<p>S1 leads a very interesting life. For over a year he has been planning to attend a convention in Las Vegas, scheduled for this week. To save money ($20), he and a friend bought bus tickets routed through Los Angeles (a 13 hour ride) rather than an alternate bus route (6 hour ride). The bus arrived in LA yesterday and then all busses out for the rest of the day were cancelled due to flooding and weather. So they made their way to LAX and booked one way tickets to Vegas for last night. Lo and behold, flights to Vegas were also cancelled due to snow.</p>
<p>They’ve been on the road for over 12 hours and so his travel companion decides to throw in the towel and just book a flight back to the Midwest for the holidays, skipping the convention altogether. S1 is torn: he was really invested in attending the convention (and not just in $$$, which were prepaid and considerable for a college sophomore), but cant afford the hotel room as a single, and we certainly dont want him in Vegas for 6 days alone. Phone calls and texts fly; its after 9pm on the east coast; Im on the internet searching for flight options. We finally convince him to come home too.</p>
<p>I find a Southwest flight to Phoenix last night. The plan would be for H to contact an old friend in Phoenix who would take S1 in for the night and deliver him back to the airport today. S1 goes to the SW ticket counter, but they are predicting over an hour wait, as everyone else in the airport is trying to reschedule. So while H is working the Phoenix connection, Im booking the SW flight online and giving S1 the confirmation number. Of course he has nothing to write it down with, so he memorizes it (good luck). An hour later he texts us from the gate that he and his baggage are checked in.</p>
<p>Luckily, arrangements are made for him to spend the night (and NOT in the airport) in Phoenix. So I busily search the internet for the next part of the puzzle. Amazingly I find a flight from Phoenix with only one stop for today that doesnt fly north through the pending weather and the one way ticket is only $180!!! Unbelievable. So I book that and send the info to S1 by text and email (assuming that hell open the computer once he hits Phoenix). S1 calls when he arrives in Phoenix and is picked up (3am on the east coast, but at least we know hes on his way east). We remind him that he better get to the airport this morning well in advance of the 9am flight. He should be leaving as I write this.</p>
<p>Of course theres no happy ending yet, as he has to make the cross country flight and doesnt arrive until after 6:30pm tonight. Hes immensely disappointed and we will try to avoid pointing out that this all was caused by trying to save that initial 20 bucks.</p>
<p>Im exhausted already, after last night with the holidays still to come. But the huge upside is that he will be home tonight for the holidays and we will have 5 additional days with him, as the original plan was for him to fly back on a red-eye arriving Christmas Eve morning. Of course, once hes here well be working out the financial implications of his adventure </p>
<p>In my day all was solved with a thumb combined with a well developed intuition. Travel was faster, more direct, educational and fun. Particurlarly in times of inclement weather.</p>
<p>What an adventure, indeed! Stay tuned - my D is flying out of Boston tomorrow. At least she is going to miss the today’s snowy mess at Seatac…</p>
<p>JetBlue has the following headline on their weather advisory page: “Las Vegas winter storm (seriously)”. And it allows travelers going through Chicago today to rebook their flights for tomorrow without fees.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, she still has a final today, so I could not rebook her flight. All West coast flights either go through Chicago and other places prone to bad weather or fly out late in the evening (5 pm). It is a direct flight, so if the planes are allowed to take off, she might luck out. We are having our own snow storm here in WA today, but tomorrow it is supposed to be fine.</p>
<p>EB, here’s the current forcast for Boston tomorrow:</p>
<p>Partly cloudy with a chance of snow in the morning… then snow in the afternoon. Snow may be heavy at times in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 4 to 6 inches. Near steady temperature around 30. North winds 5 to 10 mph with gusts up to 20 mph…increasing to northeast 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow near 100 percent. </p>
<p>Radio and TV is saying over a foot of snow is possible, but then TV in particular tends toward the apoplectic when a good storm is on the way…helps the ratings I suspect. But I woudl say based on 20+ years of frequent travel through Boston’s Logan airport that these are exactly the conditions that make airport closure likely.</p>
<p>Sigh, DS would rather take a chance then get up at 5am to try for Standby. With the cost of his ticket I was hoping he would be home for the full 10 days originally planned…as he would say, “whatever.”<br>
Reminding myself to breath and let go of what I can’t control.</p>
<p>Would everyone in Boston please do an anti-snow dance? S2 called to tell me he’s afraid his Friday afternoon flight could be in trouble. I looked on the Logan airport weather forecast and it said BLIZZARD tomorrow afternoon. I really want him home, and don’t want him to have to hang around the airport for hours and days.</p>
<p>DD and friends rebooked their flights for Saturday. I’m sad that she is going to be home one day less than planned, but at the same time I’m not going to be a nervous wreck waiting for her call.</p>
<p>Of course, since they rebooked, the weather in Boston is going to be FINE. :)</p>
<p>Bunsen, I hope you’re right. Originally S2 was coming home Saturday, but his Friday exam was moved to Thursday, so we paid the re-booking fee so he could come home on Friday. I wonder if Northwest will give us our $$ back if he gets snowed in and can’t get home until Saturday after all. There are no earlier flights on Friday, so he’s stuck.</p>
<p>doing the anti snow dance here… if DS doesn’t make it Friday they are saying Sunday and Snow is in the forecast again on Sunday. Another reason I live in CA.</p>
<p>I tried to rebook D’s flight out of Boston on-line at jetblue.com and had no luck, so I called. Talked to a very nice human after about 10 minutes. They are rebooking free of charge. She was scheduled to fly out at 7:50 pm, and I figured that if the airport closed any time that day, that flight was a goner. Now she is flying Boston-Dulles leaving at 2 pm, then connecting at 6ish for the flight to Calif. I hope she makes it…</p>
<p>Now the weather people here in Seattle are saying that a MAJOR STORM is coming our way Saturday night! Winds up to 70 mph, snow, freezing rain, oh my! D is going to be stranded in Boston forever :(</p>
<p>Snow storm (well, just snow so far) started about a half-hour ago here in western Connecticut. Hope all the Boston kids got out in time, as the storm was a little slower in developing than originally predicted.</p>
<p>S1 arrived home late last night. The rescue turned out to be an uneventful trip. As predicted, he is extremely disappointed in missing the convention, but not so much that he couldn’t head immediately out last night to his favorite local dance club. So much for having him home with us for those extra days.</p>
<p>Just heard froms DS that no snow in Boston yet. His shuttle to airport is at 2pm. Flight at 4:45pm. He seems to think he is going to get out with no problems. I hope he is right.
Slow down storm!</p>
<p>Keeping fingers crosse for your som, ebeeeee. D and her friends plan on traying tonight at her little suburban school - fine with me. JetBlue did not cancel/delay the 6 pm flight, but Alaska already delayed their 6 pm flight until 2 am.
Boston is still green:
[Flight</a> Delay Information - Air Traffic Control System Command Center](<a href=“http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp]Flight”>National Airspace System)</p>
<p>BB thanks for the link. I have the notification from American on my cel too. Of course, I am more of a nervous traveler than DS. He is in a whatever state 99% of the time.</p>
It is a direct flight, so if the planes are allowed to take off, she might luck out. We are having our own snow storm here in WA today, but tomorrow it is supposed to be fine.</p>