The title should say it all, but for those who want to know more, I’ll elaborate.
To start the day off, we arrived at Indianapolis International Airport and proceeded to get tickets and check our bags. Both mine and Gwen’s suitcases were 50+. We started taking stuff out of them to get them under the magic number of 50. Fortunately, my in-laws are coming to Nebraska to watch Wesley while Gwen and I attend DOXOLOGY, so they were able to take some of the extra stuff with them to bring out in a couple of weeks.
Once we get on board the Delta Airlines plane, that’s when the fun starts. First, we were sitting in 34A and 34C, with 34B and an aisle between us. Switching seats with 34B was no problem. They start moving us back out and we stop after say 100 feet or so. It seems there was a mechanical problem so they stopped. They did over-the-phone troubleshooting and everything the pilot did, it didn’t work. They shut down the power to the plane and did a restart and nothing was resolved. A call in to maintenance was next. Fortunately, they were available right away and came out to service the plane. Everything was green lights. The next step was to power up the plane and see if they got a green light. The plane was powered up and we have a green light! This is super! We can finally get on our way! The problem: we spent an hour sitting there waiting for the plane to be repaired. That meant that our connecting flight in Rapid City was not going to happen.
When we finally arrived in Minneapolis, we went straight to the gate desk and asked for our new tickets (Delta in Indianapolis already rebooked everyone with connecting flights since we were so delayed). The agent printed Gwen’s and then printed mine, followed by a confused look on his face. Gwen was able to score the 11:15 flight. I, on the other hand, was able to procure the 5:15 flight. He told us to go to our gate and speak with the gate agent to get on stand-by. He printed me a stand-by ticket, but we still had to check in with the gate agent. Unfortunately, the flight was over-booked and over-weight. They were looking for volunteers for a later flight. Gwen spoke with the gate agent and I was stand-by #3, but because of the status of the flight, it was doubtful that I could get on. There was a flight that we could both fly together – 9:00 TONIGHT! That meant spending 8 hours in the airport with a two-year old! That was not an option!
We tried to get me on, but to no avail. There was a family of 4 who were waiting to board the plane (they had seats). The mother (who is a Starbucks barista in Gillette; remind me to say “thank you” to her next time I’m there) asked the gate agent if there was any way that I could get on to fly with Gwen. The gate agent explained what was necessary, including people giving up their seats. Unfortunately, the family of four would not be able to fly together; they would have to fly on two different flights. I could see that the husband did not like that option one bit. I went over to her and thanked her for trying to do this for me.
Currently, I’m sitting at TGI Fridays finishing lunch waiting for the 2:15 flight as stand-by passenger #3. Good news: stand-by passengers #1 and #2 didn’t show up at the 11:15 flight, so there could be a good chance of me making it on the 2:15 flight.
Well, off I go. Hopefully this will get posted before I leave Minneapolis.
