[Today’s run: 3.4 miles (Watson Road)]
I had another quick trip out to Colorado at the end of last week. The boss wanted me to be there for the installation of some new equipment. I flew out of GTR on Wednesday. We did our work on Thursday and Friday.
I had set aside Saturday in case work overflowed, but it didn’t. Saturday morning I ran the Coyote Ridge trail which goes up into the foothills between Ft. Collins and Loveland. I ate lunch with Daughter and Son-In-Law. Then I took a short drive up the Poudre Canyon.
Sunday was a travel day. I got up early and got myself down to the Denver airport. The flight from Denver to Atlanta was redirected to Huntsville, AL for refueling due to a weather problem over Atlanta. By the time we landed in Atlanta my flight to GTR had left without me.
There are only three flights to GTR a day, all from Atlanta. I was scrambling with lots of other people to try to get my schedule rearranged. I called on a courtesy phone and the lady said I was now set for the evening (last) flight. Later I tried to print a boarding pass but the kiosk thing wouldn’t do it so I waited in a line and spoke to a woman who printed my pass. It said “standby” which was not encouraging. But she told me to go and wait.
So I waited for that flight for a few hours. People slowly converged. Eventually the gate attendant lady said the flight was overbooked and she started asking for volunteers to take $500 and then $600 to bump to the next day. I thought, this doesn’t look too good for Mr Standby. I spoke to her. No, I was not eligible for the $600. Not only that, but there were no empty seats on the next day’s flights. I could not get a seat until Tuesday. (I wonder if the people taking her $500 knew that!) She said I should talk to a customer service person. So I found another courtesy phone. This time the lady gave me the straight scoop: no way I was going to get to GTR by plane in a reasonable amount of time. But she could get me to Birmingham. So I took that.
While I was waiting a few more hours for the Birmingham flight, my wife found a hotel for me with Expedia.
I eventually did get to Birmingham and the hotel shuttle picked me up. The hotel was an “older property” but the bed was OK and I got a good night’s sleep. The internet didn’t work and the breakfast buffet was $7.95, so I skipped it.
This morning I called the official corporate travel agency and they were not much help. Back to the wife and her Expedia: she fixed me up with a rental car. I summoned an Uber driver who quickly arrived and took me to the rental car place where I acquired the car and drove home. Instead of 3:30 PM I finally made it home around 10 AM, and glad to get there.
This is not the first time I’ve had a problem getting home to GTR. Flying out is great, the place is only a few miles away. But the limited return options can be a real bummer.
Looking back, I wish the first of the four Delta employees I spoke to would have looked at the stacked up demand for the GTR flights and given me straight information. I could have gotten a rental car in Atlanta soon after I arrived and been home Sunday evening instead of sitting in the airport for another 7 hours (and another overnight).
Later we took the rental car to GTR to return it to the rental agency. So I did get to visit GTR today.