About Leaving 12 Hours Early to Arrive 2 Hours Late

Czech Airlines OK 0509 Copenhagen Prague OK 0690 Prague - Barcelona 21 (and 22!) September 2008

I needed a full Monday at client site outside Barcelona. Unfortunately SpanAir has a virtual monopoly on direct flights to Barcelona from Copenhagen, and only 2 daily flights; at 8.30 and at 14.00. So even taking the "first flight out" means not getting to my final destination until well after noon.

Decided to sacrifice my Sunday evening at home, and get going. Only feasible possibility was to fly over Prague with Czech Airlines. The connection seemed excellent, and the total travel time would be around four and a half hours, not bad compared to 3 hours for a direct.

We were delayed out of Copenhagen, and the connection was very tight (landing 20.20, flying out 20.55) but as I was flying on with the same airline, I was confident that they would either wait or help me get from one flight to the other quickly (or both!).

Czech Airlines produced no such service. On the contrary; I was required to pass through security, which took about 15 min. Why is it not possible to transfer when travelling between 3 countries in the European Union? When I reached the gate, the plane was still there, but the staff informed me it was closed, and there was nothing they could do, I had to go to the service desk.

The Czech Airline service desk was tired and could not care less.

In the queue I met several passengers from the Copenhagen flight. Two French ladies started crying, as it became clear it would take them at least 36 hours to reach their final destination. Others (myself included) just got plain angry. The two staff on duty dealt with one passenger at a time, issuing vouchers for evening meals, hotels and new tickets, something they obviously have quite some experience with. Got my vouchers (They put me in the Marriott Courtyard, a decent hotel at least, and no bus or other travel required, as it is literally 100 meters from the arrivals hall).

I was issued a new ticket for 10.30 Monday morning. I said it was “too late and unacceptable”. He didn’t even look up, just said: “You have to accept it. You have no choice”.

And he was right. I had no choice but to accept it. So, long story short: I went out of may way, sacrificing my personal time to arrive at client site early, but ended up arriving 2 hours later than I would have, had I spend the night at home in my own bed and taken the regular 8.30 SpanAir flight… Tried that, but wont again.