Yesterday
So, I wake up at 4am to get ready to go to the airport. I step outside my room and my parents inform me that they got a call at 2am that my 6am flight to Dallas has been cancelled and I'm being rerouted through Chicago. I am upset.
I eat some coffee cake and drink coffee and get to the airport at 5am. I get to the airport, I get my bags checked, I get my boarding pass for my 6:45 am flight to Chicago, now leaving at 7:10 and my 1:30 flight to DC. I get through security, buy a water and find out my flight time is now 7:30. At some point shortly before boarding, I realize that I don't actually have a seat assignment for my DCA flight. I ask the gate attendant, who tells me the flight is 16 people oversold and that I should just run to the gate when I get in... "Welcome to American Airlines." At 7:20, they board the plane and then tell us that the flight time is now 7:58. I'm upset to find I'm on an aisle and not a window, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. 5 minutes later, they tell us the flight time is now 9:05. Everyone flips out. I text girlyfriend, call my parents, while my seatmate proceeds to flip out, call everyone on the planet and generally bitch about now it's Friday and with the weather he won't be able to get home until Sunday, blah blah blah, I'm an entitled twentysomething fishcakes. I call the AA reservation line and learn that I have a guaranteed seat and I'm not on standby, so I'm good for my connector. 20 minutes later, the pilot tells us that though people have asked (totally Mr. Entitled) to get off the plane and rebook, he can't do it. I check on my connector. It claims to be running on time. Mr. Entitled then calls some place to ask if some girl is up. She's not, but he insists to whoever answers the phone that she needs to open his gift to her. He then complains that he's been delayed for four hours and I point out to the woman next to me that it's only two. The plane is a small one and does not have movie capability, so I'm deprived of mindless entertainment. At 9am, we take off. At 10am, I buy a sandwich, which costs $5 and is disgusting, but I'm starving and desperately need protein. I make the flight attendant give me two sodas and I save the Diet Coke for later. 5 minutes after I finish my sandwich, Mr. Entitled decides he needs to go to the bathroom, causing me and the poor sleeping woman in the middle to get up while he uses the first class bathroom. Since I'm holding all of my food detritus, I give it to the first class flight attendant, who points out that they'd collect it later. I point out the whole Mr. Entitled situation and she takes it without further comment. I bug someone else for a blanket and then sort of sleep for two hours, bringing the total amount of sleep for the day up to 6 hours. I have weird dreams, including the fake suicide of Marilyn Monroe, a dream that I think I've had before and think how nice it is to revisit, though I can't remember having it before. I also have a dream where someone tells me a really profound saying that I tell myself to remember, but can't now. Mr. Entitled calls the girl and then reams her out for opening the gift in front of "everyone." "I mean, you should have locked yourself in the bathroom to open it." Charming. Such a prize.
At 3 pm, Chicago time, we land. I call AA and find out that my connecting flight, while half an hour late, still took off half an hour ago. I get off the plane and go to a rebooking center, as listed on the various banners, only to find out that it's an unmanned gate with three phones. I call AA and almost immediately get hung up on. I call back again, bitch out someone else who rebooks me via US Airways... Pittsburgh and then DCA, getting in at 9pm. I text everyone, find a manned ticket counter, get my ticket reissued, discuss the possibilities of standby, decide to go with the guaranteed ticket, ask the gate agent who is so not being paid enough to deal with today about flight delays for US Air. She has no idea. I walk from terminal 4 to terminal 2 and arrive at my gate for my 5:05 Pittsburgh flight to find out that it's now leaving at 8pm and the DCA flight has been cancelled, but they can get me out on a 6:50 am Pittsburgh flight. I cry a little at the poor gate attendant, who probably also isn't paid enough to deal with today. I get my ticket and call AA and talk to a very nice woman who points out the standby is far more likely with all the delays and that if I want to do it, she can put me on standby via the phone. I call girlyfriend (because I'm incapable of making an independant decision) who helps me decide that while I'm sure Pittsburgh is a very nice city, I don't want to spend the night there. I cancel my Pittsburgh ticket and walk back to Terminal 4 to get on standby for an 8:10 flight to BWI. This is gate H3A. The gate attendant tells to run, RUN to try to catch the BWI flight in final boarding at gate G17. I run, only to find that the gate is empty, the flight has left, there were 9 people on standby and one got on.
I trod back to H3A and get on the standby list for that flight. I'm third on the list. I also try to get on standby to earlier flight to DCA only to be told that I can't do both. I decide 3rd to Baltimore is better than 22nd to DC and go back to H3A to wait. It's about 5:30. I call girlyfriend with updates. Around 6, I notice that one of the screens is advertising a gate change for my flight. I ask my gate helper. His name is Ray Fiday, which is an awesome name, and tells me that yes, the gate has changed and I'm now first on the list. I mosey over to the new gate, H7, tell the nice gate attendants that I'M THERE, YES! YES! PLEASE DON'T LOSE ME! and then go over to a Chili's Too for dinner. It's about 6:30 now. I eat some disgusting cheesesticks and have a coke ($2.99) instead of a beer ($7.25). I then find out that my gate has changed again to... G17. Luckily, I know where that is. The 7:10 flight, which has previously been on time, is now leaving at 8:10. I get down to the gate, and find the departure time is now 8:45. I again announce myself and the gate attendants really, really don't care. I wait some more. The departure time goes from 8:45 to 9:10. The gate changes to G15. Everyone else is waiting and is cranky. We share stories. I'm still first on standby list. The gate attendant asks for 3 volunteers because the flight is oversold. At this point, I start crying, because while I'm booked on a 6pm to DCA the next day, I'm really, really tired and just want to go home. They board. Nothing happens. I ask. They're waiting from word from upstairs. The melodrama gets huge, I text girlyfriend and cry again some more. At 9:25, they get 4 seats, meaning the remaining two volunteers, me and someone else are on the flight. I call girlyfriend (who has sweetly offered to pick me up through all of this) triumphantly from the plane with arrival time and we take off. The flight attendant wants to not be there so badly. She gives me a free beer. I get off the plane at midnight and call my parents to tell them that yes, yes, I really did make it back and girlyfriend is picking me up, which earns her major cool points from my parents.
I get off the plane. It's now about 12:15. I find girlyfriend. I do not find my bag. I go to file a claim with baggage claim only to find out that the bags from my flight were cleared about 10 minutes ago. Claim files. I get to girlyfriend's and into bed around 1:30. I get up at 10 and head home. I also get a voicemail from some guy about my bag. I call him back and between his accent and ambient noise, I can't hear a damn word he's saying. I order a pizza and take a nap. At 1pm, I get up. At 1:30, I get my pizza. At 2pm, I get my bag back.
I'm almost completely settled in, I'm about to go to bed... and I've still got 2/3rds of a pizza left and a bunch of garlic bread (so not worth it, but it was free) left. Yay. Sleep.
I eat some coffee cake and drink coffee and get to the airport at 5am. I get to the airport, I get my bags checked, I get my boarding pass for my 6:45 am flight to Chicago, now leaving at 7:10 and my 1:30 flight to DC. I get through security, buy a water and find out my flight time is now 7:30. At some point shortly before boarding, I realize that I don't actually have a seat assignment for my DCA flight. I ask the gate attendant, who tells me the flight is 16 people oversold and that I should just run to the gate when I get in... "Welcome to American Airlines." At 7:20, they board the plane and then tell us that the flight time is now 7:58. I'm upset to find I'm on an aisle and not a window, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. 5 minutes later, they tell us the flight time is now 9:05. Everyone flips out. I text girlyfriend, call my parents, while my seatmate proceeds to flip out, call everyone on the planet and generally bitch about now it's Friday and with the weather he won't be able to get home until Sunday, blah blah blah, I'm an entitled twentysomething fishcakes. I call the AA reservation line and learn that I have a guaranteed seat and I'm not on standby, so I'm good for my connector. 20 minutes later, the pilot tells us that though people have asked (totally Mr. Entitled) to get off the plane and rebook, he can't do it. I check on my connector. It claims to be running on time. Mr. Entitled then calls some place to ask if some girl is up. She's not, but he insists to whoever answers the phone that she needs to open his gift to her. He then complains that he's been delayed for four hours and I point out to the woman next to me that it's only two. The plane is a small one and does not have movie capability, so I'm deprived of mindless entertainment. At 9am, we take off. At 10am, I buy a sandwich, which costs $5 and is disgusting, but I'm starving and desperately need protein. I make the flight attendant give me two sodas and I save the Diet Coke for later. 5 minutes after I finish my sandwich, Mr. Entitled decides he needs to go to the bathroom, causing me and the poor sleeping woman in the middle to get up while he uses the first class bathroom. Since I'm holding all of my food detritus, I give it to the first class flight attendant, who points out that they'd collect it later. I point out the whole Mr. Entitled situation and she takes it without further comment. I bug someone else for a blanket and then sort of sleep for two hours, bringing the total amount of sleep for the day up to 6 hours. I have weird dreams, including the fake suicide of Marilyn Monroe, a dream that I think I've had before and think how nice it is to revisit, though I can't remember having it before. I also have a dream where someone tells me a really profound saying that I tell myself to remember, but can't now. Mr. Entitled calls the girl and then reams her out for opening the gift in front of "everyone." "I mean, you should have locked yourself in the bathroom to open it." Charming. Such a prize.
At 3 pm, Chicago time, we land. I call AA and find out that my connecting flight, while half an hour late, still took off half an hour ago. I get off the plane and go to a rebooking center, as listed on the various banners, only to find out that it's an unmanned gate with three phones. I call AA and almost immediately get hung up on. I call back again, bitch out someone else who rebooks me via US Airways... Pittsburgh and then DCA, getting in at 9pm. I text everyone, find a manned ticket counter, get my ticket reissued, discuss the possibilities of standby, decide to go with the guaranteed ticket, ask the gate agent who is so not being paid enough to deal with today about flight delays for US Air. She has no idea. I walk from terminal 4 to terminal 2 and arrive at my gate for my 5:05 Pittsburgh flight to find out that it's now leaving at 8pm and the DCA flight has been cancelled, but they can get me out on a 6:50 am Pittsburgh flight. I cry a little at the poor gate attendant, who probably also isn't paid enough to deal with today. I get my ticket and call AA and talk to a very nice woman who points out the standby is far more likely with all the delays and that if I want to do it, she can put me on standby via the phone. I call girlyfriend (because I'm incapable of making an independant decision) who helps me decide that while I'm sure Pittsburgh is a very nice city, I don't want to spend the night there. I cancel my Pittsburgh ticket and walk back to Terminal 4 to get on standby for an 8:10 flight to BWI. This is gate H3A. The gate attendant tells to run, RUN to try to catch the BWI flight in final boarding at gate G17. I run, only to find that the gate is empty, the flight has left, there were 9 people on standby and one got on.
I trod back to H3A and get on the standby list for that flight. I'm third on the list. I also try to get on standby to earlier flight to DCA only to be told that I can't do both. I decide 3rd to Baltimore is better than 22nd to DC and go back to H3A to wait. It's about 5:30. I call girlyfriend with updates. Around 6, I notice that one of the screens is advertising a gate change for my flight. I ask my gate helper. His name is Ray Fiday, which is an awesome name, and tells me that yes, the gate has changed and I'm now first on the list. I mosey over to the new gate, H7, tell the nice gate attendants that I'M THERE, YES! YES! PLEASE DON'T LOSE ME! and then go over to a Chili's Too for dinner. It's about 6:30 now. I eat some disgusting cheesesticks and have a coke ($2.99) instead of a beer ($7.25). I then find out that my gate has changed again to... G17. Luckily, I know where that is. The 7:10 flight, which has previously been on time, is now leaving at 8:10. I get down to the gate, and find the departure time is now 8:45. I again announce myself and the gate attendants really, really don't care. I wait some more. The departure time goes from 8:45 to 9:10. The gate changes to G15. Everyone else is waiting and is cranky. We share stories. I'm still first on standby list. The gate attendant asks for 3 volunteers because the flight is oversold. At this point, I start crying, because while I'm booked on a 6pm to DCA the next day, I'm really, really tired and just want to go home. They board. Nothing happens. I ask. They're waiting from word from upstairs. The melodrama gets huge, I text girlyfriend and cry again some more. At 9:25, they get 4 seats, meaning the remaining two volunteers, me and someone else are on the flight. I call girlyfriend (who has sweetly offered to pick me up through all of this) triumphantly from the plane with arrival time and we take off. The flight attendant wants to not be there so badly. She gives me a free beer. I get off the plane at midnight and call my parents to tell them that yes, yes, I really did make it back and girlyfriend is picking me up, which earns her major cool points from my parents.
I get off the plane. It's now about 12:15. I find girlyfriend. I do not find my bag. I go to file a claim with baggage claim only to find out that the bags from my flight were cleared about 10 minutes ago. Claim files. I get to girlyfriend's and into bed around 1:30. I get up at 10 and head home. I also get a voicemail from some guy about my bag. I call him back and between his accent and ambient noise, I can't hear a damn word he's saying. I order a pizza and take a nap. At 1pm, I get up. At 1:30, I get my pizza. At 2pm, I get my bag back.
I'm almost completely settled in, I'm about to go to bed... and I've still got 2/3rds of a pizza left and a bunch of garlic bread (so not worth it, but it was free) left. Yay. Sleep.