Long entry I know. I apologize, but it’s an amusing story (to me anyway 
I had communicated to just about everyone that needed to know (or asked) that I was flying from La Guardia on Monday, 12 noon. As is indicated on my itinerary:
My parents knew, my coworkers knew, my friends in New York knew. I knew. That’s why I was pleasantly relieved when I woke up Monday morning at around 7am after 2 hours of sleep to find that my itinerary actually read:
I had a whole hour and a half extra than I thought I did. I was relieved. I went to breakfast with some coworkers, and leisurely walked back up to my hotel room to shower and pack. I got out of the shower, got some clothes on, and sat down at the desk to write down my flight number. I see the itinerary, and it again looks like:
I lean back in the chair, and tilt my head to look at the clock between the queen sized beds. It reads 11:38. “fuuuuuuuuuuck”. The next 22 minutes sees me totally stressed out, trying to pack before checkout time at noon, while talking to a United Airlines customer service person who is checking other flights for me.
The customer service guy tells me that I can either try and get on standby for a 1:45 flight through denver (one leg of which has openings, the other leg is oversold), or I can confirm seats on the flight for the $100 change fee + the difference in ticket prices. Total amount, $871. fuuuuuuuck. I thank him, and tell him I’ll just go for the standby option. I get a cab outside the hotel and head to La Guardia where I make a few phone calls. First, to my dad, telling him I might not be making it in that night, explaining the screwup, listening to the obvious disappointment in his voice. Second, to my friend to check my bank balance for me, just in case I had to buy the ticket. There was no way I wasn’t going to make San Antonio that night.
I get to La Guardia, and after about 5 minutes in line, I get up to the ticket counter to plead my case. It’s 12:45. Mr. Salvatore seemed like a nice guy. I told him I wanted to get on standby for the 1:45 flight. He types frantically for a few seconds and says “hm, first leg should be fine, but you’re likely to be stuck in Denver because the second leg is oversold.” I ask him, “Are there any other flights that have openings on both legs?”
“Well, for $100 we can confirm you a seat on this flight.”
I stare at him for a second.. I’m waiting for him to lay the extra fee on me. After a few seconds I ask “uh, isn’t there the difference in fair I’ll have to make up? A guy told me it would come to $871 including the $100.”
“who told you this?”
“a guy I talked to when I called United’s 1-800 number”
“that guy was an idiot. $100.”
I slap my credit card on the counter.
The flights were pretty uneventful. I had an exit row to myself the first leg, so I got to spread out. But in the truest sense of balance, I was placed just 2 seats away from a screaming todler for the second leg. There needs to be an airline regulation that prohibits todlers from travelling on flights that arrive after 9pm. They’re just miserable after what’s usually a long day of flying, over tired… It’s just not a nice thing to do to a kid. And it makes everyone around them miserable too.
I get in 15 minutes early. Walk from the gate toward baggage claim, thinking I’ll see my parents waiting for me at the escalators, where they usually meet me. They aren’t there. I walk up to the carousel, assuming they’ll be sitting near there. I don’t see them. I get my bag off the carousel, still no sign of them. I call home — maybe they hadn’t left yet, or someone there could tell me where they are. No answer. I call my little sister’s cell phone. No answer.
I walk laps around the airport, back up through the ticket counter area, down through baggage claim.. I cover every inch of the place, even outside. About 30 minutes after I arrive, my little sister returns my call. She’s concerned, and so am I. My parents had left the house over an hour ago. I ask her if she has my mom’s cell phone number, because I didn’t.. She says “no, and she doesn’t ever have it on anyway. she just turns it on to call dad. what if something’s happened, chris?” I didn’t want to think about it. I told her I’d just keep walking around. I paged them at one of those white courtesy telephones, told the guy on the other end I was sitting at the United ticket counter area, and sat back to relax. My sister had ordered me to stay on the phone until we heard something or I found them, so I was talking to her about my flight when I heard the home phone ring through her cell. I hear “goddamnit, where the hell are you guys? we’ve been worried sick…. chris, what terminal are you in?” “uh, terminal 1.” “he’s in terminal 1. go get him. he’s been there an hour already.”
Turns out that my dad, on leaving the house, had declared that I was coming in to terminal 2. He had never made such declarations before, so my mom thought he must know something she didn’t, and didn’t question it. It’s nice to see that idiocy runs in the family at least
