We had both worked that day. Me, I had a CRAZY day at work. Clients came out of the woodwork and I worked up a sweat just running back and forth from my desk to the copier. Fortunately I have this great boss who said whatever I didn't get done I could forward to her to be taken care of. You should all be so lucky to have my boss. For real.
The car came at 5:45.In Illinois, I have used the same car service (Amms) since I was born. Finding a car service here was slightly daunting - there are a good number of fly-by-nights and the airport doesn't "recommend" anyone, plus I was under the gun. So at 5:45 an SUV showed up when we had requested a town car. The driver was perfectly pleasant, but the car could have been in better shape and, frankly, smelled better.
We got to the airport and found that our flight was slightly delayed due to bad weather in Chicago. No problem - lots of time for dinner since we were starving!! We ate at Axel's Bonfire in the airport - totally worth the overpriced burger to just be able to relax.
Unfortunately, the small delay turned into a long delay which then turned into a cancellation!!! We got re-booked onto a flight for the next morning and then had to decide - stay in a hotel by the airport overnight or get a car home and then another car back to the airport in the morning??? Expensive proposition either way. BUT... We noticed that the United flight at the gate next to ours had de-planed, and overheard one of the passengers saying that they would be re-boarding in an hour. We had been told that there weren't any seats on that flight, but we asked anyway and actually got booked onto that flight!! If they ended up taking off, it would save us at least $100 in having to get a hotel or almost $200 to get transportation back and forth to our house for the night.
Like all things, we (and by "we" I mean Jason) didn't pull it off as smoothly as we should have.......
So they said they would be announcing in 25 minutes whether the plane would be taking off or not. We weren't going to be able to have our checked luggage from our previous flight come with us that night - it would have to be delivered by United the next day. In the meantime, it was sitting on a carousel in baggage claim for those who were taking a flight the next day to go pick up. Jason needed his glasses out of the luggage and decided to run down to baggage claim to grab them from his suitcase then come back to the gate. At this point it was 9:40pm and they would be announcing whether we would be taking off at 10pm. Jason's phone was out of juice, so he left it with me to charge at the gate and took my phone, and this way then we could also communicate in case there was a change. HOWEVER, Jason's phone is passcode protected, I DON'T KNOW THE CODE and HE DIDN'T TELL IT TO ME before he went down to baggage claim. So I sat at the gate, charging the phone, while Jason went down to baggage claim. Doo-to-doo. Hum-dee-dum. At 9:57pm, Jason was still not back. They announced at the gate that they would be boarding the plane! I let everyone board and Jason was STILL not back. At which point he called me and I said "Hey, they're boarding the plane and now we're not going to make it." Jason said "Ok, I'm almost there." The gate agent said "Is he coming?" I told her yes, he said he's almost here. So we waited. And waited. The gate agent smiling sadly at me with question mark eyebrows, me nervously waiting because I can't call Jason back because of his stupid passcode. It was a wonderful moment in my life. Finally, after having held the plane, the gate agent said "I'm sorry, we have to send the plane or we risk having to cancel the flight for the weather." I thanked the gate agents for their help and said I understood. They closed the door to the gate. At that point Jason came riding up in one of those carts and they opened the doors and let us on the plane. I'm sorry, let me rephrase. They let me on the plane and also let on a dripping with sweat, heaving Jason who had just run through the airport to get back. Jason is pretty sure this is karmic payback for having made fun of a short, squat man running through the airport a few hours earlier. Also because Jason's glasses were in our carry-on.
You would think that the flying drama ends there. No. We arrived at O'Hare and sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes. Why? Because no one responded to the pilot's call for someone to get the plane set up to deliver its passengers - a job done by someone called a ramper. I learned this because the pilot kept coming on and saying "We don't know how to explain why our calls for rampers are going unanswered."
Finally we made it to Jason's parents in Highland Park. I slept in workout clothes, which is all the clothes I had in my carry-on. Our luggage got delivered the next afternoon.
All in all, United Airlines went above and beyond to get us on their flight and then to hold the plane for Jason. I am definitely going to write them a letter thanking them and thanking the gate agent.
What was amazing about the airport experience? Traveling with a big, white garment bag that says "David's Bridal" on it gets you attention like no other. I got congratulations from everyone, stares from everyone we passed and I think that's why they held the plane in the end there. Amazing. I'm tempted to use that as my garment bag from now on!!!
