Tuesday, February 3, 2015

ALAMW Continued

I had every intention of blogging about the Youth Media Awards (YMA) immediately after the announcements, perhaps over a leisurely breakfast before I grabbed a cab to O'Hare for my afternoon flight home. But then, Sunday morning, I awakened to a text saying that my flight home had been cancelled and that my new flight, if I wanted to leave on Monday, was scheduled to fly to Omaha, then Newark 20 minutes later for an arrival time four hours later than my original flight. Does that make sense? Okay, still doable.

But now I had a layer of anxiety. When I am anxious, I have a hard time concentrating on other things. Add to that terrible sleep on Sunday night, due to a myriad of unpleasant mental and physical woes and, I knew whatever I tried to write on Monday morning would be just awful.

I decided to leave way early for the airport partly because my boarding pass to Omaha didn't print out and partly because I had a vague hope that I might be able to get on another flight. The roads were amazingly clear (Chicagoans know how to handle a snowstorm) and my cab ride was uneventful. O'Hare, on the other hand, was mobbed. No surprise there. I had plenty of time! The check-in area was one giant, snaking line, not one person seemed free to ask the question about my boarding pass without waiting on a long line, so I decided to hop on the security line, which was also very long. Not long after waiting, I happened to turn around and the line for security was incredible - like out the door to the curb - and I was glad I had arrived when I did. I had forgotten about my full water bottle but remembered and was able to dump the water without leaving the line. 

Once I finally cleared security, I found a Customer Service counter. No small surprise to see a huge line there. So I wandered the corridor looking at each gate to see if there was a gate agent. Gate agents are far and few between nowadays, they usually arrive at the gate just in time to board passengers, but I lucked out and found a very nice and accommodating agent who seemed happy to check the reason why my boarding pass didn't print.

Turns out that it didn't print because my flight to Newark was cancelled and rebooked for Tuesday! I didn't receive an email or a text about this change. I had classes booked on Tuesday! Oh gosh! She found a flight to Newark and put me on standby, then she found a flight to LaGuardia that had a seat. She sent me on my way advising me to check the board often for changes. I found the gate and found that my appetite had returned, so I grabbed a delicious panini and settled in to try and blog. There was free wi-fi, which surprised me, because O'Hare is so large and wi-fi is not free at Newark. (Or wasn't the last time I checked.) Unfortunately, each page I went to was blocked with a dire message that a hacker could be attempting to invade my computer. I couldn't find wi-fi to buy and suddenly, I was just exhausted. I propped myself on my bags and snoozed. 

I have no idea for how long, but I felt a bit better when I snapped awake. I checked the board and found that my gate had changed, so I moved to that gate. It was PACKED with people. Apparently, their flight to San Francisco was delayed because the plane had not arrived. I found a seat because everyone was standing, and people-watched. After a while, I checked the board and found the gate had moved again. I also saw that my flight to LaGuardia was cancelled! The standby flight was my only option. If I didn't get on, I'd be staying in Chicago. I already knew that there were no flights with seats available on Tuesday. Standby only. 

I decided to stand by the gate desk to nab the agent as soon as they arrived to find out where I was on the standby queue. Two men had the same idea. They were friends who were stuck when their flight from Jackson Hole got in to O'Hare Sunday night, but couldn't get out. They ended up staying at the airport Hilton for $500(!) and had all kinds of standby tickets lined up as well as seats on a flight to LaGuardia. While standing there, they learned that their confirmed flight had been cancelled as well.

Turns out, they were #1 and 2 on the standby list and I was 6. There was hope. Unfortunately, once the all-business agent arrived, we learned that United also had to get crew back to Newark, and they had priority, so the hope was slim. By now, I was wishing I had taken that 3PM flight to Omaha because at least I had a flight home on Tuesday! If I got stuck in Chicago, there was no flight and I wasn't looking forward to being on standby all day. I asked the two guys if they looked into training. They had. One train leaves at 6PM and takes 24 hours to get to NJ. Yikes!

Their smartphones kept dinging with updates and cancellations and they were busily checking this airline and than while I stood there resolving to get a stupid smartphone! 

I practiced my yoga breathing while I sat and waited. Everything was beyond my control. It would work out. The plane finally arrived, late, of course. Some crew had arrived. The two guys seemed to travel a lot and in first class no less, and belonged to some sky club, so they had their own PR type guy updating them fairly regularly. Not so the rest of us. But, they shared their info with me. It wasn't looking good. 

Nothing to do but wait.

The flight boarded. There was this moment of hilarity when a tiny little lady managed to board but it wasn't her flight. Apparently, she had missed her flight. She didn't speak much English and was understandably agitated. How she even got on the plane is a wonder. 

Long story not-so-short, I got the second to last seat. The last seat was given to a flight attendant who finally arrived. I mentally bowed to the travel gods and texted my husband. 

What a trip! And, I still haven't processed the awards. The wonderfully diverse award recipients. Stuff for another post as this one is already way too long. Thanks for hanging in with me.

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