The worst travel day in my history

We bought a one way flight from Paris to Casablanca, in an attempt to pay as little as possible, with the airline Jet4You. I name it now, and several times throughout, to try and impress upon you a company from which you should NOT purchase tickets. The first trouble was in getting from Charles De Gaulle, where we stayed, to Orly, from where our flight departed. This was a pain because none of the ticket machines accept American credit cards, so we had to stand in long lines everywhere, and the train ride itself (which is actually two train rides) took over an hour.

Once finally at the airport, at which we miraculously arrived with plenty of time to check in, we waited in line to check in for over an hour (and, by the way, there were three check in lines, all of which as long as ours), which would have made us miss our flight had it been on time. But it was not. Once finally checked in, and through passport control, and through security, we arrived at our gate, packed with people and many screaming children. The gate then changed twice.

We finally boarded the plane 3 hours after it was scheduled to take off and listened to the safety instructions only to taxi to another part of the airport and sit on the tarmac for an hour, due to continuing technical difficulties. An hour elapsed, and they declared the plane unfit to fly, unloaded us onto buses and took us to an unoccupied section of the airport.

Here's where the incompetencies arise. I am very understanding of airlines: difficulties arise, delays happen, long lines can't be helped. Okay. And all along, the employees had been very polite to everyone, and I was still feeling generous. However, once herded into this space, three employees were places there to placate the crowd but gave out no information. Despite the presence of a PA system, the employees made no announcements to tell the angry passengers whether there would be another flight, they should book hotels, anything. In fact, they did pass along that we could get a free sandwich for dinner, but only by telling the passengers swarming them for information, NOT announcing it for all passengers, particularly those attempting to be patient.

Still so many screaming children, and now also angry, screaming adults.

We spent another hour and a half in this space, ate horrific excuses for chicken salad sandwiches, and paid an exorbitant amount for the internet so that we could arrange for our hotel to still allow us to check in despite what would be a very very late arrival into Casablanca. Finally, we were bussed to another plane, loaded up, and then proceeded to sit on the tarmac for, I kid you not, another 2 hours. This was the worst delay of them all. Again, no information as to why we were waiting, except to those passengers who demanded answers and passed them along to those waiting. Turns out, two passengers had called it quits while waiting in the airport and had decided to leave. However, we could not take off while their baggage was on board, so we had to remove all baggage from the plane, find theirs, and then put it all back on. It was unbelievable.

Nine frustrating hours after we were supposed to take off (and to think I had been glad it was late), among the loudest and angriest Moroccans I'd ever seen, we left Paris for our three hour flight to Casablanca. Note also that though we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours and the flight was 3, the serving staff never offered the passengers water. I understand that normally there is no drink service on this commuter flight, but these are extenuating circumstances.

At any point, the only compensation for this ridiculous delay and the amazingly frustrating lack of information given to passengers was a horrible sandwich and a can of coke.

Never fly Jet4You. Never.