monstersocks and I went out to see Grindhouse tonight. I liked it more than she did, although the Tarentino bits did drag somewhat. A small director cameo can be fun, big parts have less potential. Definitely worth seeing though.

The original plan was to see Hot Fuzz but that fell through. We may try and see it tomorrow instead.

I never posted the full details of the whole US Airways thing. Basically, I spent a week in Utah for work and at the end of the week they decided they wanted to extend the trip. We were offered the option of staying in Utah for the weekend and coming back the next week or going back to the twin cities on our original flights, then flying back out on Sunday and returning later in the week. I decided to come back as monstersocks and I had plans for the weekend. The first set of flights were direct on Northwest and had no problems. The second set of flights ended up being on US Airways through Phoenix because they were much cheaper (for a reason).

On the way to Phoenix our flight was delayed (weather elsewhere), they changed gates twice and there was a bit of a delay because one guy got on the wrong plane (impressive security). On the way in to Phoenix the captain let us know that he had no idea if they would be holding our connecting flights but that they might well be delayed too given the weather trouble on the east coast. We arrived and I discovered I'd missed my connection. I also discovered they'd booked me on another flight the next evening leaving Phoenix around 9pm going through Vegas then arriving in SLC after 2am. I finally got rebooked on a flight the next morning at 7am (with little help from the apathetic employees), tried to get my suitcase but was told it had already gone on to SLC and ended up at a hotel for a little sleep before returning bright and early for the 7am flight. That flight went fine, I got into SLC and they didn't have my suitcase. I gave them my contact info, picked up my car and went to work many hours later than I would have if they'd bothered to spend the extra money for a flight on a real airline.

I told several people in Utah about the trouble with my flights out and they all guessed I'd flown US Airways.

I got a call that afternoon and was told they had found my suitcase and would be delivering it to the hotel. A little good news. We worked, went out to dinner, then back to the hotel. I asked at the front desk about my suitcase and there had been no deliveries. They also had no record of my reservation. It turns out they'd canceled it when I didn't show up the night I was supposed to. Fortunately they had plenty of rooms so I was able to check in and the suitcase showed up while I was checking in.

The flight from SLC to Phoenix went fine. We arrived on time, I walked off the plane and checked a monitor for the status of my next flight. There was nothing between LA and New York. Not a good sign. I called monstersocks and she checked online. She reported that their website was claiming a ninety minute delay. I checked with a gate agent and she told me the same thing. So I went to the gate where the flight was rumored to be eventually and waited. If the flight had left on time we would have arrived in the twin cities at 3am. A gate agent eventually showed up and told us to stay in the gate area because while they were currently expecting a delay, the flight could still depart on time so we couldn't really do anything useful with the time. The flight finally left about two hours late. Lots of grumpy air travelers filed onto the plane and it departed. We arrived at about 5am (half an hour before they turn the tram on) and I caught a cab back to my apartment. I arrived as monstersocks was waking up.

So, my company saved some money, wasted a large block of my time and gave me some new reasons to never fly US Airways again.