The rest of the story

My four and a half hour "nap" was, well, short.

I woke up at 4:20 AM, and the first thing I did was call the airline to see what happened to our original flight. The agent told me the flight had been cancelled. I said something to the effect of, you know, that's great, that's really good news, etc.

She replied, "That's not the usual reponse I get from that type of news..." I explained she confirmed I had just saved me and my co-workers from sitting around the airport for another two hours the night before!

We took a cab back to the airport, no traffic at 4:30 in the morning, go figure. Inside the terminal, there was mayhem. People lined up, kiosks not functioning, and none of us could check in. An airline rep overheard that we were going to Dulles, and instructed us that our flight had been cancelled. Yes, the NEW flight was also cancelled! "There were some delays last night," she told us. Yeah, thanks for that bit of info. We had to go wait in a line around the corner with the other "problem children" whose flights had also been cancelled.

We stood in the line for 45 minutes, and it didn't move once. I finally called the airline on the phone, and got an agent who said she would rebook us on another airline. After 5 minutes on hold, she came back and informed me that their outbound phone lines were down, and she was terribly sorry that she was unable to get us tickets on another airline.

Finally one of my coworkers went to the first class check-in line. She's a fiesty one, and so was able to pry some information from the ticket agent. Turns out OUR flight had not been cancelled, but an earlier flight to Dulles was cancelled. We got our boarding passes, went through security, and were told the flight was 10 minutes late.

An airplane actually pulled into the gate. That was a good sign. Then we were told the airplane needed some work. It would now leave at 7:10. Around 7:05, the pilot made an announcement from the ticket counter. That was not a good sign. The plane needed some parts, there was another Dulles-bound plane that needed different parts, so they were going to pillage the parts for our plane from the other broken aircraft.

7:45 they herded us on board. I asked the flight attendant when they planned to serve the steak and eggs, he replied, "as soon as the hash browns are cooked." 8:15 we actually went airborne.

8:15 and ten seconds, the guy in front of me cranks his seat back as far as it would go. I was seated in the very last row of the plane, and thus my seat would not recline even a fraction of a degree. I eventually propped my feet in such a way that my knees would dig into his back. Petty? Sure. Enjoyable? You bet. I was in no mood.

We landed, not expecting to actually see our luggage. Then, whaddya know, all of our bags showed up.

My boss offered to drive me home. We went outside, and the parking shuttle came right away. See? This trip wasn't so bad after all... Got our bags, didn't have to wait for the shuttle... there is, after all, some good news in all this!

Except for the dead car battery, that is.