We left Friday to
connect in Dallas. The plane arrived in
Mazatlan some 4 hours late, and naturally there was no connection out by the
time we arrived in Dallas just as the ice storm moved in. To add insult to injury (and the fact that the Metroplex was some
92% booked that night, according to an overheard conversation), we couldn't
re-check our luggage (we had to claim it to clear customs) because it was too
far ahead of our re-booked flight ... so we spent Friday night in the public
area of the airport with about 2,000 new-best-friends, pretending we could both get some rest and secure our belongings. LOL.
We thought, "Well, we'll have a nice dinner at the Hyatt." NOT! Sign posted that the restaurant was open only for registered guests that evening. We understood they were overwhelmed, but it certainly wasn't the welcome we were looking for. But the Starbucks in our lobby grabbed staff and food from other stands in the airport and remained open and well-stocked all night long, a very much appreciated extra effort.
Saturday Linda was in line
for FIVE HOURS to get re-booked, while I was recharging Devices and trying to reach the folks who booked us to see if THEY could help. In the end it was all up to American Airlines ... but we were too far down the list to get onto any
flight as stand-bys on Saturday.
They wanted to book us on a Monday afternoon flight,
but at the last second an opportunity popped up to fly to LaGuardia first thing
Sunday morning, make a VERY tight connection and get back to Chicago that
afternoon. So we were up at 4A to catch a 5A shuttle to a 6A plane. But, of course, the first plane out had to be de-iced, a
procedure at which the DFW crews are not skilled. We missed the LGA connection
by about 5 minutes.
Then, of course, (a)
we're standby again and (b) snow moves into LaGuardia. The last plane we
were standing by for got diverted to Boston, so we again took a hotel room and got ourselves booked on ... a Monday afternoon
flight. Mind you, our checked luggage has now been in Chicago for several days and we are ... well ... funky would work.
The small saving grace was that a local restaurant offered free shuttle service to and from their nice Italian place from any airport hotel. We took them up on that offer and enjoyed a good dinner in a substantially-deserted dining room -- the roads were just AWFUL.
At least we didn't have to get up early Monday -- our flight was at 2P. We enjoyed a late breakfast and got various administrative & craft goals accomplished. Hopped the noon shuttle, the plane left on time, and we finally got home early Monday evening with an impressive collection of boarding passes. Tuesday we were worthless, and we've been on the slow road to recovery these past few days. At least warm winds are arriving here in Chicago now!
