Since Northwest Airlines has a hub in my home city of Minneapolis I have been lucky to have mostly direct flights home over the years. But I've had plenty of stories along the way... like when I flew home at the end of freshman year on United Airlines with a connection in Chicago. I arrived at Logan in the pouring rain to find out my flight to Chicago was delayed and would I like to get on the stand-by list for an earlier one? After consulting with Papa Lipinski I decided to do so, but sat at my gate crying as I was worried I'd miss my flight out of Chicago and be stuck alone in Illinois for the night (mind you I had also taken 2 finals that day, packed up my room and bid my friends good-bye for a whole 3 months so I was a little emotional).
Thankfully I made it to Chicago (though if I hadn't gotten on the earlier flight I would have actually missed my connection) and sprinted through O'Hare towards what I thought was my gate. When I arrived panting at my gate I checked the board behind the check-in desk and saw that it indeed listed my flight to Minneapolis. Whilst on the phone with my dad, I noted how many Asian people were on the flight but didn't think anything of it until I was walking down the gateway to the plane and I hear a frantic "Miss Lipinski! Miss Lipinski! You're on the wrong flight!"
Ummm what?
I hung up the phone and turned around to see a flight attendant chasing me down the walkway who promptly informed me that I was on the wrong flight. When I told her what flight I was on she said the gate had moved, to which I replied "But the sign above the desk says this is the right gate"
"Oh yeah that's wrong," she replied. (Gee, thanks lady).
"So where's this plane going?" I asked. The response?
"China."
UMMM WHAT I ALMOST BOARDED A FLIGHT TO CHINA?!?!!? I quickly found the correct gate and made it home to MN only a couple hours delayed... and then my luggage wasn't there. Apparently it never made it out of Chicago (but at least it didn't go to China) yet it got sent to my house the next day.
I've had many more almost mishaps, like sophomore year when the car driving me to the airport called to say it was running an hour late cause it was stuck in traffic and they'd reimburse me if I missed my flight... (again, gee, thanks) or when I was going home for Thanksgiving this year and walked out to my car at 4:45 am to find it completely frosted over and I had to scrape the ice off of it, which meant I missed the bus I was aiming for and got to the airport much later than intended. Knock on wood though, I have never in my life missed a flight and I've been flying since I was 3 months old.
Because of the recent Northwest & Delta Airlines merger, I'll be flying out of Terminal A tomorrow instead of my trusty Terminal E, which actually bums me out a little (yes, I'm a loser like that). I've gotten to know Terminal E very well over the years and the Starbucks located in it has made for very pleasant early mornings. Though I know there's one in Terminal A too as that's where we fly out of for spring break.
I love to fly, if you can't tell. I'm able to get so much work done on flights or just chill and watch a movie on my laptop if I want. Also it typically leads me to places I really want to go; in this case, home to relax for a few days :)
I wish you all a very happy Easter, and remember, next time you fly... make sure you're at the right gate or else you may end up in Asia ; )
No comments:
Post a Comment