Not a First Class Flight
- Cat
- Feb 3, 2017
- 5 min read
We dropped our rental car off at the Boston Logan Airport (and dropped a few pounds' worth of items - some planned like the car seat G won't fit into when we return, and some unplanned like a few pairs of shoes).
Upon entering the airport, there was an American flag. I had to swallow hard thinking about everything we were leaving for our new adventure. After a few hard blinks, I snapped a quick shot of G with our bags and the flag - we are officially leaving the US for our new home in Finland. It's actually happening.
From here, we had to get from the rental car terminal, down a level, to a shuttle waiting area, onto and off of the shuttle, and into the departure terminal. We managed our 5 rolling suitcases, 2 backpacks, a large carry-on shoulder bag, and a three-year-old pretty well actually!
We checked in to our Norwegian Air flight, made our way through security VERY quickly, and sat down around 7 PM to wait for our 8:50 PM departure. The Logan international terminal was very unimpressive...not many shops, no children's area, uncomfortable chairs, and now on our list of least favorite airports (it did get bonus points for the speed of security though!).
We ended up taking off at 10:30 PM due to a catering delay, and I was already nervous about missing our connection in London. Norwegian was pretty good about updating everyone on the speaker with the issue and new times, but they were not apologetic, nor did they seem to try to speed up the boarding when we got to do so.
We had booked the Premium cabin seats (their version of first class on long haul flights) and I was excited to have the extra legroom and reclining seat. While the legroom was nice, and the recline of the chair was better than average, it was still not conducive to sleeping. We got a pre-flight drink served, but the attendant did not pick up the empty glasses and she was very unwelcoming to all passengers in the premium cabin on our side of the aisle - the attendant on the other aisle on the other hand was great (too bad we didn't have him).
The attendant continued her rudeness throughout the flight. At one point after a meal, she hadn't picked up the trash. I needed to use the restroom so I brought it up to the front and started to hand it to her. Instead of taking it, she pointed to the trash can for me to throw it away myself. I don't mind doing so, but really expected a bit better service. The dinner was OK, Adam and I both had gluten-free meals. They weren't creative, but were satisfying. G's kids meal was left untouched. Breakfast was decent. The entertainment choices were very unimpressive. All movies available seemed much older than typical flight choices and there were fewer than other airlines.
As we were descending, both the captain and the attendants requested that everyone remain seated upon landing so that passengers connecting to Oslo could deplane first since their connection time was tight. They said nothing of the Helsinki connection, which was the same departure time. (We rushed off with the Oslo passengers anyway as we had only a few minutes to connect.)
Upon arriving at the immigration for connecting flights sweaty from running as fast as we could to get there, the woman explained that our flight was still boarding and we'd make it (it was taking off in 11 minutes). Relieved, we took a few deep breaths and headed to security. While security was fast, the guy checking passports kept asking everyone about their trip and where they were going...Everyone in line was tapping their feet anxiously!
As we rushed to the gate, the plane was just pulling away from the jetway. The woman at the counter explained that they tried to wait but couldn't do so any longer. The plane had taken off on time. Had they held it for 10 minutes, we, along with another passenger on our previous flight connecting with us, would have made the plane - all due to a delay that was THEIR fault, not ours.
Annoyed, but with little we could do, we were instructed to go to a desk to wait for someone from Norwegian to rebook us. A nice gentleman came to the desk after about 10 minutes and asked us how many bags we had. We told him and he proceeded to take us through customs to the baggage claim. We waited an hour in the customs line, and then looked for our bags for 20 minutes. When we couldn't find them - we asked the man why our bags would be in baggage claim since we weren't stopping in London, but connecting. He seemed confused, asked someone, and was told that bags would not go to the claim carousel! We could have skipped customs and the baggage claim and gone directly to the rebooking desk upstairs. Instead we walked another mile down to departures and waited in another line for rebooking. The rebooking desk (unaffiliated with Norwegian) was amazing. They were friendly, helpful, and annoyed that the airline had not held the plane due to a delay on their end. However, the next flight wasn't for 12 hours! She attempted to get approval for a day room so we could sleep and shower, as well as meal vouchers. She got approval for the day room and sent us to the Norwegian supervisor check in desk, where we had to wait again for them to call Norway to get final approval on the room and meals. This took nearly an hour. Finally, the room was approved and we were told lunch and dinner as well.
The nice woman from the rebooking desk chased us down and handed us a hotel confirmation, yet the other gentleman in the same predicament did not get one despite having a room as well - we had all originally been told to simply give our name to the hotel when we got there.
We arrived at the hotel, a Hilton inside the airport, but still a quarter mile walk away, only to find that they didn't have our reservation, or the other gentleman's. When he looked at the paper he found our name - he had spelled it incorrectly, and checked us in. We inquired about meals and he explained that there were none. We looked at him and laughed (it was better than the tears that were threatening), he must have felt sorry for us because he called the airline and verified they would buy us lunch, but not dinner. We didn't argue, it was certainly better than nothing!
We went upstairs, showered and took a nap (in retrospect, this was probably a mistake as our jet lag ended up lasting a FULL WEEK!). We ate a terrible lunch after waking up and getting ready for our next leg, and headed to the gate 2 hours early anticipating long security lines. Props to London, security was a breeze!
The second leg of our trip was delayed also and we ended up arriving in Helsinki around midnight. Unfortunately, this was after the car rental counter was closed and the last train to to our new hometown had already left. We were forced to get a hotel in Helsinki and pick up our car in the morning.
We ended up making it to town at noon, and into our apartment around 1 PM Tuesday! We had been traveling since 8 AM Sunday. At the end of the day we had to laugh because we were getting delirious and snappy at everything. G did so well - I'd say better than both Adam and I. Our fingers are crossed that this isn't a premonition on how the next six months will go!
Have you ever had a trip where it seemed like nothing went right?! Tell us about it!
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