Are we there yet? No!
Yesterday was finally time for my departure en route to Sydney for Web Directions, however, before heading straight to Sydney, I thought it time that I keep heading south and pop into Geelong, Melbourne, Victoria and visit an internet friend of many many years, Mike.
Pay Coupon for being Late!
The Flight was rather simple, Hervey Bay to Sydney with Virgin Blue, a 1:45min flight, followed by a three hour break, then another 1:30 min flight to Avalon which is very close to Geelong, my final destination. Booking the connecting flight three hours later, I thought I was being conservative, however, as I soon learnt, that wasn’t the case.
Upon Check-in in Hervey Bay, we were advised that the plane was about an hour late, which is the longest I have had to wait for a flight, but, I that only means I’d have to wait for 2 hours in Sydney, so not so bad after all.
What you get for $12 on a plane
After about an hour of waiting, we saw the flight was now 2 hours, not 1 hour behind. Well this was OK, we would JUST be able to make it, it would be a quick off and on again, which is just enough.
Again, after about 1 hour, the ETA departure time was back another 20-30 mins, so this means, we’d be landing as Check in for my connecting flight closes, which might mean I might JUST get in. IF the plane was on time for the HB -> SYD Flight.
Once on board, all passengers were given a $12 on flight credit, for what ever you wanted on board, and while waiting in the terminal, a $6 food voucher.
However, because the flight was now so late, my Jetstar flight had already left when I got in, and because #WDS09 is during school holidays now, everything is busy! So I couldn’t get any other flight with Jetstar, and Virgin Blue had a flight on at 8:20PM – so I had to buy those tickets, at $310 each! Rather than the normal $150-$200 the ticket would cost.
Rain in Sydney
When forking out the dough, I asked the Virgin blue staff member if there was any discount as they caused this delay and lost my tickets, and the answer I got was one I was expecting, and that was a “no” – however, because these are good (expensive) tickets, I can get good seats (row three), closest thing to business class on these economy flights.
After hanging around Sydney domestic for 3 or so hours, we went to board the plane, and as boarding, we were told that we had been given new seats, at row 12, not row 3 which are the bigger, comfier seats, row 12 is back in economy.
Getting in to Tulamarine as Virgin don’t fly to Avalon, I had to then get a 1 hour shuttle bus to Geelong in 10 degree weather and at 10:30->11:30pm, only 4-5 hours later than I should have!
Thank you Virgin Blue for not doing anything substantial to help!
