October 19, 2010 My patience are being tested today. Delayed flight home.

Today we were getting ready to go, up at 3:30 this morning. The phone rang at 0400 to let us know that the flight was delayed… by 26 hours. So, then the new plan was for the entire passenger manifest to take off at 8:55 tomorrow morning with American Airlines instead of 6:55 am this morning. I was so disappointed for the delay because I have been here for 28 days, and I miss my family, friends, and dogs.

Next, apparently our hotel is booked tonight so we had to move to a hotel that is closer to the airport, but not anywhere near as nice. Furthermore, it is more expensive than most 4 star and 5 star hotels we have been in. When we got to the new hotel, they wanted to charge us an extra 200 RMB for a baby’s bed, and it is a sub-par pack and play playpen. Finally, the lady at the front desk had better judgment and decided that we didn’t need to pay the extra charge for the bed.
After all of this, I then found out through my own means that the Chinese government won’t let American Airlines fly two flights in one day out of here, so our second plan is now nixed. At $2 a minute, I am on the phone with American Airlines in the United States trying to make sure we have seats for the 6:55 am flight.  The impolite woman on the phone behaved as if I was ignorant, because I didn't know that when they canceled the 8:55 flight, the airline automatically rerouted passengers to the 6:55 am flight. How was I supposed to find that out? How was I to even know that they had cancelled the 8:55 flight since they did not notify me! American Airlines didn’t text me like it is set up to do. What if I was not as resourceful as I am? I could have missed my flight and been here ANOTHER DAY! I’m so annoyed!  I have had to find my own way through this maze in a foreign country with a 2 year old, and this American woman is so uncaring,  and even so unprofessional. I will deal with that when I get home, for sure.

Well, now we have our first class tickets reassigned. We ordered these seats in mid September and I was going to be very agitated if they had given our seats away. I don’t want to fly home in the economy section  with a 2 year old, cramped on a flight that is now likely to be full due to the cancellation of this morning’s flight. Kai could not take that for 12.5 hours, and neither could I.

Here we are with nothing to do but just wait. It has been such a chaotic day. I fervently hope nothing else comes up. Please, I can’t take any more stress on right now.

Both my boys are napping now. They are so cute!