May 21, 2009 — This morning we got up at 0430 am and left for the airport at 0530. It was especially painful for Christi to get up since she only had about 3 hours of sleep. The flights from Crete to Athens and Athens to Paris were uneventful.

We only had an hour to make our connection in Paris. We were at the back of the plane, so it took a while to disembark. On the way to Greece, we had walked between the two terminals and it was a fairly long walk, so we were ready to hustle. We didn’t run, but we did walk as fast as we could. We made no stops along the way for the bathroom, a drink or anything else. We followed the signs and saw that we were diverted from the walkway outside. What the heck? Why couldn’t we stay on the walkway?

We were herded into a bus. We were one of the first people on the bus, and it took about 10 minutes for the bus to completely fill. While we were waiting we chatted with some of the other passengers. Several were coming off the Athens flight and getting on the Atlanta flight, just like us. We had been nervous about missing the flight, but it seemed that with so many people coming in late all at once, they should hold the plane. Once the bus was completely full as in standing room only — the bus slowly drove over to the next terminal. And we mean drove painfully slow. Like we could have walked faster than the bus was moving. The bus made a stop before ours and we waited for 3 4 minutes for ¾ of the bus to unload.

When the bus finally arrived at our terminal, we hustled over to the security line. Charles De Gaulle Airport has two security lines a short line for passengers on flights about to leave and a regular line for people who have enough time to wait. We asked to get in the short line and showed our boarding pass. We were told that we had to wait in the long line. And it was a long line. We were staring at our watches, watching the minutes tick by. After waiting about 10 15 minutes, Eric went and got an attendant and insisted we move to the front of the line so we could make our flight. The lady relented and called everyone on the Atlanta flight over to the short line. She put us near the front, but not at the front, and we were really no closer than we were in the long line.

The security people were really slow, asking us to take out not only our computer but all the cables that go with it. They looked at my bag under the x ray machine for over a minute before they let us move on. Security wasn’t this tight on the way to Greece, and it seemed like they weren’t as tight in the long line. We probably would have made it through faster had we stayed in the long line.

Now remember that all the Atlanta people were in a group and we were all coming out of security about a minute apart, so there was a steady line of traffic making its way towards the gate. Another important piece of information is that we were on the last flight of the day out of that wing of the terminal, so we knew that everyone in this stream of people was on our flight. The gate was about half way down the wing, and the flight attendants could see the herd of us coming from the moment we turned the corner. They knew about 20 odd people were heading their way and that all of us would be there in less than 5 minutes.

The two of us were in the middle of the group. We walked as fast as we possibly could to the gate. Everyone we could see ahead of us was also walking as fast as they could and some were even running. No one we could see stopped for the toilet, a beverage, a smoke, or anything else. No one even attempted to make a phone call or send a text message because it would slow them down. As we got closer, we could see people in line to get on the plane. Oh, phew! We made it! As we walked up to the gate we were told boarding had just closed one minute ago and we were not allowed to get on the flight. The door was still open.

Fifteen of us were denied boarding, and 14 of us arrived between one second and two minutes after they closed the flight. The last straggler arrived three minutes after they closed boarding. One guy was ranting and raving vehemently, saying that he was actually walking onto the ramp behind another passenger when the attendant stopped him short. The guy ahead was allowed on, but not him, even though they were literally one second apart. He said that closing boarding on him seemed to be an arbitrary decision and he was furious about it.

The flight was a Delta flight administered by Air France, so the agents at the counter were Air France. Air France blamed Delta, saying Delta is extremely particular about leaving on time and they will not allow anyone to enter after boarding closes, period. It didn’t matter to them that all of us could have been boarded in less than 5 minutes and the flight would have literally only left 5 minutes late, and quite possibly not even left late at all. We tried to reason with the agent, explaining that the time that boarding closes is not disclosed on the ticket, so we had no way of knowing that even though there was a full 10 minutes before the flight leaves that we would still be denied boarding. We think that if the drop dead time for boarding is 10 minutes before departure, then there should be a disclaimer saying so on the ticket. No amount of begging, cajoling, crying, screaming, reasoning or anything else anyone tried worked. The flight was closed. Period.

Six of the people were on flights that had arrived late and they got vouchers for a free hotel stay. It seems to us that paying for 6 hotel rooms instead of simply leaving 5 minutes late is a poor financial decision on the part of the airline. The other 9 of us were from the Athens flight. We were told that since our flight was on time, they could not give us a hotel voucher. When we complained, a supervisor came out and explained that he was aware that there were 20 people on the Athens flight that needed to make this connection, so he sent a representative to meet us at the gate and rush us through. Everyone who joined the representative had made the flight. He said Air france/Delta had done all they could to help us.

We were all dubious about that claim. When the plane landed, there had been no announcement of any kind that a representative was waiting for us. None of us could recall seeing this representative anywhere near the gate. Did the representative leave before the plane was fully disembarked? We were all at the back of the plane. After enough pushing, the supervisor finally admitted that of the 20 people, only 4 had arrived with the representative, so she clearly didn’t make much of an effort at collecting us. The other 7 people from Athens who had made the flight were closer to the front of the plane and had caught an earlier bus to the terminal.

We were incredulous. Literally, if one thing had gone right, we would be on this flight. Had we been seated closer to the front on the flight. Had we seen this alleged agent. Had we been allowed to walk to the other terminal. Had the bus left just one minute earlier. Had the security team let us get in the short line in the first place. Had we ran instead of walking fast. It was literally a comedy of errors. Normally, a delay like this wouldn’t upset us too much, but tomorrow is Eric’s first official day back at work. It looks really bad to miss the first day. We needed to be on that flight.

The supervisor re-booked all of our flights for the next morning. We decided to make another try for hotel vouchers, and our group went to another Air France representative to try to get help. Other people in our group called Delta at the same time. Everyone we talked to said no. Some of the people had no money for a hotel and had to stay in the airport. Since the flights were all done, the wing was closed. The only place the airport would let these people sleep was on a concrete floor near the main entrance that had no heat. And it was cold.

All the vouchers issued had been for the same hotel chain, and those of us who could afford a hotel decided to follow the rest of the group to that hotel. We caught the hotel’s shuttle and went to the airport only to find out the vouchers were for specific locations, and everyone was not at this location. Some people had to take the shuttle back to the airport and catch a different mode of transportation to the right location. They weren’t happy.

The rest of us checked in. One woman in the group who didn’t have a voucher was in a horrible predicament. Her credit card was suspended for suspicion of fraud when she tried to use it. She had notified the credit card company she was going to Greece, but not to Paris, so they wouldn’t allow any Paris charges through. One of the people with a voucher felt sorry for her and offered to let her share a room, but the hotel said that sharing isn’t allowed. Period. And made her leave since she wasn’t checking in.

We ate dinner at the hotel, scavenged the nearby shops for toothbrushes (our bags had been sent to the new flights instead of being returned to us and the hotel didn’t have any) and crashed. Eric was still sick and needed rest. I was exhausted from so little sleep. Man, this was a good reminder of why we decided to travel by boat!