O'Hare! Oh...Hare!!
So, I haven't left town yet, but yesterday night, I had a vicarious adventure through the professor. The professor was flying home from Western New York. He had a layover in O'Hare, which wasn't really on the way to Kentucky, but whatever, that's how modern air travel works. O'Hare is Chicago's enormous airport. We also like to call it the professor's black hole. If he flies into O'Hare, odds are that he'll be stuck there for some reason. Bad weather, malfunctioning plane, astrological conflict, who knows....but it's very bad luck for my professor.
Yesterday evening was no different. His first flight lands at O'Hare and--crap. His flight to Nashville is cancelled. The airline offers him, get this, standby on a 6:40 AM flight, but they won't pay for a hotel, and and and...if he can't get on that flight? They assure him a seat on a 4 pm flight today, Wednesday. Those were his only options at the enormous airport, O'Hare. Now, believe it or not, professors have to teach classes, and today, Wednesday, the professor's class is taking an exam. So, he kind of wanted to be there, in his classroom, at the appointed time.
He was getting ready to find a nearby hotel room when my brain clicked into gear. Wait! What about that other airport? Midway? So, I rushed around online and found him a direct flight home on Southwest. Then, there's those silly 30 miles of distance between the two airports, with a very short travel time. I find a shuttle between the two airports, tell the professor how to get on it...
AND...he finds it! Then, assured of one hour of travel time between airports...
I book a new flight for the professor online. He makes the flight at Midway. I do my best to stay up and knit until I hear he is on the airplane bound for Nashville. The dogs and I go to sleep, but shortly before 1 AM, the professor crawls into bed. At home.
Hurray!!! The true hero of this story? The internet. No way I could have fixed this for him without it. We, however, broke even, since a hotel near a big city airport on short notice would only have been perhaps $50 less than our two airport, new flight solution. Best of all, the professor himself will be at the front of his classroom, possibly dozing, as his students take their exam. Tomorrow? We fly to Philadelphia. Thank goodness it isn't through (OH HELL!) O'Hare.
Right. Back to my knitting...
Yesterday evening was no different. His first flight lands at O'Hare and--crap. His flight to Nashville is cancelled. The airline offers him, get this, standby on a 6:40 AM flight, but they won't pay for a hotel, and and and...if he can't get on that flight? They assure him a seat on a 4 pm flight today, Wednesday. Those were his only options at the enormous airport, O'Hare. Now, believe it or not, professors have to teach classes, and today, Wednesday, the professor's class is taking an exam. So, he kind of wanted to be there, in his classroom, at the appointed time.
He was getting ready to find a nearby hotel room when my brain clicked into gear. Wait! What about that other airport? Midway? So, I rushed around online and found him a direct flight home on Southwest. Then, there's those silly 30 miles of distance between the two airports, with a very short travel time. I find a shuttle between the two airports, tell the professor how to get on it...
AND...he finds it! Then, assured of one hour of travel time between airports...
I book a new flight for the professor online. He makes the flight at Midway. I do my best to stay up and knit until I hear he is on the airplane bound for Nashville. The dogs and I go to sleep, but shortly before 1 AM, the professor crawls into bed. At home.
Hurray!!! The true hero of this story? The internet. No way I could have fixed this for him without it. We, however, broke even, since a hotel near a big city airport on short notice would only have been perhaps $50 less than our two airport, new flight solution. Best of all, the professor himself will be at the front of his classroom, possibly dozing, as his students take their exam. Tomorrow? We fly to Philadelphia. Thank goodness it isn't through (OH HELL!) O'Hare.
Right. Back to my knitting...
posted by Joanne at 11:12 AM
6 Comments:
Man, that was some quick thinking and fancy footwork on the internet. Way to go! It's for a great cause, too. :-)
OH HELL O'HARE
WHY I LOVE MEGABUS!
Man-oh-man is O'Hare a nightmare. I've switched planes there, running the length of it, and never wanted to go there again. You did a great job handling it!
you rock! glad he made it home!
O'Hare was a nightmare when I traveled through there 40 years ago one Christmas. I see it hasn't changed. I fact service seems to be worse everywhere. The customer is NEVER right.
Wonderful thing 'tinternet (as the kids in Yorkshire call it!). I am always suprised when my luggage (and me) makes it through Schipol (Amsterdam) which is equally huge & if you want to go anywhere from the North of England, is the ineviatble alternative to Heathrow! Now to catch up on your previous posts......
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