The Trials of Air Travel and Customer Service

Welcome to five Minutes with Grey Hair Dave.

He has grey hair.

He has a grey beard and he wears glasses like the guy in the artwork.

Oh, and the guy in the artwork is better looking.

Now here is grey haired Dave.

Well, well, well folks, welcome back to five Minutes with Gray Hair Dave.

You'll notice there's no intro today.

I am up in Michigan in Port Huron.

Came for a very sad occasion.

We lost our sister in law last week.

Funeral is tomorrow.

And so I'm up seeing family and friends and relatives I haven't seen in forever.

Meeting grand nieces and grand nephews that I've never met before or haven't seen in 15, 16 years.

So how are you doing folks?

I hope you're doing well.

I wanted to talk about a couple of things today, so let's dive right in.

First of all, life is very fleeting.

It's hard to, to tell if you've done it right and it's hard to tell if you've done it wrong.

I mean, yeah, there's a lot of people who can tell they've done it wrong, but I mean, realistically, if you think about it, to know when you've done it wrong, it's a, is an eye opener.

And I'm not saying that I've done it wrong.

I did it my way, which is probably not the best way that could have been done, but I did it my way.

So I think my life has been pretty good.

I'm proud of my brother for what he's, how he's handling things.

But let's face it, he's.

He's going through grief and he's, it's going to be rough for a while for him.

You know, they, it is.

So, and I don't mean by any means to bring this podcast down.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna change the, the, the, the subject now to something else.

Okay, so planning this trip down here.

Let's talk about travel, which most of you, I'm sure have done.

Travel.

Oh my gosh, folks.

So I started out in Orlando on, on Saturday.

So I, I booked the first flight, well, actually the second flight out to Detroit because that's where I had to go.

And that was fine.

I mean, I looked at a bunch of, of flights and I ended up going with Delta only because Spirit Airlines.

I keep seeing all these videos online about the craziness of the people who get crazy because of seating and everything else.

I'm not saying that they may not be justified.

I'm just saying I don't want to deal with that.

And the time that I would deal with that would probably be on my way back to Orlando, not on my way up to Detroit, who knows?

Didn't want to take that chance.

And I wanted a decent seat.

So I, I flew Delta and I'll be honest with you, Delta's fair was really, really competitive.

It was.

I was able to upgrade to a, a comfort main seat, which is old business class.

I guess I reminded me of the original economy or coach class.

I can't imagine what my seat would have been like further back.

So I upgraded both flights Saturdays and again when I fly back out on Tuesday.

It's just like, wow.

And we got lucky in our road.

There was just me and one other gentleman and there's three seats.

But the.

Either the person didn't show up or never got booked.

But there was a seat in between us, which was nice.

The flight was late.

They let me know the night before that it was going to be an hour late.

That was because of weather in Orlando.

You know, the crew had to get in, has to get certain amount of sleep time and I want them to be awake and ready to go.

So we left maybe 45 minutes late.

In reality, is that a big deal?

Absolutely not.

I got through Orlando and I got up, I got up at 4.

I took a shower and everything.

Went and got everything in the car.

Went, parked my car.

Very easy, easy to do up close to the terminal.

I got lucky because of the time I got there.

I, I went through security quickly.

I mean it was only about 10 minutes.

I got over to my gate and I'm sitting at my gate and I'm watching all these other flights board, which is fun.

I enjoy watching things at the airport because I used to work there and I like the people watch and I got some time to do that and the flight was fantastic.

You know, we got into Detroit.

Unfortunately, Detroit has this terminal that they built years, few years ago, actually quite a few years ago now.

It's about a mile long.

Well, our flight was right about at the very end our gate and they've got moving walkways and they've got this fancy little shuttle that'll take you to and from wherever.

I mean all it does is go back and forth.

That doesn't do anything else.

But I didn't take that.

So I took.

And it's a long walk.

And then you got to go downstairs to go to the, to the car rental buses, which is fine.

Everybody, every airport does that.

I made the mistake of going with budget, but I wanted to say this about Detroit Metro.

I used to work there.

I remember when they were building this and it was, I didn't think, well designed.

They all thought it was the fan.

Most fantastic thing ever.

Ever done.

Well, not if you're the customer who's got, you know, a briefcase and, or a backpack and one little bag that, you know, weighs a couple, you know, weighs a few pounds.

And you're my age, you know, so, yeah, that was a long walk.

And.

And their signage could be better.

It really could be better.

On, you know, it doesn't.

It was there, but you had to interpret what they were trying to say.

Ground transportation can mean a lot of things.

But anyways, I found my.

I found my bus.

We get on the bus and the roads, just the road from out of the terminal area over to where the.

The car rental was, was bumpy as can be.

And it's a relatively new road and they're already reconstructing it.

Michigan weathers, they suck.

I mean, Michigan winters are harsh on roads.

I understand that.

So I get over to my car rental agency and I'm going to call Budget out on this for a bit.

I get there, there's a problem.

They got to put A$250.

Hold on.

On my credit card.

I said, why do you have to do that if I have already paid it?

Well, that's just the rule, the rules that I have to deal with.

I said, okay, fine.

So they go ahead and they charge another 250 to my credit card.

Well, I was planning on using part of that 250 that they charged for, you know, for meals and stuff.

It's not that I don't have the money for it.

I'm just saying I paid for it already.

Why do I have to pay for it again?

And I asked the guy right there and I said, you're charging me 250.

When do I get it back?

When you bring the car back.

I said, same day.

He goes, same day.

I go, you sure?

He goes, yes, sir.

I go, if not, I'm going to come back here and we're going to have a little conversation, you and I.

He goes, not good.

You get it back the same day.

I go, okay.

So he hands me, you know, a little pamphlet with my number on it, and he says, and he puts a big little E on it for what kind of class I bought, I've reserved.

He goes right outside those doors.

Grab any car.

He says, keys are in it.

I said, grab any car.

He goes, yeah, whatever car you want out there.

Okay.

That sounded easy enough.

I walk out there and there is a line of people gotta be 30, 40 strong, and this small white tent.

They were out of cars.

So I got in this line, I'm talking to people, and I said, you're in a line for a car?

Yeah, they ran out of cars.

Now, you would think at a busy metropolitan airport, they would be prepared.

They have a reservation system that tells them people are coming in, just, just saying.

Luckily, they are a partner with Avis Rent a Car, and Avis brought a bunch of cars over, but it wasn't quick.

So as I'm out there dealing, one of the counter agents came out and was helping these poor guys and girls out outside, giving us vehicles, because you don't.

Just don't go take one.

There's got to be somebody there to say, this is it.

Make sure that everything matches up and off you go.

So I, I, the car finally comes for me.

Excuse the noise.

The car finally comes for me.

And she goes, you're in.

You're an E class.

She goes, this isn't, this is an F class, Mr. Carter.

Here you go.

This is what you upgraded.

We're going to upgrade you for free.

It's not going to cost you any more.

She goes, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

And she apologized.

First person had, had apologized to me that day, and I thanked her for that.

I said, I really, really appreciate that.

You don't know how much.

So I got my, my little rental car, which is not a little rental car.

They upgraded me to a Mazda CX50, which is a very nice vehicle, brand new.

It only had, like, not under.

It had under 4, 000 miles.

And again, I'm starting to drive.

And I'm driving down i94, which is the main expressway, which is going to take me all the way to where I want to go.

Takes me all the way from Detroit to Port Huron.

So drive along, drive along.

All of a sudden, there's a little construction and the road sucks, but it always does.

And going along, going along, all of a sudden see signs, not very good at it, but the signs that say, construction ahead, right, Two lanes merge left.

Well, of course, I start merging left right away.

And I think that part of that's from my trucking days, because sooner you get over, the less problems you have.

And so all of a sudden, the two, the two lanes have disappeared.

And that took a while because everybody in the left two lanes goes, oh, I gotta wait till the very last minute to get over.

Don't do that.

But anyways, everything Buddy's got to do, got to get over.

And then they say freeway's closed.

It's like, huh?

One sign says take Michigan to livernois.

Back to 94.

One sign.

And if you miss it, you don't know where the heck you're going.

If you're not.

If you don't have any idea where you're going.

So I get off with everybody else.

I'm following everybody else.

If you know the Detroit area, the area I was in was not the most favorable portion of town in Detroit.

I can't imagine what it's like to have to live there.

But people are living there and they're, they're doing just fine.

But it was almost all the way to downtown before I could get back on the expressway.

And so I did.

Well, so that took an extra 15 minutes or so anyways come to for the whole.

I don't want to go into every detail, but we had another slowdown again because we lost a couple of lanes.

And then it was pretty much smooth sail and a trip that should have taken me an hour and 15 to an hour and 30 minutes to get.

It took me just a little over two hours.

Fine.

I'd made a reservation at a hotel or a motel in Port Huron and only would be here two nights.

I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money.

You know, I'm not going to be in it a lot.

But you know, so I made a reservation and I get here and there's two or three people in front of me in line and this, this really nice girl at the counter, she's doing her.

She's giving great customer service.

But it took me another half an hour to check in.

And I am at this point on a time crunch in a sense.

The viewing on Saturday was from 6 to 8 that I was going to go to.

Well, by the time I got to my room and got checked, got to the hotel, which I got to the hotel at 4:30.

I landed folks in Metro at 12:15.

It should not have taken me four hours to get to Fort Huron, let alone longer than that, but it did.

So I get here and there's a line and then there's a family got a problem in that line.

So I finally get up there and this nice young girl, she checks me in.

She goes, Ms. Carter, I'm sorry for the delay.

She goes, I'm going to upgrade your room, you know, for you being so nice and patient.

I said, okay, that's very nice.

She goes, and it's ready.

Oh, fantastic.

So it's on the first floor, which is convenient.

It's, you know, it's got a refrigerator and a.

Doesn't have a microwave, but I don't need a microwave.

A refrigerator is nice for, you know, for my Diet Coke and my beer.

It's a nice room.

I think it's the room that I requested originally, but it doesn't matter.

She did a nice thing.

And I'm very, very happy with the service so far.

So, folks, if you've ever moved away from your hometown, you're going to understand what I'm trying to say now.

When they say you can't go back, you can go back, but it's not the same.

It's usually not any better.

I'm going for a drive today to see a few sites and to do a few things that I'd wanted to do while I was here.

One was go visit my parents grave and just see the old house I grew up in and, you know, get a bite to eat.

But the city's changed and the people haven't, if that makes any sense at all to you folks.

And I'm not saying that to diminish or to insult the people who live here.

It's just everybody looks the same as they did when I left.

But when you go.

I guess because I live in a.

In an area where there are such diversity of cultures, you don't really get that this far up north.

That's what I wanted to talk about today.

Thanks for the patience.

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Five minutes with gray hair Dave.

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Okay.

I'd appreciate that.

Also, folks, if you see somebody you don't know today, smile at them.

They may be having a bad day, and your smile or nice, thank you is going to make their day.

So thanks for being here.

I can't wait to talk to you again next week when I get back home.

I'll let you know how that one went.

You all have a great day, and I'll talk to you soon.

Bye.

Bye.