Okay, there are actually quite a few things I wouldn't want to hear at the airport, but this story is what we heard on the first day of our vacation that didn't make us very happy. More details about our trip will be coming when I have time to download my photos.
A few days before our trip, Steve asked one of his buddies if he'd be willing to wake up early on Saturday to pick us up and drive us to the airport, approximately 35 minutes away. He said yes and asked what time we wanted him to be there. Steve looked up our flight time and asked him to be at our house by 6:30am. None of us were thrilled about being up and going that early on a Saturday, but we really really appreciated Ryan being willing to help us out.
The morning arrived, our bags were packed and ready to go. We took them outside and waited with them so that when Ryan came we could throw everything in his truck and hop in without taking too much time. He was a little late, but we'd given ourselves plenty of time, so I wasn't too panicked. We stopped to pick-up hot beverages and pastries from Starbucks (I love their caramel apple spice!) for breakfast then headed to the airport. We made good time, said our thanks and goodbyes to Ryan, and then headed to the check-in counter. It was 7:30. Our flight was at 9:00. Perfect!
We were thrilled that there was hardly anyone in the airport. In fact, we were able to go right up to the counter without waiting at all! Steve put his bag on the weight machine and handed the counter lady our passports. We chatted a bit while she looked up our information. Then she uttered words that no one wants to hear at the airport.
"I'm sorry but we have you down as being booked on the 7:30am flight."
I looked at my watch. It was 7:35.
I looked at Steve. He looked at me. I pulled out my travel folder that contained all our travel information, including our flight reservations. Yep. It said our flight was at 7:30. Crud.
Steve felt horrible. He still has no idea what he saw when he looked at our flight info that made him think our flight left at 9:00am. None of our connecting or return flights were for that time. It was a fluke error.
We asked the counter lady if there was another flight she could get us on and while she looked, I tried to reassure Steve that it would all be okay. He was mad at himself and after making sure he knew I wasn't mad, I let him be. I knew if it had been me, I would have been pretty mad at myself too and wouldn't want to be comforted either.
The counter lady was able to put us on stand-by on a flight to Chicago at 10:13am and got us actual seats on a flight from Chicago to Montreal. We thanked her profusely, she took our luggage, we went through security and headed to our gate. We asked the woman at the gate counter what our chances of making the Chicago flight were, given that we were the first and second names on the stand-by list. She said it didn't look good, that she expected the flight to be totally full and recommended that we try purchasing the two remaining tickets. She gave us the number to call to buy them.
We didn't know why we couldn't have just bought them there or at the check-in counter earlier, but we did what she suggested. Steve called the number and eventually found someone who understood what he was requesting. He was told it would be $2300! Then he asked if that was for both tickets and found out that was just for one! So, to buy the seats (which turned out to be first class), we'd have to pay $4600. That's more than the whole trip was going to cost us. Lots more. That's many months of mortgage payments. No way could we justify spending that much money.
Steve wasn't a happy camper at this point. I told him we'd wait to see what happened, and if we didn't get on the flight, there would be another one eventually, and we'd get to Montreal sooner or later. It was an adventure! He didn't buy it. Understandably. We sat in silence for awhile. Then I got to thinking of worse case scenarios...because that's what I do. Most were ridiculous, but one made me kind of nervous. What about our luggage? Even if we didn't end up on this flight, our luggage would. It would end up in Montreal with no one to immediately pick it up. Would it be there whenever we finally arrived?
Not wanting to make Steve more upset, I hesitated to bring this question up to him. Stewing about it was making me more and more nervous, though, so I finally asked him. He looked miserable. We decided to go ask the gate counter lady we'd talked to earlier. It was about an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave.
We re-explained our situation and then I asked about our luggage. She tapped away at her keyboard for a bit, looked at the clock, tapped some more, then asked, "Are you two both capable and willing to sit in an exit row?" Steve said he'd hug her if she could get us tickets for the exit row.
A moment later, she handed us our boarding passes with our assigned seats - in the exit row! Steve, true to his word, gave her a big hug. If you know my husband at all, you know he's not that demonstrative in public, especially with strangers. He's more of a reserved guy. This act shows just how relieved he felt to get those tickets. That they were on the exit row, giving him much-needed leg room (he's 6'4"), was just a really nice bonus. The lady laughed and wished us a good flight.
The light was back on in Steve's eyes. We were both extremely relieved...until something happened to make us a little nervous again. About 15 minutes before boarding began, two of the 10 other stand-by passengers that were on the list after us were given tickets for the flight. We thought, yay for them!! Then, just after boarding started, two people with tickets for the flight came running to the gate and the two people who had been on stand-by were called up to the gate counter again and had their tickets taken away! We hadn't realized that could happen. We were comforted a little by the fact that the two unbought seats were first-class and would cost someone $4600 to buy, but what if someone really needed to get on that flight and bought them? We liked our chances, but anything could still happen.
We finally boarded and took our seats in the oh-so-roomy exit row. We kept our fingers crossed, still pretty confident, but when they closed the door and we started to taxi away from the gate, we both breathed huge sighs of relief. We were on our way to Chicago and then on to Montreal!
A few days before our trip, Steve asked one of his buddies if he'd be willing to wake up early on Saturday to pick us up and drive us to the airport, approximately 35 minutes away. He said yes and asked what time we wanted him to be there. Steve looked up our flight time and asked him to be at our house by 6:30am. None of us were thrilled about being up and going that early on a Saturday, but we really really appreciated Ryan being willing to help us out.
The morning arrived, our bags were packed and ready to go. We took them outside and waited with them so that when Ryan came we could throw everything in his truck and hop in without taking too much time. He was a little late, but we'd given ourselves plenty of time, so I wasn't too panicked. We stopped to pick-up hot beverages and pastries from Starbucks (I love their caramel apple spice!) for breakfast then headed to the airport. We made good time, said our thanks and goodbyes to Ryan, and then headed to the check-in counter. It was 7:30. Our flight was at 9:00. Perfect!
We were thrilled that there was hardly anyone in the airport. In fact, we were able to go right up to the counter without waiting at all! Steve put his bag on the weight machine and handed the counter lady our passports. We chatted a bit while she looked up our information. Then she uttered words that no one wants to hear at the airport.
"I'm sorry but we have you down as being booked on the 7:30am flight."
I looked at my watch. It was 7:35.
I looked at Steve. He looked at me. I pulled out my travel folder that contained all our travel information, including our flight reservations. Yep. It said our flight was at 7:30. Crud.
Steve felt horrible. He still has no idea what he saw when he looked at our flight info that made him think our flight left at 9:00am. None of our connecting or return flights were for that time. It was a fluke error.
We asked the counter lady if there was another flight she could get us on and while she looked, I tried to reassure Steve that it would all be okay. He was mad at himself and after making sure he knew I wasn't mad, I let him be. I knew if it had been me, I would have been pretty mad at myself too and wouldn't want to be comforted either.
The counter lady was able to put us on stand-by on a flight to Chicago at 10:13am and got us actual seats on a flight from Chicago to Montreal. We thanked her profusely, she took our luggage, we went through security and headed to our gate. We asked the woman at the gate counter what our chances of making the Chicago flight were, given that we were the first and second names on the stand-by list. She said it didn't look good, that she expected the flight to be totally full and recommended that we try purchasing the two remaining tickets. She gave us the number to call to buy them.
We didn't know why we couldn't have just bought them there or at the check-in counter earlier, but we did what she suggested. Steve called the number and eventually found someone who understood what he was requesting. He was told it would be $2300! Then he asked if that was for both tickets and found out that was just for one! So, to buy the seats (which turned out to be first class), we'd have to pay $4600. That's more than the whole trip was going to cost us. Lots more. That's many months of mortgage payments. No way could we justify spending that much money.
Steve wasn't a happy camper at this point. I told him we'd wait to see what happened, and if we didn't get on the flight, there would be another one eventually, and we'd get to Montreal sooner or later. It was an adventure! He didn't buy it. Understandably. We sat in silence for awhile. Then I got to thinking of worse case scenarios...because that's what I do. Most were ridiculous, but one made me kind of nervous. What about our luggage? Even if we didn't end up on this flight, our luggage would. It would end up in Montreal with no one to immediately pick it up. Would it be there whenever we finally arrived?
Not wanting to make Steve more upset, I hesitated to bring this question up to him. Stewing about it was making me more and more nervous, though, so I finally asked him. He looked miserable. We decided to go ask the gate counter lady we'd talked to earlier. It was about an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave.
We re-explained our situation and then I asked about our luggage. She tapped away at her keyboard for a bit, looked at the clock, tapped some more, then asked, "Are you two both capable and willing to sit in an exit row?" Steve said he'd hug her if she could get us tickets for the exit row.
A moment later, she handed us our boarding passes with our assigned seats - in the exit row! Steve, true to his word, gave her a big hug. If you know my husband at all, you know he's not that demonstrative in public, especially with strangers. He's more of a reserved guy. This act shows just how relieved he felt to get those tickets. That they were on the exit row, giving him much-needed leg room (he's 6'4"), was just a really nice bonus. The lady laughed and wished us a good flight.
The light was back on in Steve's eyes. We were both extremely relieved...until something happened to make us a little nervous again. About 15 minutes before boarding began, two of the 10 other stand-by passengers that were on the list after us were given tickets for the flight. We thought, yay for them!! Then, just after boarding started, two people with tickets for the flight came running to the gate and the two people who had been on stand-by were called up to the gate counter again and had their tickets taken away! We hadn't realized that could happen. We were comforted a little by the fact that the two unbought seats were first-class and would cost someone $4600 to buy, but what if someone really needed to get on that flight and bought them? We liked our chances, but anything could still happen.
We finally boarded and took our seats in the oh-so-roomy exit row. We kept our fingers crossed, still pretty confident, but when they closed the door and we started to taxi away from the gate, we both breathed huge sighs of relief. We were on our way to Chicago and then on to Montreal!