This Really Happened

We’ve all heard or been a part of a few nightmare travel experiences.   I just had one that you would expect in a third world country with some local fly by night organization with shady undertones.   But no, this was in the good old USA involving companies you know of.   Maybe you even like these companies.   I don’t.

It started Friday with a text from United Airlines saying my flight from Seattle to Chicago was going to be an hour late because of a technical issue.   Okay, that was still going to work.   I needed to catch a connection to Grand Rapids because I was on my way to my son’s college graduation at Calvin College.   There was still a small window even though I would need to scamper from Concourse C to Concourse E.   But then I got another text saying the flight was going to be another hour late and get in after 9:00 p.m.   That was a big problem because the connector flight departure was 9:05 p.m.   If you have any knowledge of O’Hare Airport you know that it’s 15 minutes at a dead sprint from Concourse C to Concourse E.   I just plain wasn’t going to catch the connection.   So I knew they would put me up in a hotel, or I could drive to Grand Rapids which is about three and a half hours.   I had done that drive at night four years earlier, and had done it early morning the reverse way as my son and I drove back to Seattle last May.   When we finally arrived in Chicago and deplaned at 9:30 the last flight of the night to Grand Rapids was probably approaching Gerald Ford Field.

It turns out a lot of people had missed their connections.   So they sent us to a customer service area manned by two people.   I was about 30 back in the queue and there were at least that many behind me.   I recognized the family that had the little girl of about three who had sat one row behind me. The little girl had been great but had cried as we were landing as most little kids do because they don’t know to pop their ears with a yawning motion.   Also the couple I was sitting with was right behind me, they were on their way to Cincinnati.   I asked the lady next to me if she was on the same flight, no she was coming from Omaha on a delayed flight and missed her connection.   I struck up a conversation with a nice couple returning from vacation in Seattle and Vancouver, they were heading to Cleveland.   This was going to be a long process.

Fortunately it was less than an hour as United added a couple more folks to the service area.   They also took the back of the queue to another area.   So I was thinking as the guy was helping me, okay, a hotel and food vouchers with shuttle service seemed a lot better than driving at this point.   Apparently there was a Howard Johnson’s in Addison still taking reservations.   I saw several guests all get similar reservations.   This must be a big hotel to have so much space.

I had to ask directions where the shuttle pick up area was, it was dark and confusing and not signed.   But I figured out it was over across the way by the Marriott, which looked like a real nice place.   I waited for quite a while and watched just about every known hotel shuttle come and go.   Meanwhile I was aware of the growing murmurs of the Howard Johnson’s contingent.   Where was our shuttle?   Eventually a van that looked more like a station wagon pulled up.   About 30 or 40 people swarmed to it so most of us just stepped back and let a couple families crawl in.   The driver said a bus would come back in 20 minutes.   So conversations began and I got to know several people.   One guy going to Howard Johnson’s had been sent by American Airlines because of a delayed flight.   Oh, this must be a go to hotel for the airlines.   That actually made me feel comforted.  Turns out this guy was actually doing the reverse of me, he was on his way to Seattle.   The nice couple I had been talking to from Cleveland in the line paid for a taxi and offered to pay the fare for a young woman and her three kids.   These were nice folks.

Finally a good 45 minutes later the “bus” came.   It was just a full sized van but I squeezed in with the guy going to Seattle and the family who had been behind me on my inbound flight and the woman who was on the Omaha flight.   In total we got 13 plus the driver crammed in the van.

Addison is actually a good ten or more miles from the airport.   We took a while to get there.   My first impression was oh oh, this is a little place and my second impression was, oh no, there are people everywhere.   The lobby was tiny and the crowd overflowed to the parking lot and into the little breakfast area.   There was a single frazzled lady helping us and she was slow!   I circled around and secured a place in the queue.   But then more people came in!   And then even more.   And people who had reservations came too.   The lady with the three kids who took the taxi came into the lobby and said there was no bed and no lights in her room.   What?   She was given another room.   Over the course of 30 minutes the woman helped about three customers.   Finally another woman showed up who had been called in.   After blurting an exclamation of horror when she saw the place she asked the other lady “What have you done?   We don’t have rooms for all these people!   You are supposed to check the bottom for a availability not just keep saying yes when the airlines call.”

So, then a second person came into the lobby to announce “there is no bed in my room”.   We were all kind of laughing nervously wondering where the camera was.   We were certainly being punked!   The mother of the family from the seats behind me on the inbound flight wondered out loud if they had removed mattresses because of a bedbug issue.   Then the first attendant said to the other, Some of the rooms are dirty and have not been cleaned, but I’m not sure which ones.   The guy on his way to Seattle said he would hold my spot if I asked a taxi sitting outside to return us to the airport.   I went outside and he said sure so I waved to the guy.   The family of four rushed out too.   Yes we could all fit for $10 each.   Deal!   So off we went back to the airport.

Our only plan was to find someplace comfortable to lounge in the airport.   We managed to find an unlocked door.   Yes, they actually close the lobby for a few hours.   TSA screening was closed so I found a couple seats and tried to shut my eyes. But as it would be I was darn right cold and they were doing construction around the corner because that is the only time of day they can run jack hammers.  Anyway I just sat there until after 3:00 a.m. and finally went through security to the waiting area where I proceeded to just hang out for another four hours for my flight.

My selfie, trying to get some rest around 3:00 a.m.

It was a bad night.   It messed me up for the graduation day, Saturday.   But I’m glad I went and my son was glad to see me.   It was a miserable night but it makes a memory and something to blog about.   That’s what life is, a bunch of memories.   Some are better than others.