Kind strangers saved me multiple times when I was traveling alone with my D when she was small! Conversely, mean people could also send me crying.
I hated having to navigate the airport alone when she was little. (She had terrible motion sickness for years and years too so there was that).
A couple of other travel horror tales.
When D1 was at Yale for residency, I flew in and out of the New Haven airport to visit her. (The house she rented was within a couple of blocks of the airport. Didn’t even need to be dropped off or picked up.)
I was flying into New Haven airport. It’s tiny and can only handle small, prop passenger plane. I needed to change flights in Philadelphia to get to New Haven. So I get to my gate to learn my flight was listed as delayed. Then delayed some more. And delayed still more. The next flight to New Haven has already been canceled. But mine oddly was not. So the 25 or so passengers on the flight started all hanging out together and chatting. Finally, 5 hours later, there’s an announcement of a gate change. We all get to the new gate in completely different terminal and find out there still is no flight to New Haven. It’s now been over 5 hours. Then 45 minutes later, there’s still ANOTHER gate change. We all head over to the new gate (in yet a different terminal)–and there’s no gate attendant and the gate is completely dark. It’s now well after 11pm and people are calling local hotels to see if there are rooms available. Suddenly a very harried-looking flight attendant shows up, turns on the lights in the boarding walkway and urges everyone to hurry up and get on the plane. Just sit anywhere you want she tells us. Just hurry up. It’s July, hot and muggy outside, but the inside of the plane is very cold and it’s entirely filled with swirling fog. You can only see 2 or 3 row ahead of where you are. Hurry, Hurry, she tells us. This is BIG jet. Not something that’s going to be able to land in New Haven. Someone asks the attendant about New Haven. No, she tells us, we’re not going to New Haven, we’re going to Hartford. Please take a seat.
So here I am holding all my luggage, aboard a freezing cold jet heading to a city where I don’t know anyone in the middle of the night and I know my daughter won’t be able to come get me since she’s working at the hospital.
We get into Hatford 45 minutes later, now around 1 am. Everything in the airport is closed. I’m trying to figure out how much an Uber to New Haven will cost and several passengers are trying to book a a group van to get to New Haven. Thankfully the guy who was sitting next to me lives in New Haven and his sister has agreed to come pick him up and take him to the New Haven airport where he left his car. They leave me off at the end of the block where my daughter lives and I just walk the rest of the way.
Another New Haven airport story. It’s a Christmas travel story.
Depart New Haven early the morning of Dec 28 to go home to New Mexico. Morning flight into a Philly goes fine. Go the gate for the next leg of the trip only to discover that there’s been an ice & sleet storm in Dallas and all flights through Dallas have been cancelled. Line up to get rebooked and meet another family waiting in line who is also trying to get back to Albuquerque. The first available seat with connections to Albuquerque from Philly via Dallas is Jan 2nd --5 days from now. I decline and the agent says well, I can put you on a plane to Richmond with a connection to Dallas, but your flight to ABQ won’t leave until the next day. I figure one day delay is better than 5 so I accept it.
I get to Richmond, but my connection is Dallas is canceled. They put me on standby for 4 later flights. Those are all canceled. Around 10pm, it’s clear there are no flights heading thru Dallas tonight or anytime soon. The airline FINALLY rebooks me on another airline flying to ABQ with a connection in Denver. leaving the next day around noon. I try to find my checked bag. Bag claim has no idea where it is. I book a room at nearby hotel and take the shuttle there. I have no luggage and minimal stuff with me–my laptop, my meds, a book and that’s about it. The shuttle driver is super nice as I explain what happened. She offers to take me to WalMart so I can buy some clean underwear. (I thank her but decline) At the hotel, I check in, ask for a toothbrush & toothpaste, buy some snacks out of vending machine, take a hot shower and go to bed. Next morning, back at the airport, I get a nice breakfast (first actual meal since the morning before) and sit around waiting for my flight–which leaves after a 2 hour delay. I arrive in Denver and have to literally run to make my connection. Get into ABQ finally around 6 pm. On my way to baggage claim, I run into the family I had met in Philly. They had been able to get a very, very, late night flight to Dallas the day before, but were told there they wouldn’t be able able to get a flight OUT of Dallas for 3 days. So they rented a car and drove to from Dallas to ABQ–which takes about 15-16 hours. They were also looking for their bags.
Baggage claim was a mess. 1/2 of the entire baggage claim level had been cordoned off and was completely filled with rows and rows and rows of suitcases, sorted by color. The attendant didn’t want to see your claim check, just wanted to know what color your suitcase was, and , once you told him, he let you in the appropriate colored section to find your own suitcase. Never have I been so grateful that my bag is bright blue and not black.
One Labor Day weekend, I was flying with my husband and daughter to an island/resort area. We were on a small plane (not a jet). There were probably 7-8 passengers on the plane. My daughter and I sat in single seats on one side of the plane. (I was in front of her.) My husband sat in a double seat on the other side. He was sitting next to John Malkovich (an actor who D recognized immediately). My H didn’t have a clue. Malkovich was working on a crossword puzzle (this was before puzzles were online); my husband leans over and starts talking to Malkovich. According to H, Malkovich had trouble with one of the clues and my H offered the answer. By the time the plane landed, H and Malkovich bonded over the puzzle and shook hands before they got up and out of the plane. H had no idea he was talking to a fairly famous actor until my D told him.
You just reminded me our honeymoon to Papeete in Tahiti. Our last leg was a tiny little island hopper that probably seated 4. We saw our luggage get loaded but when we landed it wasn’t there! The best W and I could figure is that the plane was overweight and our luggage got pulled off without us noticing. Fortunately it showed up later in the day.
Anyway, during the flight the pilot asked if were hot which we definitely were. Instead of turning on the expected a/c, he just cracked open a little window! My wife and I still joke about “turning on the a/c” by opening a window.
On a charter 737 from a smaller airport in NC going to Florida. The inside of the plane looks a bit odd, with orange row/seat indicators. Just then, I looked out the window and saw the luggage cart said Hooters Air…
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