Well, I still can’t successfully send a text message (tried while sitting in the Philadelphia airport). I can’t do higher math. Ovulation is sometimes iffy (and here you thought I wouldn’t bring THAT up again…)
But I can successfully wheedle my way into getting the fuck on home. I’m going to post the play by play because it really makes me happy.
Here’s how my itinerary was, originally:
Philly to New York, leaving around 3 pm
Three hour layover in NYC – woohoo! Big plans to buy a touristy tshirt
NYC to Washington DC
Hour long layover
Washington DC to Cheesecake City, arriving home about 11 pm
Here’s what really happened:
Checked in at Philly, flight already delayed to 3:30. That’s OK, I think. It’ll cut into my time in NYC but now I’m just glad that I had that long layover. Flight delayed to 4:20, flight from NYC to Washington delayed until 9:30, flight from Washington ON TIME. AND…. the plane I was supposed to take from Philly hadn’t left Virginia (I learned this about 4:15). All in all, I was going to end up stuck in Washington for the night.
Fuckity.
By this point I had become skilled at pacing the airport (in search of an actual cold bottle of Aquafina). I
finally decided something had to be done so I wised up and went to USAirways ticketing. (Inexplicably, ticketing wasn’t a nightmare, despite the fact that many many flights were cancelled). Here’s the funny part: I was flying from Philly on USAirways and the rest of the way on United. I explained the situation and asked if I could get a seat on a direct flight from Philly to Cheesecake City. She said that she wasn’t sure if they could touch it but she would try. She ended up on the USAirways rebooking hotline and waited on hold with them for a good 15 minutes. I was sure I was doomed.
Eventually, USAirways had to get on the phone with United. For a minute, she was worried that United would put the kibosh on the whole thing. (I told her at least three times that if it couldn’t be done that it would be OK, but on the inside I was panicking). Finally, she said that they’d fix it for me.
“How much?” I asked, meaning, “how much would I have to pay?”
She gave me the “it’s nothing” wave. I think that TSA would have kicked me out of the airport if I’d come across her desk to hug her, so I had to refrain. When I walked away, boarding pass in hand, I looked straight at the guy next to the USAirways ticketing lady and said “She’s been amazing!” He replied, “She always is!”
Endgame: Landed in Cheesecake at 9:30. Over an hour earlier than my original group of flights would have had me home without any delays.
To look at it another way- my original flight from Philly ended up leaving at 9:24 pm (yes, six and a half hours late!).
Anyway, I’m supposed to be out the door in 35 minutes, so I’m going to finish this missive like this: I finally did something proactive (even if it took me 2 hours of waiting to do it) and I am really proud of myself.