So, we’re on our way, somewhat early. More on that later! We’re flying a slightly more logical route than our last trip. Starting in Ottawa we fly to Toronto, then Munich, then Budapest. We have to fly west initially as it is not possible (with the exception of Air France) to fly overseas from the Nations capital! Once in Budapest, we’ll spend a few days there prior to boarding a boat for a cruise on the Danube to Amsterdam.
This trip was booked and finalised some months ago, however 3 weeks ago I got an e-Mail from Air Canada apologizing, but for operational reasons, our first flight had been canceled and they had automatically booked us on the flight an hour later. However, due to the mysterious ways airlines fix their fares, this meant the Munich – Budapest flight had to be moved! The first flight was delayed by one hour, the last flight by 4 hours and there was no change to the middle flight… go figure.
Up until last night I wasn’t too concerned that we only had 90 minutes to change flights in Toronto, but then for some unknown reason I checked the history of the flight we were now on. Over the last three days it had been canceled once and delayed more than 90 minute twice. I really didn’t want to phone Air Canada as there have been horror stories of 4-6 hour hold times. Imagine my shock when I was connected to an agent in under 4 minutes. From here it went from the sublime to the ridiculous, I had seen that the flight I had originally booked (but was told had been canceled 3 weeks ago) was still flying! I asked if I could be moved back to that flight. Although the agent was willing to make the move, the computer wouldn’t let her as the flight had (literally) just been canceled! To cut a long story short we finished up booking a trip three hours earlier. I guess we’ll get good use of the lounge.
I checked my eMails this morning to find one from the cruise company. The first thing I saw was “low water”. One of the risks of a river cruise this time of year is the water levels. If they are too low the cruise is conducted on a bus!! Not a pleasant thought. I read the e-Mail fully, and due to an earlier problem with water levels, our boat had been changed. Not a big issue I believe, as most of the companies boats are are very similar in layout.
Well, its now Wednesday and we are in Munich. My gut reaction to change to the earlier flight was a good one. Although our original (cancelled) flight managed to un-cancel itself, it was 2 hours late and the flight we were moved to was over an hour late. Both of these flights would likely have caused us to miss our connection.
The trans Atlantic fight was fine, and it was a new aircraft type for me an Airbus A350.
Now its just a matter of waiting a few more hours for the flight to Budapest. The vacation real starts tomorrow!