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Monday, December 25, 2006

getting home from Denver.. Part II

so as i am walking the long lines asking whether these people are still waiting for American Airlines, one foreign man answered in all the tens that i asked. so i'm passing the hundreds of people in line i start to really freak out.. i keep thinking about - first come first serve - so i do what any person would do, make another call into my friend about e'checking in..

so i give him my confirmation code, he looks up my flight, he checks me in & states there is a question about getting a seat. i tell him - i didn't care, any seat & my heart is jumping for my seat. give me a seat.

stall..

"oh no," he states "all the seats are X'd out."

so i fall into a silence, and tell him i'll call him once i know something. by this time i am standing at the end of the longest line of my life, and all i want to do is talk to someone that knows something. if i have a flight out - i should have a flight out, and that is that i told myself. so i follow the line in the opposite direction, looking for someone - some professional that can give me another way out, besides this long line i'll not get thru. as i make it to the front of the building i remember two things - one, the "short" curbside check in line, "two" American Airline workers have to be working that line.

so i step outside and..

[for anyone reading my blogs you may have noticed - i call God, Abba Father ~ meaning Daddy God ~ i have accepted i am far from perfect (smile), however i still would like to have a relationship with the Jesus, so i call Him my Savior] [this story is about how God worked things out for one of His dtrs, me]

the guy in front of me happens to be on my flight going out to Chicago. he assures me that you can check baggage & recieve a boarding pass in this line. i am feeling a little better until he askes me what my seat number is. i tell him i don't have one, and he says, "oh well, you always need a seat number." he takes my number so he can call me with the Gate Number, so i can be first for stand'by. when i thought of stand'by i thought of that long line & how many people before me, that had spent the night in line were stand'by before me.

so again - my spirit sinks.

i stand in line, i get up the guy - i am well aware of the fact all seats are X'd out, and i am talking and he hands me my seat - flight 1536, seat 26C. i look at my ticket in disbelief and i say to him, "so this means i'm going home"

"yes ma'am"

i am so crazy happy - just free as a bird walking back into the madhouse. i walk back thru the lines, i find the one foreign man that helped me & told him to have his wife stand in line, that i didn't want to lead him wrong, however - he should try the curbside check'in. i walked to the end trying to find the "new mom" that told the one crazy lady 'what was what' - but i didn't find her. i happend across a pilot and asked my next direction..

downstairs and thru security - and so i went.

i followed yet another long line, but i didn't care - i had my ticket and i was headed home. and yes - although i was happy-appy for myself - i still thought of sarah & bill and i wondered what would happen.

the longer i stood in line, the quicker i moved to the area of squiggled line of security the more content and thankful i was. now all i had to do was get a connector flight changed, as my flight was departing 720p MST, and my O'hare flight was leaving 830p CST (same time). just when things seemed smoothe, i noticed the line i was in moving towards that huge windows looking out, away in fact from the security line. i wondered what was going on & the lady behind me explained that the line had looped around the whole downstairs. so i followed. by the time i made it too the point where i take my shoes off & anything metal, the line had looped twice, so again i was thankful.

as i took the mini'subway to my Gate things seemed to be a little less choatic. i decided to stand in line once i got to my gate & deal with the connector.

surprisely - the 15 or 20 people line to talk with the AA (American Airline) took me no shorter than 2 hours to move thru. i don't understand still why. somewhere in the middle, my phone was lossing charge due to the use that morning. the lady in back of me asked if i wanted to use hers, and so i did - however - if Bart called in, i'd have to let her have it. i dialed in to AA's 800 line, and i was on hold for about 5 min when Bart called in, i passed it & they commenced to arguing for 10-15 minutes.

i got back on the line & a fella finally picked up and gave me the option for a flight out of Chicago to Indianapolis or Nashville, not before however - him telling me my current flight was cnxled, and asking me to hold for 5 min, something about the delay & how the flight to Miami was cnxled?? (can you imagine my nerves at this point?) i didn't know what was what - so i said Indi.. confirmed with the desk & i get a call back from the message i had left my family & they would come, but preferred Nashville - still the issue of the car existed. so i left a message for another friend & asked if he was was coming into town for the holidays, if so if i could catch a ride with him up.

because everyone was using the outlets for their ipods & mac computers (cell's too of course), i began to look for alternatives. so i remembered bathrooms always have places for curling irons and such. so i went - with my big red purse, my blue carryon & my coat of many colors (smile) & plopped myself on the bathroom floor while i charged my phone.

as i am sitting - i hear "Pursell, Party of Two, Gate Z24" and i remember thinking they didn't make it (they, sarah & bill) - or they were running right then - and would be safely on their way.

as my flight is being moved from 720p to 815p, i sit and i try to make the call to AA's 800 line again. a lady pops on the phone & she says that just won't do re: going to Indianapolis when i should be arriving in Louisville. she is clicking away, and then tells me that my current flight is canceled. i say, "pardon" and she puts me on hold .. at this point - because i already knew their were problems with the Miami leg of 1536, i thought - the cancellation was true, so my tears steamed as i sat alone at the quiet end of the terminal.

she got back on phone - asked if i was there - "yes" - and apologizes, that the flight was re'instated. that if she could call me back - she would work on my flight. so i held on hold until i was afraid my phone wouldn't have enough charge, and as i am holding i see Sarah & Bill quickly walking past..

turns out - Sarah and Bill got on the next flight, made it to Portland, stayed the night & made it to their place in Oregon by the next day.

i made it to Chicago, after the lady had called letting me know i was switching airlines, that i would need to get my luggage & re'check in the following morning.

so i get off the flight, i move along with rest of Flight 1536 & i get to baggage & flight 706 is coming out, Flight 1536 must be coming with the flight coming in 2 hrs.

so i prop myself up on a chair, i get my message from my friend in Nashville. and on his message he prayed for me.. he prayed that God would have His angels about me, that I was a mommy & needed extra care.

tears streamed my eyes from exhaustion, sitting strait up, hugging my purse & carry on i drifted off for just long enough to see the complaint line, of "what happened to our luggage" disapate.

Flight 706 luggage claim came & went with none of my luggage, i felt heartbroken.. and yes - i knew that could mail me the luggage, but this was Christmas, and those were my Christmas Presents for my family..

Part III & then i'm done.. but you've got to read how i get home the following day!!

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