(PatPod) Ep 57. Sabrina's 24 Hour Travel Day

This was soooo stressful, I listened to the entire podcast over two different meals and after the first meal, I’d assumed the second half will be a dissection of the worst and not a continuation 😭

For a product/app that can potentially save a lot people's troubles how come Flighty is only available in iOS??

Listened to this while being on a very chill on-time long-distance train (which is quite rare here!) and still felt as if I’d just survived five missed connections after the pod. So sorry for Sabrina for having to actually live this!

I have never flown before, and stories like these just continue to fuel my anxiety of it

Jeeeeeeez this was so stressful to listen to! I can't imagine how Sabrina must've felt actually going through it! I used to fly kinda often and I've had the immense luck of not having any cancelled flights. I hope that streak continues 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽

I have a travel tip related to what happened to Sabrina. I used this years ago and I believe it is still true: learn what airlines belong to the alliance. So, in the case of Air Canada, it is part of Star Alliance and, among the other airlines it has as members, it includes Lufthansa, Air India, Air China but, most importantly for this context (as it was a North America flight), United Airlines. Here are two things you could have done: 1. While you booked a direct flight, check if they can book you up in a flight with connections (which is what Sabrina ended up doing). 2. Check if they can rebook you via one of the alliance airlines (which was, in the end, informally done, as AC does not operate between two airports in the US). Both are related as you need to know what routes the other airline(s) fly and, given the staff might be stressed, they won’t be bothered to check. In the context of Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Los Angeles (LAX), an option would have been to go to the appropriate websites (United, in this case) and check what flights are available to LAX - whether direct or via Chicago O’Hare, Newark or Denver (all United hubs). Choose one or two routes and let the agent know that, because the direct flight has been cancelled, if you can be rebooked through one of the options you have checked in United’s site. In other words, don’t let me do the guessing for you. Choose specific flights for them. I personally used this almost a decade ago: I was in Philadelphia and was supposed to fly to Vancouver via United with a layover in Chicago O’Hare. However, there was a traffic controller outage in that area (therefore, no flights over Chicago). The agent was extremely stresssed with all the rebookings so, instead of having him try to sort things out, I just told the agent if I could be put in an Air Canada flight from Philadelphia to Toronto Pearson and then Vancouver. I would arrive late but I wanted to be there at the end of that day. The agent was appreciative that I gave them a solution and they were more than happy to make it work.

listening to this while literally waiting for a flight to LA from YYZ is very funny. but also the AA flight at the next gate is delayed because of mechanical issues and the gate agent said according to Canadian law they’re required to compensate people if it’s over 3 hours. get that compensation!!

I have a lot of anxiety around travel, so I'm very glad this did not happen to me. It was actually a good story though. Next time I fly, I'll make sure to fly a week in advance.

I had almost the same experience with the airport lounge except I didn't try to see if I could pay to get in. XD Sorry to hear you had to go through such a stressful travel experience, but it is truly a great story

Taha: you’re in America! People are supposed to be friendlier! Sabrina: I’m in Dallas.

hi guys! unrelated to this pod, but the google forms link for the candle giveaway says you need permission to use the form/need to be a part of the owner’s organization to access it!