Anthrocon 2010 & Delta Airlines

tl;dr version: I didn't have that great of a weekend.

What was supposed to be an awesome vacation started out not so great, got a little better, then got a lot worse. There are two main things that really made my vacation unpleasant; and they both deal with Delta Airlines. I flew out of Charlotte (CLT) with a layover in Atlanta (ATL) to Pittsburgh (PIT). I've flown Delta several times before and I've never had an issue with them. This year was completely the opposite; luck was not on my side. The flights to Pittsburgh went without a hitch. Once I arrived t PIT and headed down to baggage claim, things started getting bad. I retrieved my suitcase and waited, and waited, and waited for my suit box. It never came around on the conveyor belt so I headed over to Baggage Services to find out what was up. I've had to retrieve it from them in the past because it was considered oversize luggage (even though it's just within the limits), so I wasn't too worried yet at this point. I give them my baggage ticket and they tell me that they don't even have it leaving Charlotte. Great! So I have them deliver it to the hotel as soon as it arrives overnight. Not really a huge deal but definitely a bummer and I was not too happy about it. I took the Super Shuttle from the airport to the hotel/convention center. I had my laptop bag and my suitcase bag with me. With the frustration of not having my suit building up, I ended up forgetting to grab my laptop bag off the shuttle when I was dropped off. I didn't realize it until about 30 minutes after getting to the hotel and wandering around for a bit after getting my room. I called Super Shuttle and they said they would deliver it to me as soon as they could find it and when the shuttle van came back by. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the next morning that they tried to, unsuccessfully, drop it off with the front desk. The hotel would not accept it without my name, which the shuttle driver did not have. Expecting it to have arrived by 6am, I go to the front desk around 10am but they had nothing for me. Ugh! Called them again and they made sure to leave my information with the driver so he could drop it off on his next trip to the hotel. By this time, I received my suit box from Delta and was glad to have it safely in my possession. Later in the afternoon, I retrieved my laptop bag. Basically the first 24 hours of my vacation were spent freaking out over lost luggage. We're off to a great start! (/sarcasm)

During the actual convention itself, I have lots of fun here and there. I suited at least once each day that I had my suit and enjoyed that as much as I could, all things considered. I wasn't feeling too well one night and was pretty down and kept to myself most of the night. I regret that, but what can I do? I wasn't feeling up to par. Another indecent left me feeling pretty upset and that pretty much ruined that day for me. I regret what happened and I wish I could have avoided drama, but it happened and what's done is done. I really wish I could elaborate more on what happened and let out my pent up emotions but for the sake of moving on and putting the past behind me, I'll keep it to myself. I'll save a "full con report" since I don't prefer typing and reading those things. Overall, I had a decent convention experience. It wasn't as fun as last year, to me. Better luck next year if I can make it.

On my flight from PIT to ATL on the trip home, landing was delayed due to weather at ATL so we circled the airport... as a result of the constant increase/decrease in altitude, I got motion sickness. That wasn't pleasant. We finally got to the gate (terminal A) and I had to nearly run to my next gate, which was at terminal E! OMG really!? I barely made it to the gate in time - as did all of those on the connecting flight. We cut it pretty close but it wasn't insane close... close enough that our bags SHOULD have made it onto the plane. We get to CLT and sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for a gate to open up. Finally get down to baggage claim and those of us that were on the flight from PIT were all left once everyone else had retrieved their bags. Basically, because our connecting flight was delayed getting into ATL, our bags were not put on the connecting flight so none of out bags were on the plane with us! I had to have them deliver my luggage and suit to my house the next morning. My suitcase bag was practically destroyed. I'm working on writing a letter to the President of Delta in regards to how my bags were handled on this trip. I'm not too happy about paying $115 for my bags to get lost and mishandled. I'd rather ship them via UPS if they aren't going to take care of my luggage. So, screw Delta (Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive). I'll never fly with them again if I can help it.

I didn't take many pictures while there since I was suiting often but you can find pics of my suit, which has several from AC 2010, here: http://suit.kanehusky.com

The End.