My first experience with Delta Airlines

Please link to this post. See this link for the details. I usually fly with Air Canada or WestJet Airlines. There was no good flight from Toronto to San Antonio. The connection wait time was like 3 hours. So, I had to give Delta a try.

1. The Delta departure gate at Toronto Airport was at a dump terminal. They shuttle you to a dumpster terminal where there is no restaurant or shop. All you get is a $6.99 ham and cheese sandwich.
2. The arrival gate was at a dump terminal too. You have to get on a shuttle bus, which is crazily packed. If it is a rainy or snowy day....
3. I wonder if they have any first aid stuffs on the flight. The flight attendant told me that "we don't have any painkiller, Tylenol, or Aspirin." "We don't have anything like that," she added.
4. Delta charged me $50 on my already expensive ticket of $988 for a missed connection. There was a delay for the incoming flight and the connecting flight actually left 5 min early. Delta still charged me, although it was Delta's fault. They could make a fortune if they delay more often.

San Antonio - Doubletree San Antonio Airport Hotel

That was a 3-day trip to San Antonio. Doubletree San Antonio Airport Hotel is a beautiful courtyard hotel. The room was very decent. It walks out to a shared balcony overlooking the beautiful courtyard which is quite impressive.The hotel restaurant was... normal, like many other Doubletree hotel restaurants. However, the desserts were bad. Lots of cakes on the menu were not available. Loblaws sells better cheesecake than them. Vanilla is the only favor for the "assorted ice-cream," and the ice-cream seems to be skimmed. It took forever for the room services to pick up the phone and the call was transferred to somewhere else. The executive lounge was small, but the staffs were very attentive. In hotel operation perspectives,...

1. The internet was not working for the entire stay. Everything was stopped. This is a total disaster for business travelers.
2. There was a black out. The night started without escalator, TV, hot water, and ended up black out. I was later on told that the power transformer has blown out.
3. Fire alarm went off. The fire alarm was making a hum sound for the whole night. In the next morning, the fire alarm actually went off when I was in the shower.

(LoPo, I miss you....)

Parking ticket from Municipal Parking Corporation

Please link to this post. See this link for the details. A few of my friends have received one of those fake parking tickets from Municipal Parking Corporation in the last year, hot spot being Sheraton Parkway. "The good news is, by law, you don't have to pay them," according to CityNews interviewing the Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley. Despite of that, the corporation keeps sending out mails from their collection department claiming that they have the right to do all kinds of things to you. Here I put together everyone's experiences.

• Don't bother to call the "General Inquires" number on the back of the ticket to fight the ticket. It's just a machine asking you to key in your credit card number.
• Don't need to go back to the shopping mall to ask the ticket to be waived. The only people who can void the ticket is the landlord.
• Don't even bother to send in a dispute. They require you to send by register mail which is like $10 to start with. Nobody received any response so far.
• Don't use the payment website. If you have decided to pay although it is not legal, you will get an internet purchase receipt. Congratulations! Yes, you've just made a purchase, not fine payment. However, they have your credit card and the 3-digit security number now. You always have the option to send the payment to their P.O. box though. There is no real address.
• Don't be freak out by those letters or calls claiming that they can do all kinds of things to you. There are calls like those machine telemarketers which stops after a month or so. Just hang it up gracefully like what you usually do to the telemarketers. Nothing had ever happen to anyone.
• Don't setup a campaign to boycott the shopping mall or anything like that. Come on, it doesn't worth the afford.

In closing, Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley is working on closing the loophole. Instead of wasting the time on the ticket, you may want to reflect your concern to your local MP and ask for an update on the fake parking ticket issue and confirm that you don't have to pay. A simple email or call will do.