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Last
Monday, after enjoying one of the best Crab Festivals in years, the holiday
ended on a sour note for one family, when they and their car were bumped from
the state ferry Kennicott and had to fly home. The head of the ferry system
admits to overbooking the ship, but says everyone who was bumped could have
sailed the next day on the Tustumena.
Jeremy Shiok
said he was notified before he left Homer that the Kennicott was potentially
overbooked on the return trip, but that since he made his reservations in
December, his family of four was guaranteed to get on the ship when it was time
to leave.
-- (Ferry 1 34 sec "Knowing
that, we ... solve this issue.")
Shiok (shook)
said while he was in Kodiak for Crab Fest, he received another call from the
ferry office saying he would not be able to sail for the mainland on Monday
after all:
-- (Ferry 2 11 sec "Didn't
really say why ... not to bother to show up.")
Shiok (shook)
said he went down to Pier 2 in advance of the 4:30 a.m. departure time on
Memorial Day to see if he could get his family on board anyway, but to no avail
- it sailed, loaded with carnival rides, but without them.
-- (Ferry 3 17 sec "I
don't know that we ... involuntarily bumped passengers.")
That's
Captain Mike Neussl (NEW-sll), deputy commissioner for marine operations with
the Department of Transportation.
-- (Ferry 4 41 sec "We
actually made a mistake ... got adequate volunteers.")
After using
48,000 Alaska Airlines Miles to fly his family home to Anchorage on Tuesday
morning, Shiok contacted the ferry system again. He said they
reimbursed the cost of his family's cabin and passenger fare, but not the cost
of his car's passage. It sailed unattended on Wednesday, and he flew down to
Homer to pick it up on Thursday.
Shiok said unless the Marine Highway System reimburses him fully for the
extra costs he incurred, he would not be inclined to take the ferry to Kodiak
again.
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