Canceled flights!
 

Hello fellow travelers!
I need to vent. I've been planning a trip for MONTHS. Have had the airline reservations for MONTHS. Had it all set... my 86 year old mother would fly form NY to Atlanta. I would fly from Virginia to Atlanta. And, my niece would fly to Atlanta from Charlott, NC. Then we would all board the same flight to Costa Rica.
This was supposed to happen at the crack of dawn tomorrow. At 3 this afternoon, Delta called to say that both my mother's and my EARLY flights have been canceled. This leaves my niece, who speaks no spanish, arriving in a foriegn country alone. Great. We were all supposed to land in CR at 2pm. Instead my mother and I will get us to San Jose at 9:40 pm!!! (With a big snow storm scheduled to hit my area in the morning it is very possible that my new flight will be canceled also.)

How can the airlines do this stuff ??? They gave no reason for the change. My guess is that the planes just weren't full.

Well, thanks for letting blow off some steam. I'll try to think of palm trees and parrots and calm down.

Happy travels everyone!

Hi there. I have been to CR three times, the last was in November. Your niece will find plenty of English -- most everyone speaks both. The taxis are all there in your face when you land so that can be a little intimidating. We had some flight changes on our trip as well. They were all weather related which left one of us for a night in Miami on our own tab. It also happened on the way back, but that time was on their tab as it was plane problems not an "Act of God" --weather. Good luck and I hope everything works out. Also, they will happily take dollars...take lots of them for tips. Have fun :). Pura vida!

Or how about moving your niece onto the same flight you and your mother are taking? Call Delta, explain what is going on, and see if she can be on the same flight.

Excellent idea from the previous poster. What a bummer. I know you must be very frustrated. If your niece ends up alone in the country for a few hours, perhaps she could hire a taxi driver to take her to a couple of places for while away the hours. Zoo Ave in Alajuela/La Garita comes to mind. Or a drive into San Jose to look around in the area around the Teatro Nacional--if he would accompany her. Not sure how comfortable you would be with that.

Are you staying somewhere nearby your first night? If not, you will have to now, right? Check with Humberto at Hotel Villa Bonita (www.hotelvillabonita.com) or Las Orquideas Inn (www.orquideasinn.com).

Good luck! You WILL have a good time and it WILL all resolve just fine. There will be a lot of people at the airport who can help--not outside where the throngs of taxi drivers gather (they seldom speak English), but inside--someone in charge will be able to assist should she need assistance.

Good suggestion to call Delta and ask to have your niece put on your flight. I was successful doing that in a similatr situation. Not that this helps your situation, but I just heard on the news that due to expected "dicey weather" including ice, tomorrow in the Atlanta area, Delta has already cancelled 200 flights into and out of Atlanta airport.
Good luck and have a great trip!

Thanks everyone. I've had some time to calm down. I talked to my niece and she sounds like she'll be able to handle her end of things. Phew! Thanks for all of your good ideas. I will certainly suggest that she try to change flights. But, under the circumstances (weather), I doubt if she'll have any luck. I guess my biggest concern is that my local airport will shut down due to snow/ice. Both are predicted. Then my mother will have to fend for herself. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Shillmac, We're staying at Pure Vida Hotel in Tuetal (Alejuela)- more of a B&B really. Are you familiar with it? I haven't seen it mentioned here. Will report back for all after our trip.

Do you already have a pre-arranged pick-up or were you all going to just take a taxi? If a taxi, tell her to expect a mini chaos when she walks past the glass into the outside but they are harmless :) There is a booth or two that you tell them where you are going, they have a set price, you will get a slip in exchange for payment and then just grab a taxi. So there won't be any wagering over the fare.

I used to work for the airlines so just keep in mind they want all of their planes up all the time, sometimes the weather makes that a dicey situation. I hope you all will be enjoying CR together by Friday.

Yes, I've heard of it, but don't know its exact location in Alajuela province or Alajuela town? At any rate, I know the owners will be very gracious to help with your problem, so this is the Tico way! I'm sure your niece will be in good hands until you get there. AND she'll grow a bit in the experience! :) Good luck--we'll all be thinking about you!

I'm in Texas and my oldest daughter is supposed to fly into OKC tomorrow from Puerto Rico--just hoping she can make it and we can get there to spend the weekend with her! :)

Glad to hear you're calming down a bit. That seems to be the problem with booking flights TOO MUCH in advance. We had a situation with Delta codeshare (China Airlines) and they actually lied to us and told us the flight was cancelled, but after further checking I came to find out they just overbooked. I thought that was pretty slimy. What was going to already be a 22 hour trip from Seattle to Phuket, turned out to be 32 hours and 4 plane changes instead of 2. Acck! It was, however, all worth it once we got there!

We went to Pura Vida a couple years back. They said to look for a driver with a sign and our name. No one was there and we waisted our time looking. It would have been so easy to tell us to go directly to the taxi prepay booth and get a taxi to the hotel. The owner didn't even appologize or mention the driver not being there when we arrived at the hotel.
Hopefully they have gotten their communictions together for better service on that end. The same happened to some one else we met along the way.
I share that to prepare you incase the situation has not changed. Getting the taxi is easy with english speaking help in the booth and an assistant outside the airport. Thr hotel is not far from the airport, 15 mins.