Well, tonight/today/yesterday I had my very own "Home Alone" experience. I always wondered what happened to people when their flights got cancelled. I'd never had it happen to me. Oh, we've all had our share of "delayed" flights, but I've never had the big red letters flashing "Cancelled, Cancelled, Cancelled" in my face. It's amazing how that one word can produce so much emotion. Of course there was the initial thought to bawl my eyes out. However, seeing that I'm a soldier now, I have to keep those tear ducts in check. The secondary emotions included rage, anger, disbelief, annoyance, and this antsy feeling that I had to figure something out RIGHT AWAY. I walked with the other couple hundred people to stand in line at the United Customer service desk. Now, this is the part in Home Alone when the mom realizes she left the kid and she's standing at the counter begging for any flight in the direction of home. Every person in line had their own "kid" at home. After standing there for a half an hour, one of the employees came out to inform the line of 500+ people that if their destination was Portland, they would have to step aside, they wouldn't be "dealt with" at this time. I thought about filing an EO complaint. Apparently there were no flights remotely open until Christmas Day, and even then it was slim to none. Overbooked flights with the capacity of 66 passengers with 72 people on standby. Yikes. I ended up on the phone with a customer service rep. (Well, I was on hold for 40 minutes before I actually got to talk to her...) She mentioned several flights and promptly followed it with, "Oh, nope, that one's full too." During our conversation I walked up and down the terminal looking at where flights were headed. I saw one for San Francisco that was doing their final boarding call. I walked up to the counter and listened to the man in front of me. He had a party of three and the United rep informed him she only had ONE seat left. He turned away defeated and I stepped up. I told her I wasn't suppose to be going to San Fran, but I HAD to PLEASE get out of Chicago and find a way West. She hesitated for a moment and then looked up and said, "Welcome aboard." This was quite a joyous moment for me. I would have done ANYTHING to get away from Chicago. Lines and lines of hundreds of people being told that they would be spending their Christmas in an airport terminal. Merry Christmas.
My arrival in San Francisco was a relief. Just the knowledge that if push came to shove, I could actually drive home, was a great feeling. My hope was to catch a standby flight to Eugene as PDX was still closed. I waited through three flights to Eugene. Unfortunately the flights held 50 passengers and there were almost 90 on the standby list. I was listed as number 50 - Let's just say the odds were not in my favor. I met some friends in the airport who were in the same boat I was in and were thinking about driving. I saw a flight going to Medford that only had 11 people on standby. (Hey, that's way better odds than 90+) They were in their final boarding call stage. I walked up to the counter and asked the rep if it would benefit me to take myself off the Eugene list and put myself on the Medford standby list. (you can only be on one standby list) He said it might. I took his optimism and waited as three names were called off before mine. None of them showed up - thus I got - once again - the last seat on the plane. Dang. You think I have good luck? Nah, I think Jesus just wanted to help me out. I definitely attribute being able to get anywhere, especially out of Chicago, to my God above.
Along the lines of dedicated, I have the most amazing parents. I called them to tell them I had just miraculously got on the Medford flight - their response was, I'll head out the door now. I write this blog as I sit waiting my father's arrival. He should be here in about 30 minutes. I am so very blessed.
