The Leave 9

With out flight CANCELLED, which neither my wife nor I have ever experienced before, we did not really know what to do.... nor what would happen with our luggage.   We were exhausted and devastated. 

So, we decided to go to the ticket counter, but the one at the gate had closed for the night. Ultimately we were directed to go to the actual ticket area where you CHECK IN upon getting to the airport to take your flight.  This meant we had left the "TSA" approved zone.

We ended up standing in a line for roughly two hours and we were told that the first guaranteed flight we could get onto would be THREE DAYS LATER as all the other flights were FULLY BOOKED.   We asked to be put on "STANDBY" for any of the earlier flights.  And, because this was a "weather related delay/cancellation" the airline did not have to offer a hotel room or anything...... and they DID NOT do so.  We also asked about our luggage, and were told that IF we were to take a flight with this airline, the bags would continue on their way with that flight.  However, if we were to try some other airline or some other way to get home, we would have to file a release form to get our luggage, which typically would take ~24 hours (or so they said).  

We were exhausted, but had no idea what to do.  We thought, perhaps we could rent a car and drive the many hours home...... it would at least be a helluva lot shorter than three days.  

But, when we tried to get a rental car..... because the chaos at Chicago O'Hare had been percolating all day long.... there was NOT a single car available in the vicinity to rent, nor any available hotel accommodations near the airport.  

To top it off, besides the huge number of folks in the airport.... because we left the "TSA Approved Zone".... while we were in line, the TSA CLOSED for the night, and would not reopen until 4:00am.  We were stuck in the entry zone to Chicago O'Hare.  That area is comprised of HARD linoleum-style flooring.... not even the thin business carpeting that blankets most areas that are not walkways in the TSA Approved Zone.  

We milled around and around until we could find one open seat (a stool, not a chair), and my wife sat on it, and tried the charger on the table by the stool (for her phone), but it did not function.  I took the phone and cord, and walked around until I could find and sit by a wall plug, which was right next to a vending machine and plugged her phone in and sat on the floor.  After about an half an hour, her phone had enough charge to be in the green zone, so I unplugged it and went back to her.  She had leaned her head onto the table and was trying to rest as she sat on the stool.  I really did not care anymore, and I ended up laying on the floor next to her, using my backpack as a "sort of" pillow, tipped my hat across my eyes to obscure the fluorescent lighting, and tried to rest/sleep. 

I had my alarm set for 4am.  When it clattered, my wife and I got up and proceeded to carry our stuff down the very long distance to the entry point for TSA checking.  We got into line (there were perhaps ~150 people ahead of us), and the TSA folks were rather slow to get started, putting up barriers, starting and restarting machines, all sorts of general early morning work they have to do BEFORE letting people in to be scanned and evaluated.

Eventually, we worked our way back INTO the TSA Approved Zone of Chicago O'Hare, and then we began to try to find the first gate that had a flight to our region that was with our airline.  When we got to that gate, we had to work to make sure that we WERE on the standby list.  And then we waited.

This first standby flight did not pan out.  We could not get on.

Same thing with the second flight.  It ended up letting TWO people on, but we were not at the top two of the queue.  

The third flight, very late in the late afternoon/early evening.... I was actually rather "out of it" mentally by that time, but I could see from the electronic readout that we were THIRD and FOURTH in line for standby on this flight.... it was not a good feeling.   But, suddenly one standby person's name turned green on the list..... and that fellow was accepted about 20 minutes before boarding, then a second one about 10 minutes before boarding.  Then nothing.... further, until boarding began.

As people started to board, suddenly on the overhead monitor... BOTH my and my wife's name suddenly turned GREEN!!!!!  I actually started to cry literal tears of joy.  

It took a long while for boarding, but it was so wonderful to each have a seat.  We eventually took off, completed this leg of the flight, arrived at the airport...... and OUR LUGGAGE made it too!!!!  We eventually got out of our home airport and found my wife's car, and we drove the ~50 minutes home.

This was by far, the most difficult and challenging flight I have ever taken, but finally... we were home.

PipeTobacco