Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Wanderers 2007.5.15

Scene One:

Mom got a computerized call in the wee hours of this morning informing her of a change of itinerary on United Airlines: her flight had been canceled, with the new one scheduled in at 8:30 PM instead of 3 PM.

Arriving early at the airport, given the pre-scheduled shuttle, she rebooked via Seattle but that flight was pulled for safety reasons, after passengers had already boarded, meaning she's now wait listed on the flight in at 8:30, with a backup confirmed in at 10 PM.

We call that "being jerked around" in the airline biz, but fortunately the customer in this case, age 78, is a veteran flyer and knows how to roll with the punches.

On my end, it's an ever-changing pickup time, meaning how much of Wanderers I'll make is still a mystery.

Scene Two:

Nirel did a great job laying out her dream of a cafe/lounge in this particular Seattle property that speaks to her. I've written about her project before in this blog. We all know I'm a big Nirel fan, in addition to being a Katie Couric fan. Count me a Condi fan too, talk of policies aside.

Scene Three:

Mom really felt for the airline clerks, especially this one who got 130 unhappy campers from the deboarded plane to Seattle, some missing international connections, all lined up and mad. Her own scenario worked out pretty well, with a comfortable seat on an Airbus that arrived some 20 minutes early, closer to 8 PM.

Tara and I retrieved her, and her bags, from PDX. She was amazed and pleased that her bags had made it as well, given her earlier wait listed status.