Last week, as I often do for my job – I had to go on Government travel. This time, it was once again to Huntsville, Alabama. So, I booked my team lead Henning and I on U.S. Airways and headed down South. The trip there was uneventful and the trip itself was a resounding success…

…but the trip home was a disaster.

We got to the airport at 8:30am, went through security, and eagerly awaited our 11:29am flight that would take us to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then back home to New Jersey. As I got ready to leave the coffee shop and head to the gate to board – I looked on the departures monitor and saw the one word next to my flight that no one ever wants to see when they are flying somewhere…

…“CANCELLED.”

We immediately went to the gate to find out what was going on. When I asked why the flight was cancelled – the ticket agent actually had the audacity to say, “Don’t worry about it.” What kind of answer is that? That’s what you tell a paying customer whose life you have just inconvenienced? Furious, but asked to calm down by Henning, the guy searched for alternate flights for us – and found us a 1:30pm flight out of Huntsville. After a three-hour layover in Washington, D.C., we would arrive in New Jersey at 9:30pm.

Still pissed at the cancellation and my answer as to why – we waited another three hours to board our new flight…

…only to go to the gate and see the exact same evil word once again – “CANCELLED.”

Now I was livid. It was 1:30pm, we were in the airport for the last five hours – and now knew that we had to endure even more waiting. This time, we had to go back downstairs to the U.S. Airways ticket booth and reschedule our flights. As it turns out, they had to put us on Delta (Thank God, because at this point – I wanted nothing to do with U.S. Airways). We got a 3:16pm flight out of Huntsville, landing in Atlanta for a two-hour layover – and landing in New Jersey at 9:30pm.

What really sent me over the edge was when I asked this guy Charles for some kind of compensation. I asked for a first-class upgrade, a coupon for a future free trip – or at least a beverage coupon – to which his answer was simply, “Nope.” After dealing with Charles – I can only assume that U.S. Airways does not offer a public relations course. If that is not bad enough, after we got our third flight sorted out – we had to once again go back through security – and wait another two hours to board our flight.

After spending seven agonizing hours in the Huntsville airport, we finally boarded an airplane and actually left the ground. We made it to Atlanta and, after spending yet another two hours of my life in an airport – boarded a second plane that finally took us to New Jersey – which I was never happier to see. After I got my bag, I got on a New Jersey Transit train for another hour of travel – and then hopped a cab to my front door at midnight – which took me a total of fifteen-and-a-half hours to get to.

With all the places I have been in my life, I am well aware that traveling is not perfect all the time. I have had some bad experiences with all types of travel. But what pisses me off is that after canceling two flights in a row, making me spend close to sixteen hours taking a trip that should of took half that time – and making me go through security twice as if once is not bad enough – all I get is “Don’t worry about it” and “Nope” as my compensation for their incompetence?

If I have my way, I am never flying U.S. Airways again. You would think that with the economy in the horrific state that it is – that any airline would be grateful that any seat on any of their planes would have someone in them. I would hope that the people working for any airline would treat their customers with respect and gratitude – because each purchased ticket means less chance of that airline having to lay people off. And I would encourage anyone flying to do what I am doing when I fly to Orlando, Florida in April for my next Government assignment…

…fly with someone else.