Airport Fiasco 2k8: No more US Airways
For those of you who weren't following me on Facebook, here's the skinny: My flight out of New York was delayed for an hour. Our whole plane-load of people missed connections in Charlotte, NC. I was on a waiting list of 40 people trying to get to California. I spent 8 hours in Charlotte jumping from standby list to list, 3 flights to SF completely full and sold out. I read NY Magazine cover to cover, finished the crossword, sat mumbling in a rocking chair, drank Coronas while pretending to be interested in the Patriot's game, fell asleep clutching my luggage and shot the shit with other marooned customers. One girl was stuck in Providence for two days because of the snow and missed her connection by 2 minutes.
It was a real nail biter. I knew I was #3 for the last flight of the day. If I didn't get on this one, I had to sleep in the airport and try the same thing the next day. All flights to SF were sold out for the next two days. Standby purgatory. As people boarded the flight, I watched the counter. They called up the first lady who was on the standby list. She looked concerned like the rest of us. I overheard her say, "What? How is my husband #7 and I'm #1? I can't fly without him." I sat up in my chair. The next person on standby didn't show up. They called my name! It was like winning the lottery! Once I got on the plane, we were delayed another hour because of the rain in SF.
I left my wine bar at 12:30am and arrived in SF almost 12 hours later.
It was a real nail biter. I knew I was #3 for the last flight of the day. If I didn't get on this one, I had to sleep in the airport and try the same thing the next day. All flights to SF were sold out for the next two days. Standby purgatory. As people boarded the flight, I watched the counter. They called up the first lady who was on the standby list. She looked concerned like the rest of us. I overheard her say, "What? How is my husband #7 and I'm #1? I can't fly without him." I sat up in my chair. The next person on standby didn't show up. They called my name! It was like winning the lottery! Once I got on the plane, we were delayed another hour because of the rain in SF.
I left my wine bar at 12:30am and arrived in SF almost 12 hours later.