November has been a hectic work month, hence the lack of posts. Last Sunday, no two Sundays ago, my boss and I caught evening flights to Bentonville with a plane change in Cincinnati; we were bound for an overnight in Bentonville and an early Monday morning meeting. I never have good luck connecting through the Cincinnati and this trip would not disappoint.
I arrived in Cincinnati pretty much on time with plenty of time to spare before the next flight. A quick dinner at an airport restaurant and I scrambled back to the dungeon (Terminal C) to wait for my boss who was arriving from Chattanooga. As it turned out, he had not had dinner so we hurried back to the restaurant so he could toss down a quick sandwich before hustling back to the terminal area to find our gate. I should mention that Terminal C gate numbers are not fixed and flex from one door to another as gates open and fill. This method certainly provides flexibility but it also means that one’s gate can move doors in a flash.
And so this happened to us, our flight completely disappeared. While we stared at the flight boards searching for our gate, a monotone voice over the loud speaker suddenly broke through my concentration and I heard something about our flight and Terminal A. A quick check with a ticket agent and we discovered our flight had been delayed an hour and had moved to Terminal A…some vague problem in Portland, Maine, mechanical, weather but definitely delayed.
We grabbed our stuff and headed for the shuttle to A. It was at this point that I began to have a sinking feeling about checking my luggage. I had been lazy packing for this trip. After all I told myself, I was leaving on Sunday, I didn’t want to deal with the new federal regulations for plastic bagging my liquids, blah, blah, blah, so I checked. A really bad idea for an overnight trip!
The situation didn’t look much better by the time we got to Terminal A. We found our gate (a permanent gate), grabbed bags of “pity” candy and sat down to wait, and wait, and wait. An hour passed and another delay then suddenly my phone began ringing with calls from Delta announcing more delays, mechanical problems, bad weather and finally, around 9:30 pm, a canceled flight. Looks like an overnight in Cincinnati, compliments of Delta, and me with no luggage! “Don’t worry” the gate agent told me, “luggage will be available at carousel 3.” She rebooked our flights and sent us away, coupons in hand for a hotel (of sorts) and dinner and breakfast coupons.
We stood at the carousel as a few bags were unloaded. Finally the carousel belt stopped and a number of people left empty handed, including me. A visit to Baggage Service netted a really crappy conversation with an Iron Maiden who didn’t care if I had my bag or even a toothbrush…too bad for me. We grabbed a taxi to our Delta designated hotel, the Drawbridge Inn in Northern Kentucky. The Drawbridge Inn looks like it was built in the 70’s and, by all indications, has not been remodeled since it was built. Did I mention that my boss hadn’t checked so he had luggage in hand….smart boss.
Not a great night! I was up early and in the lobby, still in my blouse and jeans. My boss showed up looking fresh in his suit. We were on the way back to the airport by 7:00 am for a flight scheduled to put us in Bentonville and at our meeting an hour and a half late. Luckily our salesman had arrived in Bentonville on Sunday night (flying through Atlanta) and would be at the meeting on time.
A post script to the story…the meeting went well and I, in my same my jeans and blouse, was actually appropriately dressed (luckily the jeans and blouse were nice). My luggage did arrive on my flight into Bentonville and like a fool, I checked again on the way home. Both return flights were late but my luggage arrived with me. And guess what, gotta do this again next week!
