And boy are our arms tired, and every other part of us too! We got in very early on Wednesday and are still recovering. We were supposed to head to NY on Wed 6/4 at 11:59 PM. We like to fly JetBlue because of the more comfortable seating as well as the DirectTV at each seat. However, this trip did not impress up much. We were supposed to start boarding at 11:30 and a gate agent was supposed to be there an hour before the flight. Finally a gate agent showed up around 11:30 and Steve asked about gate checking our stroller. Oh, and yeah, where is the plane? The plane we were going to take was supposed to land around 10:54, arriving from JFK in NY. It was over half an hour late. Apparently, for whatever reason, it was still about half an hour away. It did finally arrive and we were able to get on the plane around midnight (when we were supposed to be leaving).
So, there we are, sitting on the airplane, waiting to go. Everyone else boards and we continue to sit. Finally, the captain comes on the speaker to tell us there is a problem with the plane. One of the cargo nets is broken and they have to move all the cargo away from it and then fill out paperwork. It should only be a few minutes. We sat at the gate with hot air blowing on us, no water in the restrooms to flush or wash your hands, nothing to drink, for 90 minutes. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The hot air was driving me crazy. Finally, we were told that the paperwork (which took up probably 80 of those minutes) was finished and we could go. But we didn’t go anywhere. Steve stopped a flight attendant to ask when the captain would be turning on the AC. She was so rude and snotty! In a horrible tone of voice she said “I guess you didn’t hear the captain say he wasn’t turning it on until we could go.” I wanted to point out that we had just been told we were going. Steve told her we were very hot and I was having a hard time because of claustrophobia which was getting worse because the heat made it feel like the plane was closing in on me. She looked at me and asked “You have claustrophobia?” I said yes and she said “well it was just freezing here, perhaps you didn’t feel it.” Steve pointed out that it had not been freezing there the whole time we’d been on the plane. Perhaps it was cooler when you were allowed to stand next to the door, but us cattle in the body of the plane were definitely not freezing. She walked off then.
We did finally take off. Our experience with this wonderful woman only got better when we were finally landing at JFK. Josie had had enough of her car seat and was sitting on our laps. The flight attendant (FA) walked by and asked us if Josie was not going to cooperate by sitting in her car seat. We told her no, she was done with the seat for now. The FA then informed us that if she was in her seat for takeoff then she had to be in it for landing as well. I told her that she was not in her seat at takeoff because I was nursing her to ease her ears with the pressure. She looked at me in disbelief and said “she wasn’t in her car seat?” I said again that no she was nursing. I then said I was not sure why she was being so confrontational with us the whole trip. She said she felt the same and walked off. Of course, as she was walking off I said loudly that it was her job to be accommodating and we were paying her to perform a service. There is just no excuse for that level of rudeness. The other FA that was in the front was very sweet and always offered a smile. The horrible one didn’t smile at anyone. Needless to say, I do blame JetBlue for this very poor experience.
So, we did a little experiment and while waiting at JFK for our commuter flight to Rochester we asked the gate agent about the whole “must be sitting in her seat” deal. He said he was not aware of any such regulations and that as long as she was under 2 (she’s 14 months) then she could be in her seat or on our laps. Hmmm, interesting. We also asked the FA on our commuter flight and were given a third answer: that as long as she has a seat, she has to be in it for takeoff and landing. Let’s review: When traveling with a child under 2 who has a purchased seat you have to have them in their seat for takeoff and landing OR in their seat on landing only if they were in their seat for takeoff OR it doesn’t matter because she’s under 2. Sounds like JetBlue needs to do a little training with their staff on what is actually required.
I’m not going to detail our actual vacation at the moment because it was fun and I don’t want to have it in the same post. I’ll make a new post about it later.
I’d like to say our flights home were less eventful, but I can’t. The commuter flight went very well. The Rochester airport is very nice. We actually got into JFK about 30 minutes early. Doesn’t sound too bad so far, right? How would you like to spend 2 and a half hours in JFK with no air conditioning (it was in the 90s that day) and crammed with stinky people? It was the most uncomfortable and stinky airport experience I’ve ever had. And while we were sitting and waiting at the first gate, a little tiny mouse decided it liked the row of chairs we were sitting in. After much screaming by the women around us (including the worker cleaning the garbage) Steve was able to capture the mouse (with Josie in his arms) using a paper cup and help the male worker scoop it into a dust pan.
Then came the first gate change. We had very nice seats near the gate at our first gate. There were no seats at the second gate. That’s ok, though, because they changed the gate again. Is it really that complicated to pick a gate and stick with it? We should have known things would only get worse from there. The flight coming in was late so everyone was crowded around the gate which left no room for the people getting off the flight. We really were cattle. We did finally get on the plane and pulled away from the gate when (drum roll please) we ended up sitting on the tarmac for 4 and a half hours waiting for the thunderstorms to pass and then waiting for the tower to give us permission to leave. At least this time they had the AC running in the plane as well as the water in the restrooms. They even gave us water to drink. I can’t blame JetBlue for the weather but I do blame JFK for what appeared to be a very poor system when it came to shutting down the airport and then opening it back up, as well as the poor state of the terminal. It would also appear that when we sat at the gate in Portland for 90 minutes we should have been able to have AC and running water since we had both for 4 & 1/2 hours while sitting on the tarmac at JFK.
One bright spot to all of this is that if you have to be stranded for multiple hours on an airplane, having DirectTV is a great thing. Josie slept and I was able to catch that night’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen.
We finally landed around 2:30 AM PST. It took PDX a ridiculous amount of time to get the luggage to baggage claim, especially considering we were apparently the only flight that had landed. We finally got home around 3:30 AM. Thank you dad for getting up in the middle of the night to come get us.
We did get many compliments on what a good traveler Josie is. If only her mommy were as good a traveler too! 
Lloyd Center closed a while ago (I was on the grand opening team there) and Vancouver Mall is closing this next week (I helped open it and then worked there for almost 2 years). At least we can still get to Clackamas Town Center or Washington Square where there are still stores. We are hoping that now that Disney has bought the stores back (they were owned by The Children’s Place for the last few years and run into the ground) that the stores will go back to they way they were when I worked there.