Airline Hell

On the Sunday that Lindsey was to fly home, we all got up and ready, hitting the road to New Jersey to have her at the airport in plenty of time to check-in and find her gate. We made the trip with no problems as traffic was light with it being a Sunday. Parking went smoothly, and we located her check-in easily enough. She got her boarding passes printed, and her back checked, coming in at 49 lbs., just under that 50 mark.

Just as we think that things are going just as planned, Lindsey checks her flight, and it has been delayed…just long enough that she won’t make her connecting flight in Charlotte. So, we get in the American Airlines support line and wait our turn. The person we get is wonderful and tries her best to work something out for us, but by this time, all the flights are delayed, and everything is already a mess. Turns out that there is a massive line of storms south of our area that was delaying all flights in and out of not only New Jersey but NYC too. Since she can’t help us, she gives us a number to call AA to see if they can do something. The person that we get on the phone is another amazingly helpful soul. She works her magic and transfers us to a Delta flight that is still on target for the connecting flight.

We make the trek over to Terminal B because Delta is over there instead of where we were. We took their little monorail that gave me flashbacks of Disney and made me want to be at the happiest place on earth. Before the day was over, I wished that more for more reasons than a monorail. Right after getting to the new terminal and finding the Delta area, we get in line with our AA transfer paper for Linds to get new boarding passes. As we wait, and it’s a long wait, the Delta flight gets delayed and won’t make the connection. While still in line, we call AA back and explain the new situation and find out that there is no way Lindsey will get back to Lousiana that day. Plus, the earliest flight she can get would be the next morning out of LaGuardia, not Newark, meaning that we would have to drive into the city.

Frustrated, we hopped the air tram back over to Terminal A and made our way to our car. Remember, Lindsey’s bag has already been checked at this airport to go on a flight that at this point has been canceled. So, in addition to the stress of having to redo her Monday workday, she is worried about her bag. It was a long 1 1/2 hour trip back to the RV park.

Once we got back to the RV, we had to eat supper early and hit the bed around 8 P.M. because we had to be up at 2 A.M. the next morning to head to the airport for Lindsey’s early morning flight out of LaGuardia. We all got a few hours sleep and hit the road again, this time into New York City. To say that Ronnie was a stressed mess when we got into the city would be a gross understatement. The last thing he had planned to do on this trip was to drive into NYC. The drive in really wasn’t bad because there aren’t many people on the road at 4 A.M. in the city.

Parking at LaGuardia wasn’t as easy as Newark as they have construction work going on with their garages. We finally get parked and make our way to the Terminal. Linds got her boarding passes printed, and we said our goodbyes, leaving her in the very long TSA line. With all of the prior day’s flights ultimately getting canceled, the 5:45 flight was packed. Ronnie & I hung out at the airport until we knew that her flight was actually in the air, just in case it got delayed or canceled again. Then we made our way out of the city, with more traffic, and headed back to the KOA.

This was moving day for us, so we had to get back and get our RV ready to leave out of the park by 11 AM. The trip back was fine, and we moved with no problem. Fortunately, we were only moving a few miles down the road with about an hour drive and going to a park we were already familiar with. By the time we arrived and got everything set up, we were exhausted. These old folks aren’t used to days and nights like we had.

The good news is that Lindsey made her flights with no problem and arrived back in Baton Rouge safely. Her sister picked her up from the airport, greeting her with Chick-fil-A and a sweet tea. If you talked to Lindsey while she was up here, you would know she missed her sweet tea. Also, her bag from the day before was already in Baton Rouge, so she didn’t even have to make a trip back. In the end, it all worked out, but we were all a little stressed along the way…Ronnie most of all. But, he can now say that he drove in New York City (yes, I said it in the Pace commercial voice).

Here are a couple of photos I snapped that day.

We hated to say goodbye, but she was ready to get back home by this point.

Kat tried to sneak a ride back to LA in Lindsey’s suitcase.

These two days were my first experience with airlines and airports. From what we experienced, American Airlines was helpful every step of the way. They had knowledgeable people that tried their best to help us. Dealing with Delta was a little different. Actually, we never really got to deal with them because their lines were so long and they weren’t moving people, so AA had our problem fixed before we ever got to a Delta person. If, and it’s a big if, I ever fly, I think I will go with AA.

We had a great time with Lindsey while she was with us. She dealt with the fact we couldn’t open our slides like a champ. It is was tight quarters, but we made the best of it. Now, it was time to settle in for a few weeks and try to get some RV repairs taken care of.

**All photos in this post were taken with an iPhone X and are unedited.