terminal E, I went to the Information counter at Terminal B and the guy suggested I go to the American Airlines baggage claim people who were still there across the way.

They said that they couldn’t do anything but that American Eagle (which is affiliated with American Airlines and it was an American Eagle plane that I had actually been on) was still open.

I went back to the departure level and, by golly, they were still there. I told my sad story and the agent took my ticket and went into the back room for about 10 minutes. At least it felt like 10 minutes or maybe more. She came back and made a phone call. Eventually she got the OK, I guess, and issued me a voucher for the Comfort Inn. The shuttle was to leave for the hotel at 10:10 PM. It was 9:50 PM now.

The shuttle got me to the hotel by about 10:45 PM. I checked in and got to my room. It could have been worse. I hadn’t eaten anything since the afternoon. On the flight they had given me a package of pretzels and crackers which I didn’t eat and some juice.

“I’ll order room service”, I thought. It closed at 10 PM. There was a restaurant in the hotel but it stopped serving food at 10 PM as well. I didn’t feel like venturing out. And there wasn’t a mini bar in the room so I couldn’t even drown my frustration. However there was a continental breakfast waiting for me in the morning.

Cell phone moment #3

If I had a cell phone, I could have called for take-out food and had it delivered. But then again I could have used the hotel phone for the local call.

I decided that I had to call Kelly to let her know about my missed flight because she was going to meet me at the bus terminal in Reykjavik. It was too late now to call because it was 4 AM her time. I had to stay awake another two hours which would make it 6 AM.

I couldn’t find anything interesting on the TV. I really wasn’t in the mood but I had to stay up. I kept flicking the channels just to stay awake.

Cell phone moment #4

If I had a cell phone, I could have called Kelly if I had the right plan and maybe saved some money. Read below to see how much it actually cost me to call from the hotel.

I finally called at about 1:10 AM local time and she answered. She actually had been awake since about 4:30 AM because they had walked a friend, who was leaving to go home, to the bus terminal. I told her what happened. It lasted less than two minutes.

I had a hard time falling asleep after that.