Tale of a Standby Nightmare...
3:45am … ugh… the alarm jolts me out of the best sleep I’ve had in a week (of course). It's travel day! First stop, Minneapolis to meet Barry who will be getting off work at 8am. Last night it looked like I could easily get there by nine... This morning is a completely different story. Realizing that I absolutely would not make the first flight, I decided to develop a "Plan B"
Combing through all the different options, I decided I would meet Barry in La Guardia instead of JFK. Delta had an 11am flight. Jeremy and I backed the time up and decided to leave the house at 9. Still checking, I noticed a different flight on United that left at 10:05am which meant we had to head out the door quick like a bunny!. Barry sent a txt saying he made the flight to La Guardia in the jumpseat so he was on his way.
Jeremy walked me to the ticket counter to help me get situated… typing in my confirmation number (like I’ve done so many times before without incident), it said, “See Agent”. Uh oh… Turns out the flight was extremely delayed. Amazingly, I had the NICEST ticket agent ever! She looked through several flights to see which one I had the best chance to get on. It looked like Newark, New Jersey was my best bet. So, the agent gave me a “seat request” to EWR.
Knowing that Barry was already headed to La Guardia, the agent immediately sent my luggage there. She said she could do me this favor so he could pick it up and I would have more flexibility jumping around from flight to flight or taking a creative route because the crazy weather was affecting flights… that turned out to be my saving grace…
Luggage on the way to LaGuardia, me on the way to Newark… oh wait… as I double-checked the board to make sure there wasn’t a gate change, I see that the flight to LaGuardia canceled! Uh oh… not only would that affect my luggage, it would have a ripple effect on the flights going forward. Time to think outside the box! Ordinarily, I will go to several outstations to get to where I want… this time I it was more cut and dry. The flight we ultimately intended was from JFK to Venice. So that was my goal. Thunderstorms over New York were causing major delays for every flight. I went from gate to gate to gate looking for one with room. Nothing. Finally, I noticed two potentials… one on Delta in Terminal A and the other on United, of course, in Terminal E… scheduled to take off ten minutes apart. I was forced to choose one. Using my best guess, I chose Delta… to LaGuardia.
Passengers were being rerouted, nonrevs were looking for creative approaches to reach their destinations, so I decided to stay the course. Calling the help line to change my standby reservation was a “fail”... I needed a gate agent to do it because it was after the scheduled departure time. For anyone who flies standby, the last thing you want to do is bother a gate agent as an employee standby customer!!! Fortunately, I got another sweet agent. She changed my reservation and didn’t shoot me down completely… actually mentioned that this plan had a potential to work. Watching the numbers obsessively, I was SO excited when I realized I was actually going to make it!
There was one last little scare… my delayed 10am Delta flight was tentatively scheduled to depart at 2:20. I had quite a bit of time to wait but decided (thankfully) to remain by the gate. An announcement was made that Air Traffic Control was allowing a few flights in and we might be able to leave at 1:30. The agents informed passengers that they would keep us informed as the time grew closer. At 1:00, the agent got on the intercom and announced that there was a ground stop and was sad to report, our flight would be departing at 5pm! What?!?!?! That meant I had to find a quick solution to get to JFK for a 9pm flight! After what seemed like the LONGEST 45 seconds in history, she came back on the intercom and said there is a break in the storm and… if we hurried, we could get out at 1:30! The agent had everyone check their rollers so we could be seated quickly because we had a mere twenty minute window to take off! We did it! Quick boarding, taxi out and we were off!
I sent “Husband” a txt to let him know I got a seat and would be arriving to meet him in LaGuardia on Delta but that he needed to pick up the luggage at United. It was actually going to work! While I was in the air, he would gather the luggage and we would meet for a shuttle to JFK! YAY!!! Not so fast… no yay…
Delta has this new thing… free WiFi in flight so “you can keep in touch with your loved ones”. This allowed me to communicate with Barry. Realizing that he might need a little help tracking the baggage, I used the United App to determine the arrival time and baggage claim carousel number. Oh my… scrolling down to “track my luggage”, I had a huge surprise waiting! Because United had me listed for Newark, I was notified my luggage was heading to Newark!!! CURSES! I was on my way to LaGuardia, Barry is already at LaGuardia... now what???
While I was still in shock at this turn of events, Barry jumped into solution mode! As I was txting Jeremy to help me think this through, my dear husband was already in a shuttle heading for Newark. Apparently, he got on the "Manhattan Express"… a shuttle that required a transfer. Not realizing how far it was between LaGuardia and Newark, and the level of traffic, it was a bit nerve racking waiting to see if he got to EWR and found the luggage. While Barry was shuttling, Jeremy was figuring out how he would get from Newark, straight to JFK… we were running out of time!
Now, I’m in the air, Barry is on a shuttle and the luggage is in transit… then I receive a txt from my dear husband informing me he may not make it because the shuttle died! Seriously? How can this be?
By this time we were wondering if we should just end the nonsense and go back home! You know how sometimes when there are so many roadblocks, maybe it wasn’t meant to be? I sent Jeremy a txt asking if he thinks we should just go home… well, you can read for yourself to see his response. Fair enough!
The next “chapter” is almost too much to type. Too soon… So, mind you, I’m still on the plane and Barry has arrived at Newark airport. Jeremy is determining the most reasonably priced mode of transportation from Newark to JFK after the luggage is retrieved. And then this happens… Barry sends a txt informing me that he has spoken to the baggage claim representative and our luggage is going to land… yep… at LaGuardia at 6pm. Uh huh… yep… he took a crazy shuttle across New York to Newark, to retrieve luggage that was actually headed for LaGuardia. Shockingly, my husband remained as cool as a cucumber…. And headed JFK, where we would meet… hopefully!
After landing, I headed to the United Terminal baggage claim area. When I checked the app again… you know, the one that wrongly informed us the bags were going to Newark… yes, that app… I had a new notification. NOOOO!!!!! It stated that United apologizes for the inconvenience but our luggage was being delivered to La Guardia. Never fear… they planned on sending it to “meet me in Newark”. Now this was getting ridiculous! Into the baggage service area, I marched. “Please help me!!!” The agent tracked the tag and informed me it would be arriving in LaGuardia. I asked her three times (at least) if she was sure because the app says it will be rerouted to Newark. Here were her words… “are you going to trust me or an app?”. I had to txt Jeremy for help on how to respond to that question…
Barry arrived at JFK on the shuttle… completing the New York airport trifecta! As the baggage agent promised, I got our luggage and caught a shuttle to JFK. We checked in and headed to the bag drop. Then came our next roadblock… the line for the bag drop was absurd! The agent walked the line to see what time people’s flights were. When she looked at our she said, “You won’t make it but when you get further up the line, tell the agent that I said you won’t make it”. What? We ended up a quarter of the way through the long line, found the lady to explain we weren’t going to make it, she wanted us to tell her again at 8:15 if we were still back in the line (for a 9pm flight). We finally convinced her not to make us wait… she walked us to the front of the line, we got our bags checked… FINALLY!!! And headed for our gate. Got our boarding passes...sat down and Barry ordered a drink IMMEDIATELY! Moral of the story? I’m not sure… don’t nonrev in the summer? Stay away from New York in a thunderstorm? Start the trip off together and stick together? Don’t check luggage?
PS Jeremy can attest to the truthfulness and lack of exaggeration of this travel tale... :-)
