Chapter 1
We left
Mishawaka, Indiana around 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 3rd in
hopes of missing most of the madhouse traffic on I94 near
Chicago. We arrived in the "Windy City" about 4
p.m. and drove the whole length of Lake Shore Drive, and around
town doing the "tourist" stuff to kill time as our
flight out of Midway was not until 8:15 p.m.
Arriving at the
airport a little before 5 we thought we would beat the crowd and
check in early, I stand in line for about 30 minutes. I am
quickly told
that I cannot check in until a little after 6 p.m. So much for
being the early ones !
We decided that
since there will be no meals on the plane we should get a bite
to eat now. As we entered the "cafe", I noticed
there is not a grand choice of foods, but it will hold off
starvation. After eating, I join the throng of people in
line to get checked in and we proceeded through security.
This being my
first flight and with all the commotion going on, I had
completely forgotten I was traveling with the bionic man.
Ray recently had a hip replacement and he has a bolt for an
elbow (that is a story in itself). As he went through the
security metal detector, and all the alarms went off, it
made us sound like the "Mishawaka Militants" !!!
Ray got thoroughly scanned for hidden weapons or whatever, we
were told to wait at Boarding Gate C3.
It was 8
p.m., just a few minutes before the flight is to take off,
when I started to wonder why weren't we getting on the plane?
The message
board at Gate C3 told the story - the flight was delayed -
I checked
to see how late it would be - "About an hour or so"
was the answer.
We sat and watched planes come and go, getting more and more
nervous.
Three hours
later, the intercom announced "ATA flight number 156 to
Seattle is CANCELED !" Oh no !
Now what ? Remember, "Peter Principle" ???
I forgot to bring
son Scott's phone number, as well as my own kids phone
numbers. I couldn't remember any of those numbers if I had
to, because, we have those phones for lazy idiots where you
press memory and one number and the phone does all the work !
I stood at the
desk and eavesdropped on all the other people that were
screaming at the poor girl behind the desk. She lost her
composure and yelled back that she did not know what was going
to happen. (And to be honest, I don't think at that moment she
cared) We were told we would have to leave the secured
area since we weren't going anywhere. We then have an
interesting time trying to retrieve our luggage from the
airlines.
At
12:30 in the morning, Ray said, "Forget it, let's go
home!" I said, "No Way, we are going to go to
that wedding, even if we don't arrive until Saturday
Morning". Another announcement... all passengers on
the canceled flight to Seattle were to report to the ATA
counter. I stood back for the stampede to settle
down then got in line. I was the last one in line and
things were moving as quickly as one person could write. Wow, we
were down to three little old ladies flying together and a man!
Oh Lord, he wanted to purchase tickets to Seattle
!! He said he had been waiting in 5
different lines and he wants his tickets. The poor girl
was exhausted and not in any mood to mess with him. "Sir, I
am not SELLING tickets, I am writing vouchers for the canceled
passengers that HAVE tickets". He got angry and tried
to argue with her. She stated she is closing. I jumped
up to the counter and shoved my tickets at her and begged,
"Please, don't close until you do mine!" She said
she would take care of my vouchers but then she was closed.
The 'gentleman' looked at me and said, "Lady, I was here
first, you wait your turn". I simply looked him in
the eye and said, "Sorry, sir, but I have tickets and
you don't".
We received our
vouchers....one for taxi fare to downtown Chicago, one for
Quality Inn, one for a meal (if you had time to eat) and one for
return taxi to Midway the next morning. It was 1:30 a.m.
when we arrived at the hotel. We had to be back at Midway
by 7 a.m. Needless to say,
we did not get much sleep.
To be continued......
