Day 2 - Frankfurt am Mein FTW!!!

Frankfurt am Main FTW!

I love Germany. Last time I was here (2006, aka the year of the Group From HELL) was pretty much non-confrontational. Biggest story that day - Ms. Frazier left her hat on the Tram from the train station to the Hotel, and we all waved bye-bye as it rode off into the wild mustard and bratwurst flavored yonder.

This time was much different. And so far, better.

We left IAH (George Bush Intercontinental-Houston) about 40min late for whatever reason. Prevailing winds were in the right direction to deal with the unpronouncable Icelandic Volcano (Ekaslkdfhkljasdfjklhasldjkhfasdsomethingantother) so we basically had a direct flight to Frankfurt and arrived pretty much On-Time. We were to have a 5 Hour layover - As of right now (05:32am hooray jet-lag) the layover has morphed into almost 17hrs. What??

The EU has this wonderfully useful thing called a Passenger Rights Convention. It dictates that if you are delayed due to the fault of the airline, they pay you. No, not just $25, a crap hotel with cigarette burns in the carpet, and some coupons for TGIMcFunsters. It has stated amounts of compenstation. The longer you're delayed, the more you get paid. So, we're sitting there waiting for our connection (which is already about 40min late) and the Lufthansa representative comes over the loudspeaker asking for volunteers to be bumped and re-ticketed for the 8am flight. Normally I ignore such things (never seen a TGIMcFunsters worth missing a flight - airplane food is better), but being that this is the EU and having that "hey, it's all part of the experience" mentality, I have a quick chat with the group and we volunteer.

So, 90min later, we are sitting at the Gate with new boarding passes, Vouchers for a VERY nice hotel, 20euro each for dinner, a voucher for breakfast, transportation to/from the hotel, new boarding passes for the 8:35am flight and 250euro ($320US) in our pockets.

Things have started well at least.....more to follow.