And just like that, I've had it with this winter thing. Yesterday, I was that annoying person who, if you complained about how long it's lasting this year, happily chirped "I don't mind!" Today, you'd get a "****, no kidding".
Right now, I'm supposed to be taxi-ing down a runway. Two hours from now, I'm supposed to be hanging out with my sister. Except there is this stupid storm. I of course was all smug and saw the weather come in and decided to leave for the airport early so as to, you know, not get caught in the storm. Brilliant plan, that. Because the 16:15 flight to Thunder Bay? Canceled. The one after that? Oh, canceled too. The one after that: full, with 14 people on the waiting list (for a plane that barely holds twice that many people). The one after that? Oversold, of course! After that? The airport closes.
(I am fully aware that the waiting list is probably MUCH longer now that the people for the next flight are starting to trickle in. And if seats become available, it goes by booking class. Where do you suppose a "rewards" - i.e. frequent flier points - ticket fits...? And yet I wait. My secret hope is that all those OTHER people, they could be caught up in this mess too as they come in on flights that would connect to this one. And then there will magically be seats, for me me me!)
The lounge has free beer. I have already eaten many free cookies. And I thought, no beer for me, because I'll likely be driving later - in a snowstorm at that - but I just realized that if I wait for the last plane to go, that is still five hours from now. THAT is plenty of time for a beer to clear my bloodstream, no?
So winter? I am SO over it.
Edited to add: Another flight canceled. So now we're down to one of four going, and it was oversold to begin with. What do you suppose my odds are? Yeah, me too. However: in a storm, during rush-hour, where would you rather be - at the airport, with a slim chance to make it onto a flight but free snacks, or stuck in traffic during a snowstorm on the country's busiest highway, heading for home which is totally devoid of snacks because you were going away for the weekend? I can wait.
(I still like winter storms. I still don't like airports, especially not when words like canceled and delayed are in the picture. I am experiencing cognitive dissonance.)
Edited to add some more: I never made it onto any planes. After the crowded but orderly boozing-it-up I saw in the lounge, the gate areas were crowded but without the booze. I'm pretty impressed by the way the Air Canada ground agent handled a couple of impossibly belligerent would-be passengers. I was one of the luckier ones because I could just get back on the train to my car, pay my "reduced rate" of $14 for an afternoon (and evening) of parking and go home to my own bed.
Now, what to do with a weekend without plans?
Posted by Johanna at February 29, 2008 04:08 PM