Conner and I made it in great time to catch our flight and be home on time. As fate would have it, that was not the way this day would end.
A much happier Conner at Burger King
Conner and I went to the Burger King and had a relaxing lunch. After I got some food in Conner his mood improved and it was nice to relax a bit knowing that we just had to get on our planes and come home.
First of all, we didn’t have a direct flight home, our return was just the opposite of our arrival. We had to layover in Chicago and then fly home. I really don’t mind. I fly so little that I considered it a bonus to spend more time in the airport and changing planes etc. I checked our flight before dinner and everything was fine. After dinner I checked the flight and it said it was delayed. No big problem, more time just sitting around. The only problem was the connecting flight. I asked the agent working the counter if our connecting flight would be ok and she assured me that didn’t have a clue what was going on. She said that all traffic in and out of Chicago was being delayed because of some strong weather and that I should go to Chicago because it was possible that my flight to SLC would be delayed as well.
So Conner and I went to Chicago and our flight to SLC was not delayed and we missed it. There were other delays as well, Upon trying to land in Chicago, there was another plan that had not cleared the runway and so just before we were about to touch down, the pilot gunned the engines and had to make a huge circle around the airport and prepare to land again. Since we missed our first landing opportunity, we no longer had a gate to park our plane. We spent a good 20 minutes sitting on the ground after landing waiting for a place to park.
Once we got off the plane, we found out that we had missed our connecting flight. This is where I leaned several times that acting fast is the best thing you can do. Everything happens on a first-come first-serve basis when you are placed in a situation like this. I, trying to remain calm etc., did not hurry at all. I tried to make sure that our flight had indeed already left, then I asked an attendant what I should do next and was told to go to the automatic kiosks and re-book my flight. When I got the the automatic kiosk, after doing all the stuff there, the computer told me that it could not help me and to go to a customer care person. So I did. Well, everyone in the entire world was already on this step. I got there and the line was very,very long and I could only imagine that I would be there for several hours considering how fast lines like these tend to move. Luckily (or unluckily) I was wrong. About 10-20 minutes after I had waited in line, the customer service department closed. No matter that there were more than 150 people in line, no matter that people were trying to get to there final destination… It was 10:00 pm and that’s quiting time. So now there was no line to wait in. Someone from the airline was handing out vouchers. I didn’t know what they were for but everyone was grabbing them and leaving very fast. I calmly went up and realized that it was a coupon for discounted hotels for stranded passengers. I took one and left. I spend some time and found another agent and asked what I needed to do. Do I need to find my luggage etc.and then work out my return trip etc. They told me that I don’t get my luggage until I reached my final destination. I also asked if the airline was going to take care of some accomidations for Conner an myself. I was told that the reason for my delay was not because of anything that the airline had done wrong. My flight departing Atlanta was delayed because of the Air Traffic Controllers so because it was not their fault the flight was late, they were not going to help with accommodations (except for the voucher that offered a discount to stranded passengers).
So, I called Lori to let her know what was going on and we discussed what we should do. It was obvious that we were not going to be able to leave Chicago until tomorrow. In my mind it just ment that the adventure continued. I thought that it would be kind of fun to get a hotel room and relax some more and then continue again the next day. So, I called the hotel service and was told “We no longer have any rooms with a free shuttle service. I could have a room but I would have to take a taxi” This was dishearting because I figured that the taxi ride to the hotel and returning to the airport would double the price I would pay to spend the night. I was also a bit nervous because, not seeing where the hotel was etc., I didn’t want to reserve a room w/o knowing what type of neighborhood I would be in and how safe I might feel with my son. I decided that I would just tough it out in the airport until tomorrow.
Another mistake I made was I left the secure area of the airport. Now, because I didn’t have a boarding pass, I could not get back in. I felt that the secure area would be a better place to spend the night. A nice TSA agend told me that they were about to shut down and that this place would turn into a ghost town and if I
Dinner at Chicago. Conner liked the way it was prepared and wanted a picture.
wanted a safer place to stay, I should go to the international terminal because it was open 24 hours. So Conner and I go onto the airport train and went there. It might be open, but it was still pretty much a ghost town. We went to a food court where all but two stores were closed. Conner wanted something to eat so i got him a hotdog and some other stuff. I told Conner to take his time because it was going to be a long night. Then we went and found a bench that we could call our own for the night. I being the nervous person that I am just wanted Conner to have a good night and I figured that I could make it through until the next day w/o too much effort. I made Conner lay down and I covered him up as best as I could. It was pretty cool and he and I were both wearing shorts. Conner put on his hoodies and I covered his legs with my arms. We stayed like that until about 4:30 am and then we got back on the train and went to our terminal to work out our return flight. The first flight home was leaving at about 9:30 and we got on the waiting list. If we didn’t make that one, then the next possible flight was a connecting flight through Denver. By now I was ready to end the adventure and I prayed that we would make the first flight.
Conner and I got to the gate about 4-5 hours early (He we were already there and we didn’t have anything else to do) Conner laid down on the floor and had another 3 hour nap. He did pretty good. He was a bit nervous but we kept our cool and made it though the night. I am glad Conner was able to sleep, I am sure that helped the time go by quicker for him.
One nice thing about the Chicago airport is their gate information screens. They have big flat-panel televisions letting you know what flights are coming up, and who is on stand-by etc. for those flights. After everything that had gone on, it was a relief to at least see our names on the standby list.
After a long night, we are ready for a flight home.
After a very long night in the airport our prayers were answered. We made it onto the 9:30 flight home. It was nice to be there and I was relieved to be home. It was truly an adventure.
