3-hour airline delay, dog pooping in busy hotel lobby mar first days of visit to Alaska

After the Gray Line tour company bounced us from the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge in Alaska at the last moment, we were taken to the Denali Park Village Resort, but the cheaper hotel lost power just before we arrived, and a dog ran into the darkened lobby not long after that. 

Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series of posts on our 15-day vacation in Alaska, which is often called "The Last Frontier." 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- If you're planning a vacation in Alaska, American Airlines is absolutely the wrong airline to use.

No. I'm not talking about how a malfunctioning gauge in the cockpit of our American Airlines plane in Phoenix delayed our arrival by more than 3 hours, so we staggered into the lobby of our Anchorage hotel long past midnight.

You're probably wondering what we were doing in Phoenix, Ariz., catching a connecting flight to Alaska instead of in San Francisco, Seattle or some other northern city?

That's the problem with American, which has hubs in Dallas, Texas, and Phoenix, Ariz., and routes its connecting flights to Alaska through those southern cities.

I chose American because I'm a member of its rewards program, but my wife and I ended up enduring four of the longest, noisiest and most uncomfortable flights we've ever experienced, despite spending more than $500 to purchase extra legroom on all four segments.

14+ hours to Alaska

Flying time between Newark and Phoenix on July 31 was listed on my itinerary as 5 hours 33 minutes. Then, the connecting Phoenix to Anchorage flight was to be another 5 hours and 41 minutes.

The layover was listed as only 50 minutes or so, but once we were aboard the flight to Alaska, that cockpit gauge started acting up, and the maintenance crew contacted their counterparts at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

Here is how the pilot stated our dilemma:

Was the low hydraulic pressure real or was it only the gauge that was malfunctioning?

After 90 minutes, cabin attendants gave passengers a chance to return to the terminal, but warned the flight might leave without them.

The exodus began, mostly from steerage -- those cramped seats, six across, in the back half of the aircraft. 

Later, all of us were told to deplane. The aircraft wasn't going anywhere.

Back in the terminal, airline employees apologized and said sandwiches were being prepared. 

Then, another aircraft materialized, and we were told there wasn't enough time to prepare sandwiches, but we'd get snacks.

In the end, we left more than 3 hours late, arrived in Anchorage well after midnight and called for our Hyatt House shuttle to pick us up at the airport.

Old and new aircraft

The return flights on Aug. 15-16 were listed as 6 hours 20 minutes to Dallas from Anchorage, and 3 hours 31 minutes to Newark from Dallas, but we beat those times on each segment.

Still, we had four flights on newer and older aircraft -- all of them packed -- with free entertainment on some, but not on others.

I foolishly followed the advice of a travel writer, who said if we book the aisle and window seats, the airline wouldn't sell the seat between us.

That never happened. 

And sitting behind the bulkhead separating you from first class has only one advantage; you can use the first-class lavatory, but will have to bring your own sandwiches, and then endure salivating over all of the premium food and drinks served to those passengers.

When the lights finally went back on at the Denali Park Village Resort, a cheer went up from guests waiting in the lobby.

Bounced from hotel 

We had our first day at leisure in Anchorage, but on Aug. 2, we boarded a rail tour that I had booked through Gray Line Alaska, a division of Holland America and Princess Cruises.

The total price for travel in dome rail sightseeing cars to and from Denali National Park and Preserve, two nights in the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and one night in the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge was $1,940.14 for two.

Meals and ground tours were extra. But we weren't told that Gray Line routinely overbooks this tour.

As our sightseeing train approached the rail depot near Denali on Aug. 2, the Gray Line representative announced our lodgings weren't guaranteed, and we would not be staying in the Denali Princess, a luxury property outside the national park. 

Instead, we were bused to a cheaper hotel, the Denali Park Village, where the lights and air conditioning had gone out just before our arrival.

Our room was in another building, and we had to schlepp our heavy suitcases up to the second floor.

The toilet in the cramped bathroom didn't flush and the TV showed only static, so we beat a hasty retreat to the hotel lobby to wait for restoration of power.

We could have had dinner in the hotel dining room, but were told the kitchen couldn't cook anything; we didn't eat until more than 2 hours later.

While we were sitting in the lobby, a dog ran in and pooped on the floor, but I'll resist saying how appropriate that was after American Airlines and Gray Line let us down during the first days of our vacation.

Postscript

I called the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge myself, but was told they were fully booked that first night.

An assistant night manager, a woman named Michelle, eventually was able to find us a large king-bedded room and bathroom with a walk-in shower for the second night.

The Gray Line Alaska rep didn't lift a hand for us, and never apologized.

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