Hello again! Unfortunately, I am not writing from Dublin but from Charlotte. Our flight got cancelled and we are here until tomorrow. At first, we were all bummed and were trying to be as positive as we could be knowing that we would not be in Dublin for a few days. We were thrown into an unexpected situation and trying to work around it. Through that we have been in contact with several businesses, such as American Airlines, The Hyatt Place, and Uber, to name a few. I feel that I have learned a lot even in such a short time.
We have been exposed to many business functions but the two I am going to stress are operations management and marketing. American Airlines would be the major company that has shown poor operations management in their processes through their lack of timeliness and efficiency. Through our experience with American, we have not been super pleased with them. As I have mentioned already, they did not inform us about anything and kept us guessing about if or when our flight would depart. I feel that they went about this situation completely wrong and could have made us feel more in the loop about our flight. When they were delaying the flight every few minutes, I overheard one of the ladies in charge saying, “at this point I am just guessing,” concerning the delay notifications. That is not something I would like to hear when sitting in an airport all day waiting for this flight. After it got cancelled and we finally got to the hotel, our advisors were trying to contact American Airlines to set up a flight for the next day. They waited on the phone on hold for hours and barely made any progress. It was frustrating for all of us that American did not seem to care about our situation and did not put in any effort to make it easier. We found out Sunday morning that the next flight would be Tuesday night and that American was giving us a hard time about us getting our luggage. That just shows how their processes were very unorganized and inefficient.
On a better, more positive note, we took a trip to Jeni’s Ice Creams last night. We all just wanted some ice cream and the first thing that popped up online was Jeni’s. I have heard of Jeni’s before and have tried some pints of ice cream from there before but none of us really knew much about them. It stood out to us from the other ice cream shops through their detailed website and the variety of flavors that they had. When we arrived, we all started taking pictures of the store because of how pleasant it looked. That is a smart marketing strategy because once people take pictures and post it on their social media, others will want to try it. That is how I have heard of many of the ice cream places I have gone to. Overall, the ice cream was amazing, and I would definitely recommend it to others.
The Hyatt Place hotel has really been adaptable by helping us through this unfortunate experience. It has been a valuable experience to see this hotel really get involved and make sure that our stay in Charlotte is a relaxed. Considering 17 of us needed a place to stay that night, they tried their hardest to help us and fit us in. Every employee that I have spoken to has been very friendly and personable. They provide breakfast every morning and always make sure we have everything we need which is more than we can ask for. They have been flexible with our schedules and have been accommodating in every way.
Uber has been a huge part of this “layover” because none of us have a car or any way to get around, so we have been taking ubers constantly from the hotel and back to the hotel. Through those trips, one of them stands out to me. When we got in the car to Uptown Charlotte, the driver immediately started talking to us and was very friendly. He made the ride entertaining. It is always nice to have a uber driver that communicates with their passengers because it makes the drive less awkward and makes people want to take uber more when they have had a positive experience from one of their rides.
At first this delay was frustrating and hard to adjust to. But through it, I have learned to be positive in any situation I am put in and to try to make the best out of it. It would not make the situation any better if we all were negative and stayed in the hotel the entire time. Instead, we all came together and tried to learn more about the businesses in Charlotte while also doing fun things together!