Today I did something so stupid — truly so stupid. I had booked “get away fares” at Southwest so I could go to the puppy party. I paid no attention to the routing coming home. It turned out to be Nashville to Baltimore to Chicago to Albuquerque. That’s bad, but I made it worse. I landed in Baltimore and looked at the departure screen — there was the Albuquerque flight at the gate at which I had just arrived. I was happy! So, I sat down with Mills (remember? That’s my Kindle) and was happily reading. I looked up at the screen and saw the flight was delayed a bit, but my brain was swarming with images of puppy and not a single practical thought, so I went back to reading Mills. Time to stand in line. I was A27. I went to the appropriate stanchion. Another passenger walked up to me and said “What’s your number?” I said, “A27.” He said “No, I’m A27.” I said, “Well, shoot. Southwest made a mistake.” He said, “No, you have a different flight number on your boarding pass.” I said, “Oh, S**T.” Sure enough I’d missed my plane, on a Sunday afternoon the day before Valentine’s Day.
So, SW started trying to get me on other flights Stand By (that’s what you become when you blow your reservation). I got on another Baltimore/Chicago/Albuquerque flight. In Chicago, I was bumped off the plane because the flight from Chicago to Albuquerque was full of people who had “reserved” seats. I sat in Chicago for a l-o-n-g time. Finally there was a seat on a plane to Denver with a 10 minute connection to the Denver/Albuquerque flight. Southwest held the flight to Albuquerque for a bunch of weary travelers trying to get back here. My luggage had been at Southwest baggage for many hours when I showed up.
I drove the 45 minutes home, arrived at 12:30 AM, greeted all the baddogs, took the tape off Nola’s ears, and now I’m going to bed. I’ll clean the residue from the red baby’s ears tomorrow morning.
I guess it was good karma that kept you from traveling home with a puppy this time. What an endlessly long trip that would have been for a little bitty baby. I am sure it was awful enough for you!
I guess I didn’t start my prayers soon enough! I am so sorry you had such a long flight home. Cheryl had told me what had happened. I never thought about what would have happened if you had a puppy to cart around too.
Nola’s ears look good. Bet your dogs are happy to have you home.
Happy Valentine’s day.
Oh, Penni. I’m so sorry! I’ve done that before too and it sucks. At least you didn’t have a puppy in tow and you did have Mills for company!
Nola’s ears look great! Such a pretty girl.
Bad case of BO……….brain overload. Sorry to hear about your living nightmare.
Sorry about your long trip home, but I bet your extra happy to be home now! HVD!
Yuck! What a trip! Sorry you had to go through that! Glad the puppy stayed with Susan! Nola’s ears look great! Can’t wait to un-tape Smooche’s ears! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Oh, my, Penni. I’m so sorry. And to be stuck in Chicago. Groan. I guess we can all be grateful you didn’t hit snow, even if you did run into everything else.