It was the first time I had a real white Christmas as I woke up to a snowy Christmas day in Arlington, Texas. This was also the first time I had attended a funeral in the US as my brother-in-law was called home to be with the Lord to spend Christmas and eternity with Him.
It was not just an ordinary funeral, as Michael was a Pastor and Vietnam War veteran and he was interned on Christmas Eve at the Dallas National Cemetery with military honours. It was very touching to see as the hearse with US flag flying and police escorts went by and all the cars in the opposite direction stopped to pay their respects.
However the euphoria of my first White Christmas lasted only through Christmas lunch with the family as I was flying home that night to Hong Kong. Well, as it turned out, it wasn’t such a Merry Xmas day. I was supposed to fly with American Airlines from DFW to LAX at 8.25pm and connect on CX at 00.25 on 26 Dec to HKG, then onto SQ on 27 Dec at 3pm to SG. The trip started off well when AA boarded us at 8pm, and then the nightmare started at 8.45pm.
It was announced that the Pilot and his First Officer for our flight have yet to arrive in DFW and they are expected “soon” so we can be in our way. This was another firstfor me as I have never been boarded onto a plane when they do not have the cockpit crew ready. That “soon” became hours as we waited until 11pm before the pilot showed up.
Amidst our applause, he apologised and calmly said we still have to wait for his First Officer, but meanwhile, he will turn on the computer and start his ground check. At 11.30 he said we would be on our way shortly; however there were several other aircraft waiting to be de-iced and we have to wait our turn. It was 1am before we finally rolled onto the pad for de-icing and eventually took off at 1.40am. I knew then it will be the start of a long night because my flight from LAX would definitely have taken off before I landed there.
We arrived at LAX at 2.30 am local time. There were no CX staff waiting for me, only AA ground staff with a message for me at the gate. If I hadn’t bothered to look or ask, I would definitely have missed the message as the AA ground staff merely stood at the side of the aerobridge without any signage or message board with passenger’s names.
I had been re-booked onto CX leaving LAX at 10.15pm on 26 Dec and booked into Crowne Plaza LAX for the night. There was no other assistance available and no information about my luggage which had been checked in DFW direct to HKG. The AA staff shrugged his shoulders and merely said, “Go wait at baggage carousel and see.”
At the luggage area, I asked another ground staff there (a lovely lady with tears in her eyes as she had just assisted another elderly passenger with her luggage who was thanking her profusely with hugs and kisses) and was told, “No, if your luggage was tagged to HKG, they will not be on the belt.” However I decided to wait and see. Lo and behold, my bags rolled out in 10 minutes. Then I had to pay $5 for the trolley (Christmas day-light robbery). Asked the lovely lady again where to catch my hotel shuttle and this time, she provided.
The shuttle bus driver was very helpful as everyone was tired and he helped to load and unload our bags, so I gladly gave him a $5 tip. By the time we got to the Crowne Plaza LAX, it was already 3.45am. I was so looking forward to a nice shower and a restful sleep. Well, you guessed it right, more nightmares before I could even say ho, ho, ho.
There were two other passengers from the same flight ahead of me at the reception desk and guess what, reception told them their booking had been cancelled as it had been booked for arrival on 25 Dec by AA. So they had to wait for another half hour while they tried to reinstate the booking. Nice people at Crowne Plaza but obviously not well trained. The two Front Desk agents had to ask each other how to complete the process on their Opera. I further tested them by showing my impatience. tapping my foot and flapping my booking slip while waiting for them to sort out for the other 2 guests ahead of me. Both Front Desk Agents gave me a look, not the welcoming kind and certainly not the kind that says, “sorry to keep you waiting, we will be with you shortly, thank you for your patience.”
When it came to my turn, Duvos was a nice enough guy and it was not his fault I was having such a day – but I wished he had a smile to help me feel better while he checked me in. I handed him the hotel vouchers. He completed the process pretty quickly and handed me the 3 meal coupons, 1 for breakfast with $7 value and 2 for lunch and dinner at $12 value each. Like any typical road warrior, I asked if Internet was included. Duvos replied with a straight face, “No it’s not, but I am gonna go ahead and give it to you cos you had to wait.” Good recovery Duvos! Finally got into my room at 4:40 am in the Quiet Zone on the 15th where no circus animals and no loud singing in the shower are allowed, as stated in this wall poster (right).
Once I was settled in the room, got on my phone to call SQ on the toll free line to change my flight to Singapore, the agent on the phone was absolutely no help at all. Again poor training on handling calls, monotonous tone, no smile, not customer-focused, not willing to go the extra step.
So I decided to call long distance to SQ call centre in Singapore where I have had good experiences and this time was no exception. Van the agent was very helpful and offered alternatives as all seats in my fare code on 28 Dec to Singapore were completely sold out. She managed to find me a seat on a more expensive fare code but I would have to call my agent to arrange for the fare difference. She went ahead to hold that for me while putting me on waitlist for the other flights. Next, I looked at the ticket for my CX flight from LAX to HKG and realized they had re-booked me in the wrong class as my original booking was on Premier Economy while AA had me rebooked with a seat way back on row 66. So had to call long distance to the Marco Polo Club at CX to change. That was well handled as well, kudos to our Asian airlines. By then it was time for breakfast.
At the coffee shop, I was greeted warmly by the hostess and I told her I had vouchers for my breakfast. She kindly informed me the breakfast voucher would not be enough to pay for breakfast, I would have to pay the difference or combine the meal vouchers.
I went ahead to have the buffet breakfast anyway as there was no meal served on the AA flight from Dallas. Again comparing with hotels in Asia, the buffet spread at Crowne Plaza was worse than the 3 star Orchid Hotel near my Singapore office on Tras Street where I stayed on my last trip there.
After my meal, Alex brought me the check; again, he kindly informed me that the breakfast voucher of $7 would not be enough for the bill which came up to $20 and he added that tips were not included and could not be paid with vouchers. So I used my lunch voucher as well which came up to only $19 and added $5 cash. Alex came back to pick up the check and merely said thank you assuming the change from the cash will be his tips (20% for helping myself at the buffet?).
I was too tired to bother anymore. I went back to my room, took a nice long shower and went to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, not a lot of Firsts, at least it’s on familiar ground where I feel appreciated as a customer. Take care everyone and safe travels in the New Year!
