<p>I have been following this thread with mounting wonder and empathetic concern. What an ordeal! I am so glad that your S seems to be bearing up so well under such trying conditions! If I may be Pollyanna-ish, he will learn a ton about being resilient and resourceful in the face of crises, major and minor. That will stand him in good stead.</p>
<p>
Ah, I now understand such idiomatic phrases as “take a chill pill” and “keep your hair on.” </p>
<p>Judging from the emails S2 sent us, looks like he didn’t sleep last night! He also called us several times. Plan now is to fly to L.A. this evening from Baltimore. Will catch a flight to Korea from there tomorrow morning, so will only be a day behind schedule. </p>
<p>So I guess he will be spending Saturday night in the LA airport. Anybody have any suggestions about that? He is traveling with a bicycle lock, so he can lock his horn to his body if necessary! However, he didn’t sleep last night, and probably won’t sleep tonight. (At the end of the first call, he said he needed to go because bro was waiting to show him his Wii. I think I know how they spent their time between phone calls.) I hope he is napping at the moment. I guess big bro will be driving him to Baltimore today. Hope he didn’t have any other plans. I really wish Delta could have let S2 off the plane when they reached the point where he wasn’t going to make a connection! It would have been so much easier to deal with from here.</p>
<p>S2 talked to Korea via SKYPE on his brother’s computer. Initially, they wanted him to pay for the flights, and they would reimburse him. He told them he didn’t have enough money. (He doesn’t have a very high credit limit on his card. We really didn’t want to have to deal with getting reimbursement anyway!) </p>
<p>If he gets to LA tonight, and the Korea flight doesn’t happen, I guess he just arrives extra early to his Santa Barbara festival, where he needed to be next Saturday anyway!</p>
<p>Of course, since the mother/daughter duo were planning on handling everything, and didn’t share any info ahead of time, my S has no idea what he will need to do or say once he gets to Korea. And no plan for making contact. Hopefully they will be getting info from that end, and know what time he is arriving. At the moment, though, they are all in the air.</p>
<p>I told him last night that all my “imaginary friends” - you - are all rooting for him, and that he even had an offer of dinner in NYC! He appreciates it. His personal opinion is that all this is happening so I can say, “I told you so.” I said it carries very little satisfaction.</p>
<p>binx: Thanks for the update. I’m sure impressed with your son’s “can do” attitude, most especially since this appears to be a very short trip. I’d sure be inclined to stay in CA, since he has to be there anyway, along with the nagging thought of never being reimbursed for the tickets. I’m sure all will work out well once he gets there (hopefully!). Great story, though!</p>
<p>Have made contact with relatives in California, who are going to pick him up, feed him, and give him a bed! Only time he met them was when he was 8, so it’s been awhile! They seem happy to help. I’m thrilled he doesn’t have to spend the night in the airport, because I know he wouldn’t sleep. (Or, conversely, would oversleep.)</p>
<p>Hey Binx,
suggest you make use of the “in loco parentis” list and contact USC - jazzymom
UCLA - jazzymom, Erin’s Mom
to see if they can give the kida a hot meal and a place to crash for the night. USC is only about 30 min from LAX. Wish i could help but I’m up here in N Calif.</p>
<p>binx,
I’m so happy to hear that the CA relatives are helping out! Hopefully he will get a good night’s sleep before he begins the next leg of this out-of-the-ordinary journey. Hey, maybe he can play his horn in the airport, leave the case discreetly open nearby, and pay for the next leg of the trip! (I have two horn playing young men in this house.)</p>
<p>binx- glad you got him a place to sleep. If he had to spend the night in the airport, I, like momof3sons, would have suggested busking rather than sleeping. He could have made a few dollars, and had his horn in his possession. He could always catch his zzz’s on the flight.</p>
<p>A hand scrawled “Korea or bust” sign near case might have worked wonders.</p>
Well, that’s not saying much, but happy to entertain!</p>
<p>S said he contacted Delta to cancel the flight to NYC, and ask about a refund. They are giving him $69 - the cost (they say) of the DC to NYC leg of the trip. He paid $207+ for the whole thing. Considering that they got him to DC 3 hours late, and stranded him overnight, I’m not sure why they are allowed to get away with so little. I was hoping they would offer an Atlanta/NYC trip for the future, and he could use it to get back to school. I told my S, though, that he has enough to worry about right now, and we’ll deal with that later. Advice welcome!</p>
<p>A couple minor Murphy’s Law tidbits:<br>
My aunt and uncle’s (in LA) cell phone broke. They are getting a new one delivered Monday, but are without one for the weekend.</p>
<p>Juilliard’s email is down, and scheduled to be down for the next 24 hours. This was scheduled in advance, but didn’t matter since we <em>knew</em> S would be in the air to Korea during this time. So he cannot access the site. Fortunately his new e-ticket came through before the site went down.</p>
<p>I am grateful for little things. Relatives that live in DC and LA. That my H is in town this week. That I have a nice shaped head. ;)</p>
<p>Gee, Binx…you didn’t mention “strong walls in your house.”</p>
<p>Had a friend once who had a dreadful vacation (long story…another thread perhaps). She was on her way to work one day and the talk show guys were hawking a contest about the worst vacation. She wrote her story, which she truthfully did just to vent…and won. Prize was a three day, all expense paid trip to a B and B in the Berkshires. (hers was a cruise line incident…and she got NOT satisfaction from the cruise line). </p>
<p>Glad DS has a place to sleep, will have a decent meal, and is being a good sport about this. S*** happens…and this time it really did.</p>
<p>So far no holes in the walls. The one residual of my nursing degree is that I am fairly calm in a crisis. However, if this crisis doesn’t end soon, all bets are off.</p>
<p>At the moment, the departures list of several dozen flights at BWI shows that four of them are delayed. 119 flights / 4 delays. Less than 4% chance of delay. My S’s is one of those. Currently the 9:16 departure has been rescheduled for 9:50.</p>
<p>I may have to buy a wig so I have more hair to pull out.</p>
<p>Flight has been pushed back another 15 minutes, but he just called and said he is sitting on the plane! I just called my cousin and she says later time is no problem!</p>
<p>Binx, I know you’re having a horrible time but many of us are learning good lessons to teach our kids. Thank you for taking the time to give us updates. </p>
<p>My D is flying to Rome with some out-of-state family members next week and I insisted she get to their departure city two days ahead of time. Some people thought I was being obsessive but yesterday’s computer failure is a perfect example of what I want to avoid for her.</p>
<p>Good golly miss mollie! I just got wind of this thread, binx! So sorry to hear of your nightmare (but jealous that you got rain on your side of town yesterday-- it was dry as a bone here). Hope he is in flight and able to get to Korea. What a wild ride!</p>
<p>With respect to Delta, call customer service and keep asking for supervisors 'til you get one who will do right by you. Be sure to tell them you will be happy to write a letter of thanks on their behalf to the head of customer service when he/she (the manager) has done what you need him/her to do. get their name, ID # and name and address of where to send the letter (or sue email and cc them on the email). You would be surprised how NICE and helpful they can be when you offer to have a letter of thanks put in their employee file!</p>
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