Another Flight Adventure

Yesterday was probably THE craziest travel day I have EVER experienced…ever.  Who knew flying from Columbia, SC to Kansas City, MO would be such a crazy adventure?!

It’s so unreal…even now, looking back.

My adventure began in Columbia just before 10am.  We got to the airport…Andrew, the kids and me.  He wanted to bring the kids in so they could see the airport and give me a grand send off.  And then watch “my” plane as it took off into the great blue sky.

We got in the airport, and the line for the check-in was a little longer than what I’m accustomed to in Columbia…..Weird, but no major red flags.  As I was trying to figure out which line I was supposed to be in, Andrew motions to the person behind him and said, “That lady just said the flight from Columbia to Charlotte is cancelled.”

“Why are we not even surprised by that?!  Why do I still think that I can get a flight OUT of Columbia!?” – a rhetorical question, mind you.

So I stood in line as people were trying to determine what they were doing and what needed to be done.  One worker was herding people out to the curb so that they could get into assigned taxis.

When it was my turn at the desk, I handed over my ID and told her that I was supposed to be on the Charlotte flight.  She quickly pulled up my itinerary in her computer system, handed me my ID and said, “You need to go in one of these cabs, I’ll take care of updating your ticket…..you’ll check in in Charlotte.”

Slightly frazzled, I whistled at Andrew and the kids, pretended to race R out to the curb and made my presence known: “Lucas.  Here!”

I kissed our babies and nearly forgot the hubs, until he reminded me that he was “the most important one!” and got in the cab with four new friends.

Andrew stood at the crosswalk waiting for us to drive by…he and the kiddos were all waving and blowing kisses to me.  It was the sweetest.

 

For one of my new friends, that ride was probably the longest of his life.  He would have 20 minutes to check in and get to his flight to Austin, Texas, if we got there in time.

We pulled up to the curb in Charlotte right around 12:25pm.

The original flight I was on from Charlotte to Kansas City was leaving at 1:15…I still had time if they could get me in fast enough.

I walked up to a kiosk.

It couldn’t find me.

I spoke to someone from American Airlines who let me in this “people with special cases only” sort of line… Where I stated my case.

The lady told me I’d been rebooked for Monday, on a flight to Dallas.

“Dallas.  Who’s going to Dallas?” She asked me.

“I have no idea, but I’m not.” I replied.

“Were you ever going to Dallas?” She asked.

“No.  I wasn’t ever, nor do I want to now.  I’m trying to get to Kansas City – MCI.”

I stood there for 20 minutes.

My original flight from Columbia to Charlotte and then Charlotte on to Kansas City was ALL cancelled.

All other flights for the day were either cancelled or full.

The lady I was working with told me I would have to talk to a Supervisor.  Mr. Vinny appeared and was busy at that moment with a shift change….

Another lady came over and from the way she talked, she seemed to be someone in an authority-type position.

Her back was to me…I said, “M’am.”  She turned to face me.  “Hi {smiley face}, I’ve had a heck of a morning already and am waiting for a supervisor…but I’ve waited almost ten minutes now…”

As I trailed off, she told me to follow her.  She was a manager and would get my situation sorted out.

I quickly followed behind her.

She pulled up my itinerary…and as her eyes scanned the computer screen, she was visibly frustrated by the chaos I’d already experienced.

“They did you a great dis-service, m’am and I’m so sorry.  They sent you up here with no flight.”

……………………………………………………………………………

After another seven or so minutes she told me that there was a 7:50 am flight the next morning that I could fly standby on, and that I would definitely have a seat on the one in the afternoon that got into Kansas City around 5pm.

I’m not the type of person that thinks fast on my feet.  I process things.  This was no time for my brain to function slowly.

I thought, I am NOT spending an entire day in this airport tomorrow.

“If you can’t put me on that earlier flight then I just can’t do it.  How can you get me back home?  Back to Columbia.”

Mr. Vinny came over. “Mrs. Lucas?  I’ve been working on your situation…”  He told his manager what a disaster this had all been and that he had me sorted out.  As he was mostly talking to her, he was showing her my new flight information.

“Chicago?  She’s not going….”

Yep. He’d booked me on a flight to Chicago.  Nope, I wasn’t going there either.

I could see the disappointment all over his face.

He said he would get it figured out.

The manager asked me if I would have a seat in this other area, so I didn’t have to keep standing.

I called Andrew.  I called my friend Kelly, who I was going to be staying with and working with over the next few days and gave them updates and talked through what the possibilities might be.

I gave Mr. Vinny twenty or so minutes and he finally reappeared with a boarding pass.  “Mrs. Lucas, I have you on a flight to Houston {Texas} tonight, overnight there, and fly to Kansas City tomorrow morning.  You’ll be there by 11:15am.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work.  I’m supposed to be in meetings all day in Wichita.”  I told him.

I was running every possible scenario through my pea-sized brain.  How is this going to work?  Who’s going to pick me up from the airport?  Is this even worth trying to get there now?  Maybe God just doesn’t want me to go…

I called Kelly back and told her about the “new” flight.

“Yeah, I have to leave the house by 6am” she stated.  “We would bee in meetings all day…..what if you flew into Wichita….no, that won’t work either…”  {Praise the Lord b/c if I had to tell these people about a new city, who knows where I would end up!!}

After Kelly and I decided that it just wasn’t worth it, I asked one of the workers if I could speak to Mr. Vinny.   A few minutes later he appeared.

“This isn’t going to work….if you can’t get me there tonight, then just send me back to Columbia.”  I told him.  He shook his head  “no” and said, “I’m so very sorry…I just can’t get you there today.”

He said he’d work on getting me back home.

So I waited…

He came back with a boarding pass for Columbia, told me to go back up to the customer service counter to check my bag and I was good to go.

As I waited in line, Andrew called… “You’re on the 1765 at 4:14 to Kansas City” he said.

“What?!”

“Tell her you’re on the flight at 4:14….tell her to pull her list…you’re on it.”

She couldn’t find me.  She said I wasn’t on it. “Does he have a confirmation number he can give you?”  She asked, all the while looking all over her screen for my name to be included in their log.  It wasn’t there…

As I relayed all this back to Andrew, he was sighing and clearly frustrated.  He was going to call AA back to find out my number.

Meanwhile, after trying to convince this person that I was in the log, and clearly I wasn’t, I said, “just get me back to Columbia please…but I have a question about that now also.  Why can’t y’all just put me in a cab?  Because at this point, now, I have to check my bag, go thru security, wait for a plane, get on the plane, when I could just be home by then.”

She laughed and said, “Let me go find Mr. Vinny so we can put an end to this story.”

I wasn’t sure if she was being nice or sassy at that point…

She came back and said that management wouldn’t approve paying for my cab.

So I gave her my bag.  I took my boarding pass and I made my way to gate E.

I got thru security.  I got to my gate and then I went to get some food.  It was around 2:30.  The only things I’d eaten since my egg at 8:30am was a pack of animal crackers that I’d thrown in my bag right before walking out of the house.

As I waited to place my order, my phone was blowing up.  Andrew was calling “Let me call you right back.”  I was tired.  I was emotionally drained.  I had been so excited about this trip, seeing my friend and then everything was dashed.

My phone started ringing again.  As I held it up, I noticed several text messages from Andrew…

“Hey…”  I started.

“Did you get it?  Did you get my message? I figured you weren’t getting my texts…”

“Get what?  What are you talking about?” I asked.

“YOU’RE ON THE FLIGHT TO KANSAS CITY.  YOU’RE ON THE 1765 AT 4:14!!!”

I felt dazed and confused…what was he saying?  And why did he KEEP telling me this when NO ONE at the dang airport could see what someone on a phone could see?!

“No.  No, it’s done.  I’m on a flight to Columbia, I’m coming back home…”

Never in my life had I ever felt more like he didn’t WANT me to come home!!!  He had called whoever he called and did whatever he did to assure I was on that dang flight at 4:14.

He all but yelled in my ear, “GO!!!!!”

I sighed, picked up the food I’d just ordered and ran back to my gate.

Another precious lady stood there almost waiting for me and my craziness to appear at her desk.

I sat my things down and tried to explain to her, as briefly as I could, what had happened to me that day.  “I’m on this flight to Columbia, but my husband just said that I’m on the 4:14 to Kansas City and here’s my code” and I held up my phone for her to see that text message.

“What in the world?” she asked.  “Lucas? Your name is Lucas?”

“Yes m’am.”

“Yep, you’re on that flight.”

{Shock.  Disbelief.  Confusion.  Dismay.}

“Then why couldn’t that lady at the very front check-in see that?”  I asked.

As this point another lady had walked up.

“You know we’re American now.  Everything is messed up.  It’s a great big mess.  You should complain.” She told me.

I kind of laughed.  CLEARLY it is one GIGANTIC mess…I was exhibit A-1.

“Now what?”  I asked “what about my suitcase?”

After telling them that my bag was on the Columbia flight, they looked at each other and said, “Oh, you have to go to customer service and see if they can get it changed over for you.”

They gave me directions and I was on my way.

I got to that line and about 25 people were in front of me.

Great, I thought…this could take forever.  It was 2:45pm.  I had to be boarding one of 2 planes in an hour.

By about 3:15 it was my turn.  I got to the counter, showed the Columbia ticket to the lady and said, “I can’t even go thru everything that has happened today for you…but, my suitcase is on this flight….but I’m now on THIS flight, and need my bag moved over…can ya’ll do that?”

She looked at me like I was nuts.

“Now, what?  How is your bag on one flight but you’re on a different one?”

I went thru the whole story for her.  She looked at me like I had 3 heads…and got up and walked into the side room.

She came back and said, “Yep, you’re on this one and your bag is headed for Columbia.”

Duh.  That is what I just told you…

She picked up her phone…..and put it down.

She looked at me and said that she was trying to get someone in baggage to pick up.

She called again…and this is what happened to the best of my memory:

Her: Hey, I need you to find a bag that needs to be moved over from Columbia, CAE, to MCI.

M-C-I.

Kansas City.

…………..

Her: Yeah, it says you haven’t scanned it in yet.

………………

Her: Yeah, I’m calling because it’s on the wrong flight.

What information do you need?

Lucas.

AA…..123.

Needs to go to MCI.

M-C-I.

She hung up the phone, looked at me and said, with not much confidence, “I’ve done all I can do.”

Great.

I smiled.  I thanked her for her time…and I walked away.

I had less than 20 minutes to get from terminal E to terminal B.

I texted Kelly to say that we might have to do some shopping when she picked me up…who knew if my bag would actually make it or not.

I fast-walked thru the airport to gate B2.  I sat down.  I could barely believe that I was waiting to board a plane to Kansas City.  Part of me thought, I’ll get up to the counter, hand her my ticket, and some alarm is going to go off and she’s going to tell me that I’m not REALLY on the flight.

I texted Andrew my update. “Made it to the gate and the guy I’m sitting next to is legitimately snoring.”

 

Group 4 got called up to board.  I got to the scanner, it scanned and she said, “Have a nice flight!”

I’m in!  I’m ON the plane to Kansas City!!!

Incredible.

It was a smooth flight…we landed a few minutes early and I made my way to baggage claim.

This was the true test.

Oh, but wait, as I made my way to the baggage claim area, I got a text from Kelly: “Ah! My car is dead.  My battery died while waiting!”

Of course.  Of course your battery died while you were waiting on my flight to get here.

I laughed.  There was no other way to respond.

“LOL!”

As I stood there at the baggage carousel, I called Andrew and said, “I think we should make a wager as to whether or not my bag will show up here.”  I was convinced that it would not.

The machine started and bags were popping up and plopping over, waiting for their owners to claim them.

In great anticipation I waited.

So many black bags look exactly alike.  I know what mine looks like, upside down and backwards….

I saw it come over the edge, the red and white shoe string was there.  The turquiose luggage tag was just as pretty as it could be coming over that little ledge.  I raised my hands in the air, closed fisted, and gave a little squeal, “YES!!!”  {A couple of people may have looked at me and questioned my enthusiasm over a suitcase…}

I took a picture and posted it to Instagram…”never been so happy to see this!”  Of course all the friends that “liked” it didn’t know the full story just yet….now they do!

I saw Kelly drive by outside and I ran down to where she was parked.

“I can’t turn the car off!” she said.

We hugged, we laughed, we were in utter disbelief that I was actually there.

I called Andrew to check on him and let him know I was in the car with her.

We joked about Kelly’s dead battery and about how I just wanted to include her in my day of chaos…to which Andrew said via the phone, “Well, it’s no fun unless you can share it with your friends!”

What an adventure, indeed.

I am thankful to have made it, safely.  And to be in the company of this dear friend and her family.  I’m excited of the agents I’m going to meet over the next couple of days and the fun we’re going to have together.

And I hope my flight home isn’t quite as um, entertaining…