

I would get back on my flight the next day. One Delta staff lady there was extremely kind and helpful and I received a complimentary night in a nearby hotel with food vouchers. This is now the 2nd flight in the chain that I wasn’t able to board on time. My Korean Air flight (Operated by Delta, mind you) had gone. I ran and ran hoping for a delay but arrived to an empty gate in Atlanta. That DL1315 flight landed in Atlanta at the same time the flight to Seoul was scheduling to take off. I was concerned about making my connection in Atlanta, and considered purchasing an additional flight to arrive at the correct time in Atlanta, but as require passengers to board all flights booked or risk the remaining flights not being honored, I had no choice but to get on the flight I had been assigned. Okay, off to Atlanta, and to catch my Korean Air flight on time. Despite all my pleas and gov info from Indonesia Customs online, Delta would not allow me to board the seat I paid for until I ordered an outbound ticket from Indonesia… So I ordered one, right on the spot, for a couple of hundred dollars, and just barely made my flight out of Houston. Naturally, as a permanent resident of Indonesia, I had booked a 1-way ticket home to Bali. “Fine” I say, “enter me as a tourist.” But a tourist must show an outbound international flight to enter Indonesia.

However, the woman at the Delta boarding gate in Houston insisted her computer was not up to date on the half a dozen different visas Indonesia gives its ex-pats, and that I could only enter as a tourist. s’ app was actually such a joke, that my google profile became the de facto OS for me, alerting me to flight delays and suggesting nearby hotels.įirst off, I am a foreign national in Indonesia, and my passport and visa paperwork clearly show this. I had downloaded the App as recommended to receive updates and none of this information was posted there. Home Sweet Home! My first July 26th flight from Austin to Houston was canceled and rescheduled for the following morning - requiring my 2nd flight from Houston to Atlanta (where I would make my connection to Seoul and onwards home to Bali) to be delayed. I started July 26th, 2022 with a flight from Austin, Texas, USA scheduled to 8pm… From there to go on to Houston, TX with an 11 hour layover before boarding my Seoul, S. Okay, so I know this is a little cryptic, as it has been for me in real time here in Seoul Incheon International Airport.

When this chain is disrupted by merely one weak link working for Delta Airlines, I became occupational hazard in the flesh… Missing flights, having to pay unreal sums of money because we have flight stewards who aren’t attuned to my needs. Why, you ask? I’d be happy to tell you my itinerary was put together by, with a seemingly flawless algorithm, until I realized that this itinerary relies on every facet of transfers, Covid testing, and airline employees executing their job duties in a timely, effective manner. , however, as a travel agent, is rather complicit in my defenseless position.

This is all Delta’s doing at the moment, and I cannot believe my own story as I sit back and revel in it while typing. My home away from home for decades, equipped with children and a career I need to return to with some semblance of a plan… However, that plan is being obliterated by /Delta Airlines as I speak! I’m sitting here, 10 kilometers from Incheon airport, where I shall sit until the first flight to Bali that has a seat available, is willing to transport me. This is a story about how a 39 hour journey from the Western continental Americas, sadly, became a 5 day trip, chock-full of obscure flights, lost suitcases, international airports on graveyard shift, and crap food to hold me over while I slowly worked my way back to the Eastern hemisphere of Indonesia.
