Lesson 20 Flight problems

1

We got to the airport 30 minutes before the plane was due to take off, and we went straight to the check-in desk. First, the man at the desk said that the plane was already full because the flight was overbooked, so we couldn’t get on.

But then he changed his story. He said there were empty seats on the plane, but we were late and the check-in desk was closed. So we missed our plane and we had to buy two tickets for another flight. You see, if the flight is overbooked, they give you a seat on a later one – but if you arrive late, you lose your money. I bet the man at the desk was lying.

2

I called the airline to ask if my flight was on time, and the man said that there might be a delay because of the snow. But when I arrived at the airport, there were no flights. The woman at the information desk told me to go back to my hotel and wait. She said they were going to close the airport, and she didn’t know for how long.

3

I couldn’t complain about anything. The airline sent a taxi to collect me from my hotel. At the airport, they took me straight to the desk to check my case in. I didn’t have to wait. Then they let me sit in the First Class Lounge, even though I didn’t have a first class ticket. The woman in the lounge said she would bring me some food from the buffet if I was hungry. Then, when it was time to go, they pushed my wheelchair all the way to my seat on the plane. And during the flight, they couldn’t do enough for me.

4

There’s one every week. If it’s not the baggage handlers, it’s the flight attendants, or even the pilots. The last time I travelled, it was the air traffic controllers. Oh, but they weren’t stopping for the whole day, just for four hours, just long enough to cause absolute chaos. The announcement said there would be no cancellations that day, only delays. But that meant that I missed my connecting flight in Frankfurt and had to fly out to Chile the following day.

 

Vocabulary 词汇：

chaos 混乱

absolute 绝对的

cancellation 取消

baggage handler 行李管理员

flight attendant 空中乘务人员

pilot 飞行员

air traffic controller 空中交通管控员

lounge 休息室

buffet 自助餐

check in 办理登机手续

check in case 托运箱子

wheelchair 轮椅

information desk 咨询台

overbooked 订满了