The first leg of the flight was non-eventful. Then we arrived in Chicago and our day took a drastic turn. As we landed, we learned our connection was several hours delayed to the various storms around the U.S. We started checking the boards frequently because our flight was continually being delayed and switching gates.
Then it got really exciting as they cancelled our flight. Can I say a little bit of panic set in? I am in Chicago with 3 small kids, no car, no luggage, and it's the day before Christmas Eve. The next flight they could confirm us on was over 24 hours away.
Sweet Linda, the United counter agent, could see the panic on my face. She helped us arrange stand-by flights. She helped me get a hotel room for the just in case. (Can I remind you at this point that we have had only 5-6 hours of sleep and no naps.)
The perk was that Chicago O'Hare airport has this awesome Children's area where my children spent many hours playing.
There was another perk as well. Some friends from church were on the same flight. They have a boy near the age of Crash. Crash was thrilled. They walked through the airport hand in hand. They played together in the pretend airplane.
Thank you Chicago O'Hare for this ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismissal day.
The next flight to our destination had us as #20-#24 for stand-by so it didn't look good. I kept watching the screen as our names miraculously moved up. Apparently, many people all over the U.S. were missing connections. We had to sprint but we made it on one of the last flights out of O'Hare airport before they closed it due to weather conditions.
We made it and so did our luggage. Double bonus! We were tired, hungry, and tired. It was a very long day. Thankfully, the flight home was very boring and on time.
I am just so glad I did not spend Christmas in Chicago.
1 comment:
Oh no! I'm glad things ended up working out. It looks like the boys had fun while you were stressing.
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