The trip 2008 (or an
insiders guide to what can happen when flying standby as the parents of an
employee of Sky West / Delta Airlines)
This was the initial
trip to see Randi, Joe and Lydia…
We originally planned
to fly to Nashville (via Atlanta) on red-eye service and back to SLC after driving from Nashville thru
Chattanooga to go thru the Great Smokey Mountains on the road to Decatur,
Alabama…
All of this being done
on flight benefits (flying standby when space was available on a flight) due to
Rodger being an employee of Sky West Airlines…
We started out listed
thru Atlanta and on to Nashville….
The Atlanta flight had
tightened up (no seats were going to be available) and it was apparent that we
were not going to be able to get on that set of flights… (litle did we know why
Atlanta had tightened up... which can be surmised by what was learned later)
So….. with a little
research we decided to embark (on what later turned out to be a grand
adventure) … Through New York City… JFK to be better known …
It looked as if were
going to be able to maybe even get 1st class seats into Nashville
after JFK…
However. Murphy got
involved…. (and maybe this is why Atlanta had tightened up)
We made the trip into
JFK not being able to sit by one another .. but at least we were on the way!
On the flight into JFK
… I (Ted) got into a conversation with the flight attendants in the galley area
of the aircraft … (remembering that the last time Ted had flown this same
flight route had been on 10 September 2001 and we all know what happened the
next day …)
Having landed at JFK we
were immediately faced with the understanding that there were problems (that
will be discussed later) at JFK due to a large rainstorm that had happened on
Wednesday that would cause us problems throughout the next 30 hours with
flights having been canceled and passengers having to be shuffled on other
flights… (ah... this is what caused Atlanta to tighten up...)
Our flight to Nashville
(as we found out about almost all flights anywhere out of JFK) was overbooked…
so much that they were offering monetary incentives of the value of $200.00
(and according to some … $400.00) per each that would give up their seat to
allow someone else to fly… so we missed this flight…
Working with the gate
attendant he informed us that the next flight was “wide-open” and would be
leaving out of “Gate 25” 4 hours later… “Gate 25” would become known to us as
“The Black Hole”… he listed us on the flight thru “Gate 25” and saw no reason
we would not be catching that flight…
While awaiting our
boarding at “Gate 25” we talked to many people that had been at the airport for
a couple of days … awaiting their own “Escape from New York”… one set of people
had been there since Wednesday … spending one night in a hotel and the next at
the airport… just trying to get to Denver… they had been scheduled and
attempted to get thru many locations … and finally they escaped VIA Washington…
(planning on going to Atlanta and then onto Denver.. we wish them well and hope
that they were able to get home …) however they also left us with a tidbit of
information that would come back to assist us in making a couple of decisions
later…meanwhile … we were awaiting to leave thru “Gate 25 The Black Hole”…
Ok… let me take a time
out here to explain about “The Black Hole” … at Gate 25.. the gate agents (2 of
them at Gate 25) would call to load and depart up to 4 aircraft at the same
time … passengers crowding through the gate … We do wonder if some passengers
might have gotten on the wrong aircraft and ended up at places they didn’t plan
on going to … however they did Escape …also … with aircraft coming and going at
“Gate 25” we discovered that nobody ever came back thru the gate .. except
maybe a wheelchair or an active Delta employee.. (Twilight Zone music comes to
mind)…
Finally they called for
our flight to Nashville … which of course was leaving 15 minutes late and right
between 3 other flights that were leaving and boarding thru “The Black Hole”…
It has become a Hot day
in NYC … and JFK had listed weight limits (Air density problems) on the
aircraft and they were limiting how many seats could be allowed to carry
passengers… and then there was some mix-up with the standby passengers being
controlled by the gate agents and some passengers that might have been lower
than us on the standby listing were loaded on the flight… and then the gate
agents noticed that they only had one seat that they could offer us … we
declined that seat as how could we be able to do what was needed (meet with
Randi, Joe and Lydia… and introduce Colleen to them…)
We then came to the
realization that maybe we were not meant to get to Nashville … at least at that
time …and were rolled over to the next flight that was to leave at 8:00PM…
Prior to 8:00PM we met
George… a Delta Airlines agent (at the main counter between Gate 25 and Gate
23) that was very helpful… he bent over backwards to see if he could list us
anyway else… we had pretty much decided that the Nashville part of the trip was
going to be a no-go.. and we might as well start planning on making it back to
Salt Lake City…
George worked with us …
and thought he had us at least out of JFK through Cincinnati (which of course
is another HUB Terminal city for Delta Airlines which would give us a different
variety of destination locations that might allow us to continue to Nashville
or go back to SLC)… however when he checked that gate VIA telephone with the
gate agent, the gate agent said that they had cleared that gate of its standby
passengers and had no room available on the flight … (however George had
checked it before and after he called… and found that the gate agent had
cleared the gate AFTER hanging up with George - George said he will have words
with that gate agent later...) so … we missed that one … (are you starting to
keep count yet?)
George also listed us
on a flight to LAX that would leave at 8:30PM… besides the Nashville flight at
8:00PM that we were listed on…
During this time we
heard that there was a flight going to Chicago (out of Gate 25 by the way …
twilight zone music comes back…) that was to leave at 6:00PM and it was being
downsized from a 90 seat plane to a 60 seat plane… and would be delayed until
at least 10:00PM and would use a different gate…
After working with
George we decided to partake of an eating establishment “Sam Adams” (named for
the beer) on the upper deck of the gate area we were at… we had time … and even
though we had time … the service was delayed (kind of like our trip) but the
refreshments were well worth the wait ( or was it the stress of the day was
leaving us since we had decided to go home that made it seem that way?) and
enjoyable…
After we finished
eating we went back to “The Black Hole” and awaited our flight at 8:00
(according to the gate display board our flight was shown as “at the gate”)
then it was changed to 8:15.. and then it again changed this time to 8:45.. and
again to 9:00 so we headed over to the LAX flight and found that we would miss
it by at least 15 seats … (but it did leave at 8:30PM)
Remember earlier we
told about the people that were going to Denver? Well the tidbit that they had
related to us was… “IF a flight is late… and getting later … it was that they
didn’t have a flight crew and the flight most probably was going to be
cancelled … This is what had happened to them a couple of times …” well … we
contacted another Delta Airlines employee that was trying to keep people calmed
down at “The Black Hole” and he found out that the reason that our 8:00 flight
had been held back is that they did not have a crew for our flight…
That pretty much sealed
it … even if our flight did leave at 10:00PM we were not going to be into
Nashville with any time to get our rental car … and would have had to have
stayed in a hotel in Nashville .. thereby shortening our time with Randi, Joe
and Lydia…so we never even checked that flight again…. Just let it ride … and
hope that someone else could use our seats (if we had gotten any) on their way to
Nashville…
We started to look to
see what other options we could do to get back west … (of course remember we
had already attempted to go to LAX…) and looked at a late flight (11:45PM) to
Las Vegas … planning on sleeping on the way .. .and enjoying the Las Vegas
airport until finding a way to SLC…
We missed the flight to
Las Vegas by 2 seats … (well actually 4 .. there were 2 other people in front
of us … but still it was real close … )
After that flight to
Las Vegas was loaded and gone … I went to chatting with the gate agent .. she
worked her keys real fast … and found that the best we could do was to leave to
DC in the morning and wind our way back to SLC…
Having that settled
(after being listed for the early flight to DC) we inquired about where in the
airport we could find a place to sleep… and another young gate agent informed
me where he felt we could be safe and secluded and get internet access so we
could continue our quest on “Escape from New York”… it was a couple of small alcoves
that had platforms where displays had been set up … and it had power
receptacles … and would have been ok…
After getting ready to
settle down for the night (having acquired a few of the Delta Airlines
lightweight blankets at the Las Vegas gate) I started chatting with another
gate agent that was just sitting in the dark at a terminal just a couple gates
from where we were going to bed down… and we discovered that a flight was
boarding across the way (remember the flight that was to leave “Gate 25” at 6:00PM
that was delayed until at least 10:00PM, downsized and had its gate moved?
Twilight zone music is appropriate again) that was going to Chicago and there
were 2 seats available … WOW…
The gate agent got us
listed … and off we went to the gate … where the next gate agent assigned us
SEATS and out the gate door into the aircraft … and away from JFK….WE HAD
ESCAPED!!!!!!
On to Chicago…. (3.5
hours of non-sleep… uncomfortable seats in an exit row .. however they were
seats … and not at JFK!!!)
In Chicago (at O’Hare
airport) we settled down for a few hours rest and connected to the internet
with my laptop … and searched to see what options of flights we could come up
with to get home…
What was found was a
direct flight from Chicago to SLC at 7:45AM and a flight to Cincinnati at
6:00AM that might get us part way (even though actually heading a bit back to
the eastern time zone but to a Hub Terminal for Delta Airlines…)…
We decided that we
might have a better chance getting thru the Hub terminal in Cincinnati… and so
we took the chance at the 6:00AM flight… Since it was a Sky West flight for
Delta we also ended up higher on the standby list and actually ended up in 1st
class seating to Cincinnati… We were exhausted and both slept not wanting to be
bothered thus not really enjoying the 1st class seats except for the
comfort…
Arriving at Cincinnati,
we found we were listed on a flight to SLC that was leaving in 35 minutes from
the far end of Concourse B (while we were at the far end of Concourse A)
So a beeline was made
to get to that gate …. Fast … down Concourse A… down the escalator … between
the concourses … up the escalator … down to the far end of the Concourse B … (
A “U” shaped course to make) only to find that we were way down on the list and
would not make this flight by about 15 people…
Of course Colleen had
heard (mumbled by someone at the gate in Concourse A that we had arrived at)
something to the effect that there was a SLC flight leaving from that same gate
that we had just left in about 45 minutes after we had landed (we had not seen
this on the internet the night before)…
So off we went down
Concourse B… down the escalator…. between the concourses…. up the escalator….
down to the far end of Concourse A … to the gate that we arrived at… to get
listed for a possibility of making the flight to SLC by way of Denver…
However that was not to
happen ..
We were informed by the
gate agent that they could only guarantee that they could get us as far as
Denver … we took it …. At least we would be back in the same time zone and
would work from there to make our way back home to SLC…
Of course we boarded
the very same aircraft that brought us from Chicago and was now taking us to
Denver with the same crew,,, but now we were in Coach as opposed to 1st
class…
On to Denver…. The
flight was pretty much uneventful… as I slept again (same as from Chicago) …
something about being up for around 50 hours with only a couple little cat-naps
here and there… and of course nearing 32 hours since we left SLC…
Arriving in Denver we
immediately worked with the gate agents to get to SLC and were informed that
most probably we would not get to SLC on this flight (which the flight number
was going on but they had to change aircraft and crews… so all of the
passengers and crew had deplaned and were now boarding for SLC…)
So… we waited patiently
… and what do you know … 5 people that had purchased tickets did not show up
for the flight … we ended up boarding and leaving on that flight (again not
sitting together) and made it home… the whole trip SLC to SLC took 36 hours …
leaving at midnight Thursday night (Friday Morning) and getting back at noon on
Saturday…
In retrospect, a fun
adventure was had by all… Alas, no visit with Randi, Joe and Lydia… but that
may happen in a couple of months…
Ted…
