On a recent Friday, I was returning home from a business trip in Toledo. My flight was through Chicago to Milwaukee. Because of weather in Chicago, my flight from Toledo was delayed by about an hour. Since I had a long layover in Chicago I wasn’t worried. When I arrived in Chicago about 7:00 pm, I wasn’t surprised to see that my 8:50 flight to Milwaukee was delayed to 9:18. (Oh well! It gave me time to get something to eat.)
While waiting at the gate, the departure time moved to 9:00. (Great! That was close to the original time!) Then it moved again to 9:20 because of waiting for a flight crew. (Hmmm.) At about 9:20 the flight crew arrived. Very shortly after that the departure time changed to 10:05. (This couldn’t be good!)
The gate agents announced that although the flight was not canceled, flights for the next day were first come/first served and if anyone wanted to change now they could. (Definitely not good!) Everyone rushed to the counter. The agents also said that the airline ticket could be exchanged for a bus ticket that left at 10:45, even though the flight wasn’t canceled.
Milwaukee and Chicago are only about an hour apart! I was not going to stay overnight in Chicago when I was that close to home. I also hate taking the bus! I had been calling my husband to update him. (Cell phones are wonderful!) He suggested taking a limo—that was something he had done before. He even volunteered to arrange it for me! (What a guy!)
Before leaving the gate, I checked with the agent about my checked luggage. She said it would go to Milwaukee whenever the plane left, either that night, or, if the flight was canceled, the next morning.
The limo driver was professional and courteous! The ride was great! He even drove me directly to my car at the Milwaukee airport. It was after midnight by the time I arrived at my house, but I was home!
Unfortunately, the adventure did not end there. The next morning I called the airline to check on my checked luggage. I was told it was in Dallas and would arrive in Milwaukee at 10:30 that night! She could not explain how or why it was in Dallas but completed a delayed bag report. (I guess it was only a matter of time before someone determined “delayed bag” sounds so much better than “lost bag!”) Someone was to call me to verify and then someone was to call be when it arrived in Milwaukee.
A couple hours later I still had not received the verification call. My husband and I talked and decided to just go to the airport and check. There was my purple suitcase waiting for me at baggage claim! It had been there for hours! It came in that morning because the flight Friday night had been canceled.
Although the situation with the delayed and eventually canceled flight and the luggage was frustrating and irritating, when you put it into perspective, none of it is really that big of a deal. I arrived home safe and sound. Even my luggage eventually made it.
Life has enough of true tragedies without making something like this into one as well. Keep things in perspective. If you will be able to laugh (or blog!) about it later, it’s not that bad!
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