Air France can GIFAFI. EPT Monte Carlo Trip Report (OT)

[A_Junglen]

Cross posted in my blog, found at AdamJunglen.com


Wow. Just….wow. The last two days have been an absolute nightmare.

On Monday, Ray and I took a really sick stretch limo to Philadelphia Intl Airport. Unfortunately it took us to the wrong terminal. So immediately after walking out of a limo and looking like ballers, we end up having to walk a half a mile to our terminal; Air France. Walking that long while carrying around our luggage and carryon didn’t make the experience any easier.

When we finally got to the terminal there was a disgustingly long line. It reminded me of the line for a roller coaster at an amusement park. No, it was much worse. This line barely moved. It took around 70 minutes to go through. When we got to the check-in desk the gentleman asked if we had tickets. We said we bought them online, and he proceeded to look at our passports and enter the information on his computer. It really reminded me of a scene from a movie. The employee was making a wide variety of expressions, reacting to what the computer was telling him. This went on for about 20 minutes, all this time Ray and I are wondering if he was even capable of checking us in. He finally did give us our tickets though, so we headed to the gate.

We arrived at our gate, but had a few minutes before our scheduled flight, so we checked out some of the shops. Ray bought a ton of magazines as usual. Anyways, we end up back at the gate right when our flight was scheduled to leave.

Well….we would soon hear some bad news. Over the announcements we heard there was some mechanical problem and it would take 45min to fix.

Ok…whatever, I can handle that….

45minutes go by….nothing.

Eventually I fall asleep, and am awoken 3 hours later by Ray, who found out the flight was cancelled.

We were both obviously frustrated with not flying out. We went to pick up our luggage, and took a cab back to Ray’s apartment.

There were several things we needed to find out. First of all, we were both scheduled for Day 1A…well, because of the flight delay it was no longer possible for us to play Day 1A. We contacted PokerStars and they moved us to Day 1B. Then we had to find out what time our replacement flight was scheduled for. Turns out it was scheduled for the same time the next day.

So, we wake up the next morning to go through the same motions as we did the previous day. We ended up taking a cab this time since we called to late to get a limo. Anyways, we end up at the Air France Terminal and were happily surprised when we saw that there wasn’t a long line. The same gentleman as the previous day checked us in. Once again it took him 20 minutes of intense typing and confused facial expressions by him. He literally had beads of sweat rolling off of his head as he was checking us in. Ray and I both lost it after the lady next to him asked “How do you spell “immediately.” At this point both Ray and I just turned, looked at each other, and started snickering. Then finally I had to turn around completely to conceal my laughter. Shortly after the Air France employee handed us our boarding passes, and we were off.

So far the trip was far less stressful than the previous day, and things were looking good. We found our gate, but soon discovered our flight was scheduled to leave an hour later than it did yesterday. That didn’t bother me too much. Ray and I went to the food court to get some food. After using our free meal coupons from Air France we were off to the gate….when it happened.

“Ladies and Gentleman, we have some bad news. Apparently they still haven’t fixed the mechanical problem. We will announced if the fix the problem within the next 45minutes.”

Approximately 4 hours later the flight was cancelled. I went to the front desk and had a nice conversation with the person in charge.

“Sir, I absolutely must be in Monte Carlo by tomorrow night.”

“I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do”

“Listen, if I don’t make it to Monte Carlo by tomorrow I’m losing like $50k in equity”

He then handed me Air Frances customer service number and told me to take it up with them.

I then said, “Oh ok, so I should send these people my obituary? After I kill myself, as a result of your incompetence? This is such a joke.”

The look on his face was pretty priceless. I walked away after that conversation.


Once again we went back down to the check-in desk and picked up our luggage. I was already taking the mental hit. I had accepted the idea of not being able to make it to the biggest tournament ever held outside the US. I accepted missing the tournament with 1st place paying nearly $2million.

We waited in line for about 30minutes to see if we could book a flight to Monte Carlo on time. We’re scheduled to play on Day 1B; the 29th at 2pm. We were able to book a flight through US Airways. It leaves at 4pm on the 28th, and then we have a 2 hour layover on Frankfurt Germany. Our flight from Frankfurt leaves at 8:40am, and we should arrive in Nice (Monte Carlo) around 10:50am. So, after finding a cab and getting to the Monte Carlo Bay Resort, we’ll probably have about an hour before we’re scheduled to play. This is all assuming we have no delays and everything goes flawlessly, which up to this point seems like wishful thinking.

Right now we’re at the Ramada hotel near the Philadelphia Airport. We’re really cutting it close, but at least it looks like we’ll still be able to play. These really have been some of the most stressful days I can remember.



This experience has been a complete ass-kicking. All I want to do is get on the damn plane and get to Monte Carlo. I’m really jealous of all of my friends that are already there. They’ve been telling me the place is really nice, so I’m looking forward to that.


I guess that’s all I have for now. I’ll try to update this more often while I’m on the road. I really wish I had kept consistent updates in January, when I was in the Bahamas and Australia. That would’ve been a great trip report, but I don’t remember too many specific details that I haven’t already posted. Hopefully this time will be different. It’s already been a hell of an ordeal.

[shaundeeb]

adam only way to get more help from customer service would be like if I don't get on a flight there I'll lose my other leg and slam your prosthetic on the counter.

[JSchnett]

this makes me not want to go to wsop europe.

hahahahah NOT!!!!

[Annulus]

sorry to hear this adam. however, this has the makings of being a very good story line after you win the tourney! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[cameronw01]

Europe is so last century.

Good luck making it on time.

[Bond18]

GL man, hope you get there in time to do some serious pwnage.

[Soulman]

So...wtf does GIFAFI mean?


Hopefully, all the bad luck getting there will translate into some wonderful karma in the tourney for you and Ray, gl.

[0evg0]

if you were balla you'd hire your own plane

[TwistedEcho]

[ QUOTE ]
So...wtf does GIFAFI mean?


[/ QUOTE ]

go ice fishing and fall in

[ilushan]

The only question remains - who will take down the whole thing in MC, you or Ray? After this "journey" both of you will be just unstoppable at the tables obviously.

Good luck!