Hej!
Jag la upp en bild med K7BV och mig, men den kom tydligen inte in, bara texten till den. Skall se om denna texten kommer fram. Då kan jag skriva mer.
73! Sten SF7WT

On Apr 13, 2020, at 8:39 AM, VE3NR Göran Almemo <ve3nr@...> wrote:

Hej Sten,

Din text kom fram OK.

Göran VE3NR

On 4/13/2020 8:12 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Hej!
Jag la upp en bild med K7BV och mig, men den kom tydligen inte in, bara texten till den. Skall se om denna texten kommer fram. Då kan jag skriva mer.
73! Sten SF7WT

On Apr 13, 2020, at 9:02 AM, N5HC Conny Jonsson via groups.io <conny@...> wrote:

Verkar som den enda bilden som kom till gruppen var bilden som var i din profile. Och den bilden kommer inte via e-post.

<8131974.jpeg>

Här en kopia på bilden. 

N5HC

On Apr 13, 2020, at 8:39 AM, VE3NR Göran Almemo <ve3nr@...> wrote:

Hej Sten,

Din text kom fram OK.

Göran VE3NR

On 4/13/2020 8:12 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Hej!
Jag la upp en bild med K7BV och mig, men den kom tydligen inte in, bara texten till den. Skall se om denna texten kommer fram. Då kan jag skriva mer.
73! Sten SF7WT

-- 
Conny
N5HC

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep.
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York…
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans!

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance.

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!"
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45.
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this!

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it!

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that.
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland!

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights!

(thanks to United and SAS)

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did.

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there.

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

Hej Sten,

Vilka äventyr du varit med om!! Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva samma sak!! ;-)
Allt slutade väl och det är det som räknas!

Sena Glad Påsk hälsningar från Toronto

Göran i Buren VE3NR/SM7BUR

PS. Kommer du ihåg när Bengt Zieger SM5CNF/SM7CNF och jag hälsade på dig i Malmö
tidigt 60-tal?

On 4/13/2020 11:24 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep.
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York…
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans!

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance.

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!"
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45.
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this!

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it!

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that.
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland!

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights!

(thanks to United and SAS)

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did.

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there.

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

On Apr 16, 2020, at 3:13 PM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 <sm7wtstan@...> wrote:

Hej Göran!

Tack för hjälpen; jag kan inte se om det jag skriver kommer in, vad det nu beror på. Huvudsaken är att det funkar.

Har pratat med Peter i Va ett par gånger vid hans dagliga aktiviteter. Kul att kolla hur condx skiftar. I går uruselt, i dag S-9 signal som vanligt.

Du gör mig generad! Jag har numera dåligt minne, men det gäller nutida händelser. Det, som hänt för länge sedan ligger kvar, men tyvärr har det fallit bort att du var hos mig tillsammans med Bengt, CNF. 

Jag skäms!

Bengt minns jag mycket väl och vi besökte varandra flera gånger. Mitt starkaste minne av honom var, när vi var uppe på taket, där han bodde med sina föräldrar. Huset var ju c:a 30 m högt och han gick fram till kanten, lutade sig ut och tittade ner. Dagen innan hade han då varit över kanten! Jag mådde illa, när jag såg honom och vågade inte titta... Besökte honom i Linköping på 60-talet då jag ofta var på SAAB Aero.

En fråga till dig: Känner du John, VE3JVS? Han och en annan VE3:a jobbade en längre tid på Tetra Pak i Lund så vi sågs och pratade där. Vi bjöd in dem och en K6:a, som också var länge på Tetra Pak samt en Z21:a, som var en tid på Universitet i Lund så det var ett kul internationellt möte! Om du kan nå John så PSE hälsa från mig! Han står inte på QRZ.COM.

Hoppas vi hörs i helgen!  73!  Sten

Virusfritt. www.avast.com

Den tors 16 apr. 2020 kl 18:22 skrev VE3NR Göran Almemo <ve3nr@...>:

Hej Sten,

Vilka äventyr du varit med om!! Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva samma sak!! ;-)
Allt slutade väl och det är det som räknas!

Sena Glad Påsk hälsningar från Toronto

Göran i Buren VE3NR/SM7BUR

PS. Kommer du ihåg när Bengt Zieger SM5CNF/SM7CNF och jag hälsade på dig i Malmö
tidigt 60-tal?

On 4/13/2020 11:24 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep. 
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York… 
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans! 

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance. 

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!" 
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45. 
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this! 

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it! 

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that. 
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland! 

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights! 

(thanks to United and SAS) 

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did. 

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there. 

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

-- 

73! Stan  

SM7WT since 1956  active as SF7WT since 2006

Author of "Thanks to Amateur Radio" and "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio"

Virusfritt. www.avast.com

Hej Sten,

Vilka äventyr du varit med om!! Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva samma sak!! ;-)
Allt slutade väl och det är det som räknas!

Sena Glad Påsk hälsningar från Toronto

Göran i Buren VE3NR/SM7BUR

PS. Kommer du ihåg när Bengt Zieger SM5CNF/SM7CNF och jag hälsade på dig i Malmö
tidigt 60-tal?

On 4/13/2020 11:24 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep.
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York…
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans!

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance.

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!"
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45.
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this!

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it!

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that.
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland!

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights!

(thanks to United and SAS)

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did.

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there.

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

Hej Göran!

Tack för hjälpen; jag kan inte se om det jag skriver kommer in, vad det nu beror på. Huvudsaken är att det funkar.

Har pratat med Peter i Va ett par gånger vid hans dagliga aktiviteter. Kul att kolla hur condx skiftar. I går uruselt, i dag S-9 signal som vanligt.

Du gör mig generad! Jag har numera dåligt minne, men det gäller nutida händelser. Det, som hänt för länge sedan ligger kvar, men tyvärr har det fallit bort att du var hos mig tillsammans med Bengt, CNF.

Jag skäms!

Bengt minns jag mycket väl och vi besökte varandra flera gånger. Mitt starkaste minne av honom var, när vi var uppe på taket, där han bodde med sina föräldrar. Huset var ju c:a 30 m högt och han gick fram till kanten, lutade sig ut och tittade ner. Dagen innan hade han då varit över kanten! Jag mådde illa, när jag såg honom och vågade inte titta... Besökte honom i Linköping på 60-talet då jag ofta var på SAAB Aero.

En fråga till dig: Känner du John, VE3JVS? Han och en annan VE3:a jobbade en längre tid på Tetra Pak i Lund så vi sågs och pratade där. Vi bjöd in dem och en K6:a, som också var länge på Tetra Pak samt en Z21:a, som var en tid på Universitet i Lund så det var ett kul internationellt möte! Om du kan nå John så PSE hälsa från mig! Han står inte på QRZ.COM.

Hoppas vi hörs i helgen!  73!  Sten

Virusfritt. www.avast.com

Den tors 16 apr. 2020 kl 18:22 skrev VE3NR Göran Almemo <ve3nr@...>:

Hej Sten,

Vilka äventyr du varit med om!! Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva samma sak!! ;-)
Allt slutade väl och det är det som räknas!

Sena Glad Påsk hälsningar från Toronto

Göran i Buren VE3NR/SM7BUR

PS. Kommer du ihåg när Bengt Zieger SM5CNF/SM7CNF och jag hälsade på dig i Malmö
tidigt 60-tal?

On 4/13/2020 11:24 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep.
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York…
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans!

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance.

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!"
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45.
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this!

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it!

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that.
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland!

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights!

(thanks to United and SAS)

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did.

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there.

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

--

73! Stan  

SM7WT since 1956  active as SF7WT since 2006

Author of "Thanks to Amateur Radio" and "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio"

Virusfritt. www.avast.com

Hej Sten,

Du behöver inte skämmas Sten. Det var länge sedan - över 50 år!!
Jag kommer ihåg din station som då var ett hembygge med sladdar
och chassis över hela rummet. Jag tror +700V till ditt 807 PA gick
i en blanktråd tvärs över rummet!! ;-))

Bengt bodde ju senare i Linköping där jag också växte upp. Vi hade
mycket kul på den tiden men vi tappade kontakten. Tror att Bengt
fortfarande bor i Lkpg men har inte hört honom på radion på över 30 år.
Kanske dags för ett email om jag hittar hans adress.

Nej, jag känner tyvärr inte John/VE3JVS. Hittade denna info på nätet

John Schiralli
3 ROBERT CARSON DRIVE
CALEDON EAST, ON L0N 1E0
Canada

Vet inte om adressen är aktuell men du kan ju testa. Hittade inget email.

Ha det bra och hoppas vi hörs på 20M framöver!

Stay well!

Göran VE3NR/SM7BUR

On 4/16/2020 5:13 PM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Hej Göran!

Tack för hjälpen; jag kan inte se om det jag skriver kommer in, vad det nu beror på. Huvudsaken är att det funkar.

Har pratat med Peter i Va ett par gånger vid hans dagliga aktiviteter. Kul att kolla hur condx skiftar. I går uruselt, i dag S-9 signal som vanligt.

Du gör mig generad! Jag har numera dåligt minne, men det gäller nutida händelser. Det, som hänt för länge sedan ligger kvar, men tyvärr har det fallit bort att du var hos mig tillsammans med Bengt, CNF.

Jag skäms!

Bengt minns jag mycket väl och vi besökte varandra flera gånger. Mitt starkaste minne av honom var, när vi var uppe på taket, där han bodde med sina föräldrar. Huset var ju c:a 30 m högt och han gick fram till kanten, lutade sig ut och tittade ner. Dagen innan hade han då varit över kanten! Jag mådde illa, när jag såg honom och vågade inte titta... Besökte honom i Linköping på 60-talet då jag ofta var på SAAB Aero.

En fråga till dig: Känner du John, VE3JVS? Han och en annan VE3:a jobbade en längre tid på Tetra Pak i Lund så vi sågs och pratade där. Vi bjöd in dem och en K6:a, som också var länge på Tetra Pak samt en Z21:a, som var en tid på Universitet i Lund så det var ett kul internationellt möte! Om du kan nå John så PSE hälsa från mig! Han står inte på QRZ.COM.

Hoppas vi hörs i helgen!  73!  Sten

Virusfritt. www.avast.com

Den tors 16 apr. 2020 kl 18:22 skrev VE3NR Göran Almemo <ve3nr@...>:

Hej Sten,

Vilka äventyr du varit med om!! Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva samma sak!! ;-)
Allt slutade väl och det är det som räknas!

Sena Glad Påsk hälsningar från Toronto

Göran i Buren VE3NR/SM7BUR

PS. Kommer du ihåg när Bengt Zieger SM5CNF/SM7CNF och jag hälsade på dig i Malmö
tidigt 60-tal?

On 4/13/2020 11:24 AM, SM7WT (right) K7BV (left) in Visalia 2010 wrote:

Tack Conny och Göran! Nu fattar jag, trodde att den skulle synas direkt.
Om någon vill ha "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio" så skickar jag den FOC som e-postbilaga. Bland de 450-500, som är med, återfinns VE3NR och K6FM.
Har nu tänkt skriva lite om hur det kan vara att resa västerut härifrån och hur man kan sitta i W6-land och undra om hur, när och om man skall komma hem. Jag arbetade på Transair Sweden i 13 år och reste rätt mycket i jobbet, bl.a. fem kurser hos Collins och eftersom SAS ägde oss kunde vi åka på SAS resor för 400 SEK t.o.r. så det blev en del USA resor även på fritiden. Förstår att ni alla säkert har fler resor W-SM än jag med mina 17, men det märkliga med mina är att de första 15 gick utan problem, men de två sista var inte händelselösa...  73! Sten SF7WT

How to get home in 2010 - despite Murphy…

Sunday night (May 2) (Monday morning in Europe) we returned to the hotel after a very nice day in SFO. We had to be on the bus to the airport at 04:15 so we finished packing and decided it was no point in getting some sleep, but at 01 we were collapsing so we set the alarm for 02 and got one hour´s sleep.... We took off for Newark, N.J. and the flight was on time and we managed to get some sleep.
About two hours before the end of the flight, the terrible news came on the PA-system: "Is there a doctor on-board?" A woman had gotten seriously ill and we had to land in Indianapolis. According to the captain; a doctor, who was also continuing to Copenhagen, was able to save her life.

I have always thought that an event like this would mean landing, leaving the patient to the ambulance crew and taking off again. This would not be the case! After about an hour on ground, the captain explained that the woman had got so much oxygen that the system had to be refilled and when this was finished, the system should be tested and the paper work done. Eventually this was finished; now Newark reported bad weather with thunderstorms and strong winds causing delays - now we had to wait for take-off clearance....
After almost two hours, we could take off;  the 1 hour 45 minutes we had to get from this flight to the final flight had now expired. I envisaged a night in New York…
We were later informed that our next flight had a 40 minutes delay, we should be able to make it.

After an extremely violent descent like a ship in full storm (I have only been in such a violent flight once before, despite all my flights through the years.)
We landed and the steward told the passengers who were now home in New York to please remain seated and give us with limited time to our connecting flights a chance to get off. Everybody stood up immediately, leading to complete chaos and we were on the very last row....

Once we got out, we ran like mad animals across the terminal with our heavy carry-on bags and became the last ones to board the plane.

Then nothing happened for 40 minutes... The flight plan had been finished; everything was finalized when the news came: The ash cloud was now NW of Ireland and the flight plan had to be changed.
Reprogramming meant extended flight time and more fuel was needed, but eventually we were on our way.

Problems over?
Hah, hah!

Arriving in Copenhagen, we were relaxed. Bringing our baggage to the train and then a taxi ride home was all that awaited us. We thought… Murphy had other plans!

The information about the train showed a 16 minutes delay. No problem, we dragged all our baggage downstairs to the train - quite a challenge in itself - where we were met by a representative from the train company, Öresundsbolaget, who told us we had to get up again, the power line to the train was broken, we couldn't board the train from there!

Dragging all our baggage upstairs, we found another entrance.

Dragging all our baggage downstairs, we found another representative from the train company, who told us we had to get up again!

After some time a representative from the airport came to close the entrances to the trains. I asked her why they hadn't put those guys upstairs. Her response was "They are from the train company!"
My question was "So they can't walk up the stairs? - Outstanding service!" We were not the only ones who were furious!
The information showed the 16 minutes delay was now 20 minutes, then 23 and a while later 45.
We were told buses had been ordered and should bring us across to Malmö. We were among the hundreds of others who continued waiting. Eventually the plans were changed, the buses would bring us to another station in Copenhagen where the train would pick us up.
At last, we arrived in Lund, almost back home, just a taxi drive away. Never expecting to arrive in a verbal war zone!

A cab from our local company was the first one I saw so I told her we wanted to go to Dalby, but she was waiting for another passenger so I asked her what the price would be. She told me the fixed price is 210 kronor. We were now approached by a driver who wanted to drive us. I asked him about the price and he said around 250. Another driver came up and accused him of trying to steal his customer and they started an argument in Arabic. A third driver offered to take us for 170, but he could never have managed all our bags. The male drivers now turned their anger on the female Swedish driver for giving us the information about the price! I told them, as customers we have the right to decide which driver we choose. I was told, I had nothing to do with this!

We had heard about this taxi war, now we were shocked after being witnesses to it!

After we had arrived in Newark on our trip to California and had to wait for more than four hours, I spent some time trying to find a cab, willing to bring us on a short trip to Manhattan and back. The only one willing to do it was a guy who didn't seem reliable so we had to forget about that.
I know these guys are tough, but I didn't expect to find even more unpleasant ones in Lund!

However, we got home - and we were exhausted!!!

PS. On the other hand, our trip to California was flawless and nevertheless it could have been cancelled. What happened after we arrived in San Francisco was that we could read that due to the ash cloud all flights from Europe had been stopped 13 hours after we left Copenhagen!

I was going to a convention in Visalia to speak about my friend Thor in Iceland and now I could begin by saying “Iceland, first they gave us the financial crisis and now they´ve given us the ash cloud so now we don´t know how when, how, or if we´re going to get home. I´m glad I have something nice to tell you about Iceland!

Another story with a happy ending:

How to get home 20 minutes late after missing both your flights!

(thanks to United and SAS)

 

During my 12 years as an airline employee, I was used to travel as a stand-by passenger. This was seldom a problem, except for the first time, when I really had a confirmed flight. That flight was cancelled due to a snowstorm in Chicago so my colleagues and I spent hours trying to find any alternative means of transportation the 300 km from Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were none! I got home via Montreal.

The story below from 2005 is about another confirmed flight and this could have become a very unpleasant experience, but instead it became an example of an outstanding service from United and SAS!

My wife and I had stayed with Dick in Santa Maria, California and were scheduled to leave Los Angeles on January 12, 2005 on the United/SAS flight SK3922. On January 10, torrential rain and mudslides closed highway 101 near Santa Barbara for at least several days.  Dick, who is very familiar with the area, checked all alternative routes, only to find that they were all closed.

Since there were no problems on the route to San Francisco, we called United to ask if we could travel from SFO instead of from Los Angeles. The answer was that this was an SAS ticket and we had to ask SAS. SAS responded this was up to United to decide. Another call to United, where Jerry Hall confirmed that this was OK. So we embarked on the longer trip to SFO.

At the gate in SFO, we were told that due to the weather situation in Chicago, the take off time had been postponed for 40 minutes. We were all recommended to use the time to get something to eat, which we did.

We returned when embarking would begin. The United rep. was alone at the gate, so I asked if we were late. Indeed, we were! The weather in Chicago had improved so the 40 minutes delay had now decreased to 15 minutes and the plane had just left! United had paged us twice, but there was absolutely nothing to be heard where we were, not far from the gate. All United could offer was the next flight to Chicago, two hours later, leaving us 15 minutes in Chicago to get from United´s terminal to International, an impossible situation. I called SAS and they asked if United could get us to Seattle in time for the SAS flight from there.

We then almost missed the United rep. when she left to go to another gate, but she also talked to SAS and promised to help us get to Seattle. She promised to talk to her colleague, who handled that flight, but that lady would not be at the gate until one hour before take off. Would we be on the flight at 4:10 to Seattle or on the 4:00 to Chicago, where we would miss the flight home? Sweden was suddenly very far away while butterflies were tormenting our stomachs!

We were eventually on the flight to Seattle, thanks to the outstanding help from the United reps. and the people at SAS.

We arrived in Copenhagen 20 minutes after the plane from Chicago had landed! Our baggage was of course in Chicago, but we got it 26 hours later.

We are extremely grateful to United and SAS; this could have become a nightmare, now it was reduced to an experience! I am very happy to be able to tell my friends about this excellent service!

 

 

--

73! Stan  

SM7WT since 1956  active as SF7WT since 2006

Author of "Thanks to Amateur Radio" and "Encyclopedia of Ham Radio"

Virusfritt. www.avast.com