I Don't Wanna Play Anymore... :(

Saturday, two days after our first cancelled flight, we finally got in touch with someone at the Austin airport who told us that our bags had been flown back to Chicago.  Hooray!  So, Steve headed to Midway baggage claim... where over 1500 bags were sitting, which had either missed connections or whose owners never arrived in Chicago.  He looked through them, and he was able to find one of our bags (my bag, actually)... but he couldn't find the other.  So, he gave up, and we decided we'll just put in a lost bag claim and get it back eventually.  Oh well.

At this point on Saturday, it had already started to snow again... as another winter storm was on its way.  Our flight was supposed to go out Sunday afternoon... and Chicago was supposed to get a foot of snow before then.  We were not hopeful, to say the least.

Sunday morning, I woke up and checked our flight status first thing.  Cancelled.  Ugh.  But, at least we knew before we went to the airport.  We cancelled our car, and we rebooked yet another flight.  I contacted my friend to feed our cat again.  This time, our flight was rebooked for Tuesday afternoon.  And, no snow left in the forecast.  Huzzah!

But...it turns out, snow isn't the only thing that will cancel flights.  Sub-zero temperatures will do it, too!  I checked our flight status tonight for tomorrow's (Tuesday's) flight.  Cancelled.  I wanted to scream at this point.  Or cry.  Or die.  I called Southwest, only to be informed that their system was down, and they couldn't do anything from their end.  Are you kidding me?!  Oh, and we couldn't rebook online because we had previously rebooked over the phone.  We noticed there were still flights getting out of Chicago to Austin tomorrow, so we tried booking the only one with seats available.  Gone.  But, wait!  There was ONE seat left.  And, I got it.  So, at least I am going to Austin tomorrow, we hope.  Steve... well... I found flights available to San Antonio, only about an hour's drive away.  So, he's booked to San Antonio tomorrow.  We paid insane amounts of money for these flights, and if Southwest doesn't reimburse us, heads are gonna roll at Southwest, let me tell you.

On separate flights at different times to different airports, chances are, at least ONE of us will make it out tomorrow.  If Steve makes it and I don't, he'll rent a car.  If I make it and Steve doesn't... oh well, I'll have our car.  :)  Now we are just praying that at least one flight makes it out, or hopefully, BOTH flights make it out.  And, maybe, if we search the baggage area again, we might find our missing bag.  Not holding my breath on that one!

Worst case scenario... both our flights get cancelled, and I guess we will drive back to Austin.  Roads should be cleared, and God knows I'm not about to try rescheduling another friggin Southwest flight at this point.  And, next year, let's move the Chicago Christmas to July!  :)

Good riddance, Chi-beria!!!

We Are Just Trying to Find a Gate...

So, yesterday may have been one of the most exhausting days of my life... and it involved mostly sitting.  And waiting.  Lots of both of those things.

We have been in Chicago for the past week visiting the in-laws, and we were supposed to fly out on January 2nd at 2:50pm.  We left the house at noon, and the flight still showed "on time."  It was snowing and looked awful outside, but flights had been getting out, so we braced ourselves for a probable 4 hour delay and decided to just go to the airport and hope for the best.  After all, surely we could get out that day, even if it ended up being late.  (See that foreshadowing I did by using italics?)

We got to the airport at about 12:50, exactly 2 hours before our flight.  For the first time EVER, we checked 2 bags... because I had liquids that exceeded the allowed amount, so we figured we might as well just check both our bags and avoid lugging them around.  The baggage line went pretty quickly... then the security line went incredibly fast.  Overall, Midway and Southwest were treating us well at that point.  We got to our gate, and it still showed "on time" for our flight.  We didn't believe it, but we were hopeful.

Then... came the first delay.  Let's remember throughout this post that our original departure time was 2:50 pm.  First delay:  3:45.  Ahh, not so bad.  We decided to grab a place to sit close to the gate to wait it out.  People were sitting on every available inch of floor against the people movers and walls, so we found a column to sit against.  Of course, tons of flights had been delayed at this point, and the airport was packed.  As boarding time neared, the second delay came.  5:55.  Ok, that sounded more realistic.  A 3-hour delay wasn't so bad.  We left our gate area in search of food and actual seats to wait out the 2 hours and charge our phones.  We found comfy chairs in another terminal and had some late lunch.  Great, doing good.

Around 5:15, we headed over to our gate in hopes of boarding.  Nope, sorry, three more flights have moved to that gate and are scheduled to go ahead of us.  Delayed another hour to 6:55.  Then, we heard nothing... for a long time.  They boarded a plane to LAX, and they sat at the gate for 90 minutes before pulling out.  Then, a flight was moved out of our gate... which allowed us to get some seats.  They boarded another flight... then cancelled it before it could leave.  Those poor people had been loaded on two different planes, only to be deplaned twice and their flight cancelled... after 12 hours of waiting.  I felt a bit uneasy after that cancellation.  They had been cancelled because there weren't enough crew members available.  Everyone had been waiting for so long, crew members were timing out.

At some point, we got another update.  Our plane was on its way!  8:20 departure time.  Hooray!  Then... 8:20 came and went.  Changed to 10:15.  Another announcement: our plane was on the ground, just waiting for a gate to open.  Changed to 11:15.  12:15.  We heard about an Austin gate... so we all moved to that gate, only to realize it wasn't our flight.  Came back.  Waited.  More announcements:  don't worry Austin passengers, you are the next flight... your plane is here, just waiting for a gate... your flight is not cancelled.

At this point... we had been at the airport for 12 hours.  Parents were running out of diapers for their infants.  People were sleeping on the floor.  People were getting a bit loopy.  The airport was slowly emptying as flights were cancelled.  We saw some irate customers... the gate attendant had to call the police to remove one couple who were shouting and becoming aggressive.  One woman cussed out an attendant in front of her young child, vowing to ruin Southwest's reputation FOREVER, and stormed off with the child in tow.  We were all bonding at the gate, discussing the absurd situation we were in... sitting there, forever delayed, with no idea when we would leave... if ever.

Around 1:30am, the announcement finally came.  "I am sorry to inform you that your flight has been cancelled."  We all raced for the line to rebook.  I got on the phone with Southwest while Steve waited in line.  I got through first... but the first available flight was Sunday afternoon.  Three days later.  We took what we could get and left the gate area.  The gate attendant said we could get our luggage back, because otherwise it would be on a flight to Austin first thing in the morning... exactly where we would NOT be until Sunday.

So, off to baggage services we went.  First, we got in the wrong line, where we waited for 30 or so minutes until they said they couldn't help us.  So, off to the next line.  It was around 2:30am at this point.  While in line, an announcement came over the loudspeaker:  "For those of you with cancelled flights, we are NOT pulling any luggage.  Your luggage will be sent to your final destination."  We knew it was a futile effort, but at least we might be able to find out what was happening with our luggage.  After all, all of our clothes, toiletries, medication, etc. were in those bags.  We finally got to the front of the line around 4:30am.  They told us our luggage was being flown to Austin... but that we could request that they send it back... and then we could pick it up at Midway when it got there.  We decided to take a risk and hope it made it back by that night.  We put in the request, then got a cab back to the in-laws'.  At 5:15am, we were finally there.  And, our cab driver completely price-gouged us... who knows if it was the overnight hours or just a guy taking advantage of the situation, but it was about twice the normal price.  Oh well, WHO CARES AT THIS POINT.  We just wanted to get out and go to bed.  We paid the exorbitant fee and got inside.  At least we weren't paying for a hotel for the next 3 nights!

During this entire time, all I could think about was that our petsitter's last day to feed our cat was on January 1st because we expected to be home on the 2nd to feed her.  And, now our petsitter was on vacation, and no one else had keys to our apartment... so who would feed our cat until we got home 3 days late?!  I knew I couldn't do anything about it at 5am, so I went to sleep.  I verified that our petsitter was out of town when I woke up, and then I contacted my wonderful officemate and begged her to please feed my cat.  I got my apartment complex to let her pick up an extra key, and she was able to do it.  Only then could I truly relax and just not care about whatever else happened.  Lucy would not starve!  Hooray!  I had her give her extra food, because, who knows if we will get out on Sunday!

Now, it is 9:30pm... and we still have received no word on our baggage.  We called the number the baggage people gave us at Midway... and no one answers... and their voicemail is full.  I called Southwest's main baggage services, and they could only contact one of the airports to ask them to call me.  Steve left a message on Austin's baggage services voicemail.  Hours later, still no call from either airport on where exactly our bags are or when we can get them back.  Hopefully tomorrow... since otherwise we are getting them on Sunday, just as if we had left them in Austin to wait for us.

In the meantime, we are OK.  It could be so much worse.  We have somewhere free to stay.  Yes, that dang cabbie gouged us on our fare, but it pales in comparison to the money other people are spending to stay in a city that isn't their final destination for another 3 or 4 days.  We don't have babies who have no diapers or formula left... and no stroller because it was checked baggage.  We don't have children crying because their vacations have been cancelled or they don't understand why they can't get home.  We aren't missing work or planned activities and losing deposits and entire vacations.  We aren't sleeping at the airport or stuck in a hotel with nowhere to wash our one set of clothes.

Except for the baggage debacle, this is a best-case scenario for having a cancelled flight.  Granted, I hope to never spend 16 hours in an airport ever again, unless I am doing it willingly.  I am not happy with how Southwest handled things, but there's no point in being upset about it.  It's a blip; life goes on.  We aren't missing anything important.  We're fine.  We will hopefully be home on Sunday evening... as long as that new winter storm doesn't get in our way.  It has just been a frustrating, colorful travel experience that we can look back on and say "Well, at least it's not as bad as that one time!"