NEW MEXICO, DAY 1: AMERICAN AIRLINES FAILS US AGAIN, BUT HATCH, NEW MEXICO, IS A WINNER

Friday, June 25, 2021

I'll get a confession out of the way: When Bob suggested New Mexico for late June and early July, I thought he was crazy. Washington State or Oregon, maybe, but New Mexico? We'd be roasting along with the chiles.

As it turned out, we had only one or two hot days at the beginning and end with a spate of unseasonably cool weather for most of the trip. Meanwhile, Portland hit a historic high of 117° F. Who would have guessed?

Second confession: When Bob told me he booked a 12:45 AM flight on American Airlines leaving out of Ontario, connecting in Dallas, and arriving in El Paso at 8:11 AM, I was sure he was crazy. Turns out, we stayed up late and got no sleep for nothing because when we arrived in Dallas, we learned that our American Airlines connecting flight to El Paso had been cancelled. 

In its place we were offered a substitute flight that would be leaving at 1:15 PM, EIGHT HOURS LATER.  For that we stayed up all night? Almost all of of first-day-plans were now impossible. We pushed a little harder and learned that we could choose to get on a list for a stand-by flight at 9:00 AM, and then another at 11:00 AM if the first one didn't work. If neither worked, we still had the 1:15 PM option.

Bob got in a line to talk to AA Customer Service at 5:45 AM to discuss other possible options. No employee showed up until after 6:30, and by that time about 20 people were in line. Bob, about 4th or 5th in line, made it to the front at 7:10. There was still only one agent and a long line. No worries. Bob's turn was quick because there were no other options.

Meanwhile, I drowned my sorrows in a Pinkberry smoothie. Such a nice thing to find in the airport!

I walked by this shop several times, and I am proud to say that I did not give in to temptation.

While we were waiting for the stand-by flights, we heard agents asking for people to give up their seats on another American Airlines flight for $900. I don’t know if that was cash or a travel voucher, but it sure seems like we deserved that too, but we were certainly never offered any kind of compensation for the huge impact that this change had on our trip. (I have since written a letter of complaint. Let's see if that gets us anything.)

But there is more. Several weeks prior to the trip we were notified that our Saturday night flight home had been changed to a Saturday morning flight. Again, we had already booked activities for that day that would have to be forfeited. It is impossible to get an AA agent on the phone, and the email notifying me of the change merely said “accept” or “deny” the change. Bob denied it, anticipating we would get a refund. He ended up booking a totally new flight taking us home Sunday morning so that we could complete our Saturday activities.  Later, he was told that instead of a refund, we would be given a credit towards future travel. We are not happy about that either. 

We are members of the AAdvantage program, but lately we have been traveling via other airlines because we find American's customer service to be among the worst in the business. (They once left us to sleep on the floor in the Miami Airport and gave us food vouchers for closed restaurants, and they have lost our baggage twice.) This just reinforces our negative feelings. In essence, had we gone with what they offered us, we would have lost a full day on both ends of our trip. As it was, we lost a good part of the first day.

Sorry for the long diatribe, but we hate American Airlines. We will go out of our way to not fly with them in the future.

Well.

Our hotel that night was booked for Albuquerque, and we were six hours short of time to get there. We picked up our car, adjusted our schedule, and got on the road.

New Mexico, here we come!

We stopped at Wal-Mart in Las Cruces for a styrofoam cooler, some water and sodas, and some road snacks. That $4.95 cooler lasted us the whole trip and (with the help of ice from our hotels) did a good job of keeping our food and drinks cold.

Interesting sites on the road. What is this--a UFO detector?  

We pretty much had time for just one stop: Hatch, New Mexico, home of the world famous Hatch chile and temperatures hot enough to roast them.

Driving through Hatch doesn't take long. With a population of around 1,650 people, there isn't that much to see, but it was clear that there was a place we should eat: Sparky's. It was hard to miss because of the signs and figures that surround it.

They've got a terrific marketing plan. People come to Hatch because they have heard of Hatch chiles, but they stop here because how could they not?

The craziness continues across the street as well. I'm not sure how they aren't put out of business by copyright violation fines.

I'm willing to try anything once . . . 

Bob wanted the chile-cheese fries (with Hatch chiles) and I got that chile-chocolate milkshake. Once was probably enough on the milkshake, but we went on to have chile-cheese fries several more times. Hatch chiles are on the menu all over New Mexico.

That's a Hatch chile in Uncle Sam's hand.

Sparky's has an inside eating area that is as quirky as their outside décor. 

They have a thing for Ronald McDonald. There is one outside right in front and at least two inside.

Can you see him sitting on the wall?

After our snack, we browsed through a nearby shop, where I had a Frida sighting. It was a great start to what turned out to be a great trip.