That would be Molly and me. We're off to participate in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend. Because that's what we do. We hope to see our DL pals Tammy and Sharon, and have a bite here and there. And maybe get a few wogs in. But today is travel day, which proved to be rather exciting. Here's how it went ...
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5ish. Molly got off work early and went home. I asked if she wanted me to pick her up and bring her to my house to wait for Steve to take us to the airport. Meanwhile, Handyman Bill was over to replace a ceiling fan in the kitchen.
I had to mail some
letters bills, so I decided to make a USPS drive-by enroute to pick up Molly. While I was dropping off the mail, I got a phone call, from a 800 number. I don't always answer those, but thought it might be about our flight, so I answered.
The first comment (automated) said that this was a call about the cancellation of our flight, and did I want to hear about it. I decided I did. The second automated voice said that this call was about a cancellation or a delay, would I like to hear about that? Again, I decided that I did, so I punched the appropriate button. The next automated voice said that our flight was cancelled, but we had been rebooked for tomorrow at 6am, would that be alright? I quickly said that would not be alright, and was told that the automat would connect me to a person. In which country was not specified.
Dude came on the phone and gave me info about the new flight, to which I said that was unacceptable. He said he would look at rebooking me. Of course, all of this was going on while I was driving to Molly's. I explained that there were two of us flying together, could he make sure we got rebooked together? He found Molly's reservation (after several chats back and forth). He found a flight - through Ronald Reagan (check your map to see how efficient Nashville - Ronald Reagan - LAX is). I told him that was not acceptable, either. He then asked if I wanted him to check other airlines, to which I replied in the affirmative. He also wanted to know if I wanted to hang up and call him back once I got to Molly's, to which I very strong said no, that I was at her house (as if I would hang up with a live person and attempt to get a live person on a call back).
During this time I had arrived at Molly's and started banging on her back door (it was locked). She came to the door, rather confused. I explained what was going on, and asked her if she had received such a call. Apparently she had, but decided not to answer the 800 number. Go figure.
Anyhow, I gave the phone to her, put her luggage in the car, and headed back to my house, so we could get on the computer and check for our own flights (this was not Southwest, by the way). We got back to our house, where Bill was still installing the fan. We found a Southwest flight that was leaving in about an hour. Meanwhile, Dude gets back on the line and says he found 1 seat - maybe. We tell him we want refunds, to which he says we can call back later for that if we want. Again, we have a live body on the phone, so why sever that? He gives us our cancellation number and then tells us we will have to call back tomorrow, since he can't do anything about the actual refund.
We book our Southwest flight, and call Steve to see if he can take us. He's at the Sounds baseball game with his work cohorts, and wouldn't get to the house in time to take us - mainly because we need to leave like now. So Molly calls Lyft and gets us a ride. Lyft Dude shows up in a tiny Prius like mine and looks confused - that should have been our first clue. He's not sure if he can get our luggage in his car. Then he proceeds to take the longest possible route to the airport, driving well below the speed limit.
Eventually we arrive at the airport and get in the TSA precheck line, which is ridiculously long and filled with first-time TSA Pre people who don't know what to do. The good news? When we get to our gate, Southwest has upgrades available, which means we get to board with the A group instead of the C28 and C30 boarding cards we had gotten 30 minutes prior.
The best news? We made it to Disneyland!! Oh, and Bill got up the ceiling fan - we left him all alone when the Lyft Dude arrived!!
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| Maggie Cat in the bag - only because my suitcase was already closed! |
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| A long and winding road - from way up high. |
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| This always amazes me! |
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| I also love snow on the mountains - even just a little snow! |
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| We're not in Nashville anymore!! |
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Thankful today for: fun travel arrangements with Molly; odd Lyft Dude; Bill putting in new ceiling fan; upgrades at the airport; new plane for our ride; quiet ride to our hotel
