Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Small world is smaller when you work for an airline

Adventures in travel. It's one of the reasons I work for an airline. Well, it was the only reason I went to work for an airline. It's a lot of what keeps me working for an airline, despite the last several years of doom and gloom.

Our magic carpet. That's what Cameron calls it. Sometimes that carpet flies and sometimes it doesn't.

13 hours to get from LAX to Atlanta? Okay, so some flights left without us but we got to see Maria McWilliams and Renault Banks in LAX. We got to see Sharon Bauserman in Denver. We wouldn't have seen any of them if those flights had gone as planned.

17 hours from Atlanta to LAX? Well, that first flight went smoothly and didn't seen anyone we knew. As we stepped off the plane in Chicago, though... uh oh. There was Maria again. Maria has a year more seniority than I do. She'd been trying to get to LAX all day.

1st flight to LAX for us? We were #32 and 34 out of 68 for ZERO seats. Time to reconnect with old friends. Maria called up David Robinson and I sent out a Facebook SOS, as well as a couple of emails. Hey, if we weren't stuck I wouldn't have talked to Lu or David R or David L! Next flight wasn't any better. No, we were #52 and 53 out of 93. With zero seats available.

Next flight? Oh no. Renault. Renault is retired and he was #30 on the list with no seats. I looked up to see Michael Burny in line for the flight. I was so happy to see him! Not just because I like Michael so much, but he has LESS seniority than I do!!! Someone else I knew would be on the list with a higher number than one of ours. Someone new to hang out with in O'Hare.

No, that wasn't the plan. Michael was on positive space as he happened to plan a sales call in Chicago that day. The same day that everyone else is trying to fly after a holiday. The same day that everyone wants to get to LA for Michael Jackson's funeral. Michael Burny got on the flight.

Lu saved the day with his creativity and we ended up in the last two seats - as David R texted us through the DM countdown - on a flight to Salt Lake City. But our flight was late and we were not going to make the connection on UA SLC-LAX. But WAIT!! The flight to LAX was using the very airplane we just came in on.

And guess who just happened to get the last two seats on that flight to LAX? In First Class?

I hope Renault and Maria got home.

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