4:00 AM PDT: Alarm goes off
I arise at 4:00 AM Pacific in blissfully beautiful San Jose, California. The weather has been perfect for the past week (I arrived Sunday, July 25th). It has been a long week away from home, and I am ready to get back to my wife, dog, house, own bed, and the rest that makes home, home. I have meticulously, as is my nature, packed my bags and they are sitting waiting for the last few items to be used and put away.
4:30 AM PDT: Ready
I am packed and ready to head to the airport for my 6:20 AM flight. It takes all of 15 minutes to get to the airport, and I don’t mind being a little early. I have some books to keep me company until I board the plane. As I walk out the door (literally), I get a text message that my flight is cancelled… Great! Not only, have I left my room key, inside my room, but the door locked behind me. Luckily, I remember that I requested two keys, and I find the other in my wallet. Crisis averted… for now.
I promptly call the number listed in the text message, painfully navigate through the voice prompts, and finally get in touch with a real person. As I am talking to the airline representative, she indicates that her computer isn’t working and has to reboot. Not only this, but she can not transfer me to another rep. I either have to call back or wait five minutes. So I wait for what feels like an eternity, and she comes back. She indicates that there are no flights out of San Jose today and that I will have to wait until tomorrow for a flight. I ask her to check other airlines… Still not flights except a red-eye on Delta. I then ask if there are any flights out of nearby airports like San Francisco. Yes! one flight leaves at 6:00 AM and the other at 11:30 AM. Perfect, I say I’ll take the 11:30 AM, because I am more than an hour away from SFO.
I proceed to do some work from the room, get breakfast, etc. because I now have some time before I need to leave.
9:00 AM PDT: Leaving the room… Again.
…This time no text messages. I proceed to the lobby to check out and print out my boarding passes. I check out of my room, but I can’t print my boarding pass. The computer says I must wait until 24 hours before my flight to check-in. I’m thinking “It’s 3 hours before what’s going on?” Then I realize, they booked me on a flight from SFO, TOMORROW! Now, I’m irate. I get the airline back on the phone immediately after painfully navigating the voice prompts, mind you, and proceed to indicate my disdain with as much care as possible.
The attendant puts me on hold to check another airline’s flight for today. I wait for what feels like another eternity with constantly increasing blood pressure. She comes back on the line to tell me that a 10:30 AM flight is available on another airline. Thanks, it takes me an hour to get to SFO; so, that really doesn’t help me. She then checks another flight, puts me on hold for anther eternity, and books me on a 12:30 PM flight from SFO. Whew… finally some relief.
10:00 AM PDT: Cab Ride
Normally, I don’t like to take cab rides more than $50, but this was an exception. I counted the cash I had in my wallet $139. Surely it won’t be more than that, or so I thought… I hop in the cab and make the driver’s day by requesting a drive to SFO. We scurry off down the highway as I watch the meter go ever higher. I start doing the math with the meter and realize I might not have enough cash to cover this drive! We get closer and closer and the number approaches $130. As we enter the airport property, it tops $140. I’m ok, I think and pray. Surely he will take a credit card… eh, no…
So now I’m thinking, ok what can I barter to get him his money? I start looking in my wallet (sometimes I rat-hole a $20 or $50 just in case), and there in its shining glory was a Ulysses Grant! Prayer answered! I give the driver a decent tip (10% was $15!) and am off to check-in. Surely this can’t get any worse… or can it.
11:00 AM PDT: Check-in and Security
I like to check-in before I get to the airport because of days like this. I had to wait in line, a considerable line, to check-in. I never check my bags so it’s just annoying to wait to get my boarding pass. I finally get checked-in and head to security… to wait yet again. I have done airport security so many times, I can’t even count. It’s routine for me at this point. I have the slip-off shoes, laptop removal, fluids, etc. all ready to go and set when the time comes. I do the final “pocket check” before the metal detector then proceed to reassemble all of my goods.
11:20 AM PDT: Check the Gate
I really needed some lunch at this point, but every seasoned traveler knows that it is a good idea to check the gate before doing anything else when you are in a time crunch. So I proceed to the end of the terminal (my gate is always at the end it seems), to find my flight delayed two hours from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM. No big deal… or so I thought. I check with the gate agent, because I have a connecting flight in Houston and want to make sure I can still make it. Not so much… My delayed flight will now land at 8:05 PM CDT which is the same time that my connection (the last flight of the day to BHM) leaves Houston.
Expletive!
So now, I’m back in scramble mode. The gate agent starts looking for other flights, other possibilities, opportunities for me to get home today. His answer, “It looks like you will be spending the night either here or in Houston, which do you prefer?” Me: “Houston… Wait, what about Atlanta, can you get me to Atlanta?” My trying all possible options. After a minute of searching, there is a Delta flight at 1:00 PM PDT into Atlanta with two seats. He reserves my seat, books my ticket, and sends me on my way… back to the terminal… to check in with Delta… and go through security… again… joy.
11:45 AM PDT: Check-in and Security… Again.
Sooooo, I now proceed from the end of the terminal all the way back through security to the Delta counter. Luckily there is no line! I waltz right up to the agent, present him my stub from the other airline, and he shatters my hopes and dreams yet again. Evidently, I’m in the wrong line. Hope is then restored, because he didn’t make me wait to get in the correct line. At this point, everything is frustrating.
So he gets me checked-in with a “seat-request” ticket. This means, I now have to get to the gate agent to get a seat assignment… yet another happy moment for me. I go to wait in the long security line, again, do the security line dance, again, and end up in the terminal to find my gate… which is of course at the end of the terminal. I get to the gate, no gate agent in sight, so I call Delta to check on connections to BHM from ATL. At this point, I’m only getting to ATL. So, I’m exploring options. Can someone pick me up? One-way rental car? taxi… oh no not again… Luckily there is a connection I can get. I pay the fee and have to wait to get checked-in until I reach ATL (for whatever reason).
Mind you, I’m still hungry, and don’t have a seat assignment. Now, I turn to check the gate, and there is a line a mile long waiting on the gate agent. Perfect! So I get in it and wait. For whatever reason, Mr. Murphy wasn’t paying attention and I got a free pass for once that day. I had somehow been booked twice on the flight and got called to the front of the line! So, I cut all of the other people and got my seat assignment first. Exit row by the window… not perfect, but I’ll take it.
12:30 PM PDT: On the Plane… Finally!
After a long (8 hours at this point) day of travel frustration, I am finally on a plane that will get me back to the Southeast. Now, I still have not had any food, am tired, and could really use a nap. So that’s what I did. I don’t even remember take-off. All I remember is waking up when the flight attendant started bringing food and beverages down the aisle. I proceed to order a sandwich and a snack to give me a boost. No, I’m not thinking about that article at all. I’m hungry. I eat, am filled, and start reading my book again. Four miserably long hours later, we are on the ground in Atlanta!
8:15 PM EDT: Hotlanta
Now on the ground, I proceed to change from B terminal to D terminal where my next flight is. Yes, again, the gate was at the far end of B terminal and D terminal. So, I walk my way to D terminal, find a check-in location, get my boarding pass, check the gate (as always), then proceed to find caffeine. Now caffeinated and almost home, I can relax enough to start a new book: Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. So far it is excellent. After four chapters, we begin boarding.
9:45 PM EDT: Takeoff
Our departure was as close to on-time as it gets. The 28 minute flight is nothing after the previous flight, and before I could blink, we were on the ground at BHM.
9:45 PM CDT: BHM
After a long day, there is nothing like landing in Sweet Home Alabama. The heat and humidity engulfed me as I departed the plane, and I knew I was home. After waiting to get my plane-side checked luggage, I was off to the parking deck to get in my car and go home!
10:15 PM CDT: HOME at last!
Arriving home after a long week away is completely rewarding. 16 hours and 15 minutes is the longest travel day of my life, and most definitely the most stressful. Without, prayer and patience it would have been excruciating and unbearable. I learned several valuable lessons:
- There is a reason for travel rewards programs. Airlines treat their loyal customers better than the rest, and they attend to them first when exceptions occur. This means, had I flown Delta in the first place, I would have been re-scheduled immediately on the next flight before I called the airline.
- Persistence pays off. Without my prodding, the airline I started with would not have transferred me to another airport or airline. I wasn’t giving up without a fight and that persistence paid off.
- There is truly no place like home. I didn’t realize how much I like being home until I was faced with not being able to be there when I wanted to. It is a sickening feeling. I take for granted the freedoms that I have and this experience was enlightening for me.
