Airport Delays

Day 90:  So I did do my doodle yesterday, but we got in so late I didn't post until today.  Before we
left for the airport we saw that our flight was going to be delayed by ~2 hours.  I called, and the customer service girl said that was only an estimate, and that we should still arrive on time.  By the time we got to the airport our flight was now going to be ~5 hours delayed.  After 2 hours, I checked, and again, our boarding time changed again to only ~3 hours delayed.  They started boarding.  Then they stopped.  Turns out they overbooked the flight by 15 people.  So, they had to go and get names and seats of the folks that already boarded.  Then they start boarding 150 people--BY NAME.  We happened to be sitting on the floor, and we heard the guy give our seats away!  So, when we were finally called, I said with a smile, "I am guessing you will be reassigning our seats since I heard you give them away?"  So he did..he wrote seats on the back.  I wished him good luck and happy holidays and we boarded the plane.

Not 2 minutes after we sat down, some folks came in and said, "Excuse me, you are in our seats."  I told the steward, the gate agent wrote down the seats for us.  So, we got to stay.  It took 1.5 hours to get everyone to board the plane.  We think we are getting ready to go, and then the gate agent comes on to collect our boarding passes...it seems they were still showing an open seat, but there were not.  Then he comes back again.  After three more runs through the plane, and almost 2 hours later, we finally shut the door.  The rest of the flight was uneventful except for the fact that we didn't get home until about 1:30 am.

Its hard to be mad at the initial delay--they experienced a fiber cut by Verizon.  And, they did send us an email letting us know the cause of delay.  The gate agent had to deal with many angry people, but he wasn't the one who overbooked the plane.  However, there didn't seem to be a clear resolution or training on how to fix effectively.  There were a LOT of unhappy people-especially those who were left behind.  And I felt really badly for the airline attendants as folks on board tended to take it out on them. I tried to keep it real because being cranky just wouldn't help anything.  I will be contacting the airline to let them know my observations and concerns.  In the meantime, I hope I conveyed some grace in the situation as an example to my son.

Thank the Lord, we made it home safely, and I thank the airline for that.

Please, God, bless.

"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly." Proverbs 14:29 ESV 

Inspired by "365: A Daily Creativity Journal: Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life!" I decided I should be more conscientious of my creative side. I chose to modify this one year challenge (9/23/14-9/24/15) to create something each day that would also force me to focus my perspective on a Godly world-view.