I know the routine. Whenever you fly, you heed to check-in at the airport two hours in advance. On this trip to the flight desk, I saw a couple who arrived thirty minutes before their flight. They were bumped off the plane because you have to be there at least forty minutes in advance. There was no mercy on the part of the airline. It didn’t matter if the two people were in the military. There was no forgiveness. You must check in at least forty minutes early.
But, I was there well in advance.
As I registered at the computer check-in, I noticed that my printout declared my boarding time was 10:30. I thought, “Hmm . . . I’m barely here soon enough. How can that be?” Well, I didn’t read that computer printout nearly close enough.
When I finally made human contact at the counter, I was informed that my original flight was cancelled. I was rebooked for a red-eye flight to Detroit at 10:30 at night. That was supposed to be when I arrived home! There had to be something that could be done.
But, there wasn’t.
The agent tried scheduling me through Atlanta, Los Angeles, and a few other cities. All of them put me in Columbus, Ohio, the following morning, at around ten. There was nothing I could do about it. I did ask for a few meal vouchers and there should have been a free ticket thrown in. But, the food vouchers were all that I could squeeze out of the airline.
However, the insanity continued.
The woman behind the desk apologized. “You cannot check in your luggage yet. The earliest that we can accept it is six hours before the flight. It’s for security, you understand.”
I didn’t understand.
I said, “I know you didn’t make the rules here, but do you see how ridiculous this situation is? There is no place to go on this side of the airport gates. All restaurants are closed outside the gates. There are no rest areas. There is no place to go and no place to put my luggage.”
Okay, I guess I could have called my sister-in-law to come back and rescue me for the day. But she lived more than an hour from the airport. I was not going to ask her to do that twice in one day. So, I had no real options. Could this woman behind the counter check with her supervisor?
The supervisor showed up. She said the worst word possible under the circumstances. No. Once again, I had to speak up. “No is a terrible word to say right now. Do you realize how ridiculous this rule is? I didn’t cancel the flight. I have no place to go and I cannot pass through the gates with my luggage.”
Finally, thankfully, sanity reigned supreme. They took my luggage and I was free to head through security and pass through the gate for the next twelve hours. However, before that could happen, nature called.
Now, I’ve traveled more than my share. And, during one of my more memorable flights, I lost the little pack that held phone, wallet, identification and a whole wad of money. I’ve learned what to do. The pack that holds my identification and money is now strapped to the handle of my backpack when I travel. It cannot fall away and be lost. I have an additional pack that carries my phone. It’s safely strapped to the backpack handle as well. With this sort of double protection, you would think that I couldn’t and wouldn’t lose anything.
You would be so wrong.
After nature called, I found a seat and rummaged through my backpack. I wanted to get my passport and boarding passes to show to the security agents. As I rummaged, I noticed my phone was missing. It wasn’t in the fancy little phone holder case that was safely attached to the backpack handle. I rummaged through the entire backpack – twice – and it really wasn’t there. The phone can’t be safe from loss if I don’t put it in the phone holder.
It had to be somewhere between me and the restroom.
I went back to retrace my steps. Nobody wants to be the person searching in little corners of the public restroom. It’s not a good look. But, I headed off in that direction.
Checkbook and phone case, potato and potahtoFortunately for me, I have a unique phone case that looks like a brown, leather checkbook. If you are too young to know what a checkbook is, there is nothing I can do about that. But, I saw a young man walking out of the restroom with a stylish brown, leather phone case in his hand. He wasn’t sure where Lost and Found was located and I solved that problem before he had to look any further. He must have thought I was a doddering old fool. He patted me gently on my back as I walked away, safely reuniting my phone with its carrying case, and so very relieved.
An unexpected twelve-hour layover is no fun, but it is certainly far from the worst travel disaster I’ve ever experienced. I had vouchers for two meals at the same restaurant. The waiters were friendly. One felt particularly bad about the delay until I said, “A twelve-hour delay is nothing in the grand scope of travel disasters. After you’ve been arrested at the airport and taken to prison, this barely counts at all.”
So, I survived the twelve-hour wait and eventually boarded my flight. It was still a long night with little or no sleep. I’m thinking it was no sleep. I was awake when the captain announced the aurora borealis over Missoula, Montana. Except, I really couldn’t see much from the middle seat. I’m too tall and the window was too low. I didn’t want to lean my head down that close to a stranger’s lap to really see the lights. That was another look that wouldn’t be very good.
I arrived home safe and sound, thankfully. I was also really much more worn out than was necessary. This unnamed airline claims to be ready when I am. I think it’s safe to say that this time they weren’t.
