Still in San Francisco. It’s almost six in the morning. I left the airport at the beginning of Seattle being blown away by wind and made it to this airport in time to catch Seattle being blown away by the Niners. But not in time to catch my connecting flight. I did try. I was in full sprint ducking and dodging the people in the way. Much like the Ultimate Warrior in Wrestlemania VIII, I started sprinting without realizing how far I had to go. It’s probably half a mile, but it isn’t that great to run with a backpack and a hoodie. I made it to check-in and the machine didn’t print my tickets.
I talked to a woman standing around helping people and she told me I missed my flight. I told her the screen says it’s delayed, she asked what time was on it, I told her no time was listed, but she insisted that I missed my flight and directed me to the desk. Everyone in line for that desk was unhappy. Some guy tried to cut because he was running late. Except he didn’t realize that all twenty people in line were running late, so he got the good old “WE’VE GOT A CUTTER!” and a bunch of boos. The desk assistant explained that he had to wait in line. As he walked away, he looked to the sky, threw his hands in the air and screamed “God can you help me?!” Answer: not if you’re booked with United. Then he stood in line for half an hour like the rest of us.
The guy at the desk spoke a few phrases in Tagalog and laughed a whole lot. Sort of like my dad. He got me a pass for standby at 9:00am. I said ok and made the long journey to the USO area, which was back at the other terminal. It’s always depressing in here. Since it’s all military, it’s usually full of lonely people on their way to see family but got stuck here by a cancelled or delayed flight. I left to find some food.
Later in the night, I decided to talk to an Alaska (who provided the Seattle to San Francisco flight) representative. I used to wonder what the big deal was about choosing an airline, aren’t they all the same? Now I know. For whatever reason, the lady was able to help me find a flight on United as well as one on Alaska. She booked me with United but I’d have to talk to them for the tickets. So I walked back over again.
Back at United, guess who helps me at the desk? The lady who told me I missed my flight. She asks what happened and I told her I missed my flight. At this point she recognized me. I showed her what the Alaska rep printed out for me and she got to booking it. Except there was some problem about linking the tickets so she called another rep for help. The new girl took a look at my itinerary and asked the first lady (rhetorically) how I missed it since it was delayed until 10:00. The first lady may have recognized me before, but this is when she truly remembered me. I could see in her eyes that she knew exactly what she told me earlier. Then the girl got me a seat on the same flight that I was put on standby on earlier in the night.
Terrible experience. Everyone I talked to was really nice and I’m understanding of how busy it was. What I don’t understand is why they were able to put me on standby without being able to see that my original flight was still around. I could’ve taken a taxi to a supermarket, made a sandwich, took a power nap, and still got on it with time to to make another sandwich. See you in Hawaii!
[Update: I’m about to board the plane. I’ll never be this happy to leave San Francisco again in my life probably. Here’s a video of me walking through the airport from the Alaska gate toward United. I ran out of space so I only make it about halfway. I’m not trying to trick you or lie to you when I say: this is a huge waste of time to watch.]