A Christmas Story (Part II)

The month of December seemed to move by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to fly back and see the family. I’ve been spoiled in this regard, because I have never lived further than a 2 h drive from “home.” Well, except the one year I was in the U.K., but I digress… There was never much preparation involved, throw clothes in bag, and leave. Now, I must plan months in advance to obtain a reasonable airfare, coordinate the drive to and from the airport etc., and most importantly budget the money. I had gone home for Thanksgiving, and that was pretty uneventful so I became brave and decided tried a different airport an add in a layover to get an *extra* cheap flight. Everything seemed like it would work out just fine. I was leaving rather early for Christmas, thereby missing the usual holiday rush. The other airport added another 1 h to the my drive but that was fine, I was saving $100.

It was madness up until the day of my departure. I was rushing to get critical experiments accomplished, which honestly, any experiment I rush to get done never works. It is a universal rule, and I have yet to learn my lesson. A friend from grad school was also visiting the day before I left. I haven’t seen her in a couple months and there was so much to talk about in so little time. Then the next thing I know it was off to the airport at 8 am the following day. I am happy to say I didn’t get lost, but it was further away then I initially anticipated and it was a very small airport. Good at that second b/c there were not long lines, and it was a breeze to get through check-in and security.

Now I neglected to inform you that when I tried to check in online the airline I booked my ticket with, I’ll call it airline A, would not allow me to check-in. Instead, I was redirected to another airline’s website (airline B) where I figured out that my first flight had been booked by airline A for airline B’s flight. OK.

I’m sitting at the appropriate terminal waiting to take off, when they announce the flight is delayed. I don’t know what traveler isn’t used to such an annoyance, therefore I wasn’t really concerned. I expected to miss my connecting flight, but was confident that the airline would work something out for me. Much to my chagrin, I find that airline B was unable to put me on another flight with them b/c I ordered my tickets via airline A, and they couldn’t book me an airline A flight as my connecting flight was indeed an airline A flight. Confused yet? Their advice: my best course of action was to find an airline A attendant and beg for help. Being at a super tiny airport (although they claim it is an international airport…I think maybe one flight leaves for an international destination) there were no airline A attendants to be found. I could go back through security and try at the check-in kiosks, but then I would miss the already delayed initial flight. I even tried calling airline A (I was on hold for 30 min) only to find out they could not help me either. I “yelled” (I’ve only actually yelled at someone twice in my life) at them for tricking me into flying on another airline, and if they could mix and match passengers why couldn’t they do the same for me now??? Phone guy: “Well miss, next time check your itinerary for this circumstance before you book your ticket.” Me: “Bite me.” No, no I didn’t say that but I wanted to. I have a PhD, I feel confident enough to say that I CAN read, and it didn’t say I was taking another airline until I tried to check-in online (24 h before departure AFTER the ticket was paid for). What makes the situation even more annoying is that another couple booked the same flight as myself from airline B and was told their flight was really an airline A flight so they were in the same boat as I was, just in reverse. Now, does that make any sense??

To make a long story short, after running around Cincinnati airport for over an hour, I did get my flight situation sorted out. After finally doing so, I asked the attendant, “What will happen to my luggage,” his response, “hahahahahahahahah.” I started to cry internally. To all those reprimanding me for checking bags, my response to you is I HAD TO. I did eventually receive my bags 2 days later, and left on the front steps of my mother’s home somewhere between the hours of 12-1 AM. That is another story in and of itself…

What I’ve learned from this experience:
1. Airlines are the devil.
2. Spend the extra money and take a direct flight from a *real* airport
3. Count your blessings, I complain, but my flight could have plummeted and crashed into a ball of flames/toxic fumes. I arrived, late but alive, and stuff is just stuff. Right? (;

After all this bad spiritedness (I don’t think this is a word but I will use it anyways) on my part, once I arrived at home I had a great time. It was probably the best Christmas I have had in recent memory. Lots of instrument playing, carol singing (my uncle got a karaoke machine and we went to town with it!), alcohol and family. Who could ask for anything more? It was the perfect prelude to the start of the New Year.