Complete Disaster

I’m supposed to be en-route to Iceland right now. But where am I? Back at my house in Atlanta. The whole morning was a nightmare. I missed the first part of my flight from Atlanta to New York, not because my alarm did not go off, not because of traffic, not because of long lines at security, but because of a gate change.

Honestly, I am so completely frustrated right now. I was at the airport in plenty of time. Got checked in within minutes. Was through security in no time and all. Stopped off to grab some breakfast. Checked the information board to make sure the gate on my boarding pass, matched the one being announced. Then made my way to the “correct” gate.

I’m sitting there with a lot of time to spare, so I start reading my magazine. As it gets close to the time I should be boarding, I am looking up constantly to see if the staff is readying everything for a fast boarding process and an on time departure. They are not really, so I figure there is a short delay. Then I notice the inbound aircraft has just arrived and all the passengers are disembarking. Which means it will be another while before they tidy the plane and start our boarding. At this point my usual drill would be to get up, check the sign at my gate to confirm I am getting on the right flight. But I didn’t. I told myself to “relax, your fine, just wait to be called”. Eventually they did call but they were looking for all passenger headed for New Orleans to step forward. What?? Wait a second here. No, no, I’m going to New York, NOT New Orleans. I instantly panic. I run up to the counter and ask what happened to the New York flight. Dude casually informs me that it was moved to another gate. Are you shitting me??? Where? What gate? Tell me now? He tells me the gate and I immediately begin my sprint. I’m freaking out. Please be delayed, please be delayed, is all I’m repeating. But wouldn’t you know, the damn flight left on time, without me. Nightmare. Complete nightmare.

I now have to get to a help desk to try and get the next available flight to New York so I can try and make my connection to Iceland, but I know it’s a long shot. The desk can’t help me cos I booked it through an on-line company, so I need to call them directly. I do and when I tell you I was on the phone for just under 2 hours, trying to sort the whole mess out, I am not kidding. 2 hours. All flights to New York for the rest of the day are full and even if I could get to New York, the other flight to Iceland today, is sold out. The best they can do is book me for the following day, Saturday and on Saturdays there is only one flight to Iceland from New York and that’s in the evening, meaning I will not get to Iceland until Sunday morning. I am so mad. I’m mad at myself for not checking the sign at the gate and I’m mad as hell at the airlines or airport or who ever is responsible for announcing the gate change information. I am so mad. But mad will not solve anything, so I’m trying my best to relax. The situation is what it is; there is nothing I can do. But I’m not convinced. And I’m not calming down anytime soon. So as it stands right now, I am re-booked to be on the flight tomorrow. I will have missed 2 days of my trip cos of this fiasco, but at least I’m still going. It’s just so annoying. What else is annoying is that I don’t know where my bags are. I am hoping they are on their way to Iceland and waiting for me to get there. I expressed my concern to the Delta attendant and he seemed to be very calm and confidant that they will arrive on the flight I was suppose to be one and will be waiting patiently for my arrival. I hope he’s right, cos I managed to pack most of my wardrobe in those bags. So fingers crossed. Surely I am due a break at this point.