My Dad has what I consider to be one of the coolest jobs on the planet. He is a pilot for American Airlines and travels all sorts of places all the time. (It got really weird when a coffee barista in Honolulu recognized him as a frequent customer.) One of the perks to being the daughter of a pilot is that my younger siblings and I grew up flying places around the U.S. and getting acquainted with several different airports. In fact, I remember when I started finding out that not everybody chooses to fly and that some of my friends had never even been on a plane before. It was such a foreign concept to me!
While we have the privilege of hopping on planes without paying the price for a ticket, it does mean that we have to fly standby. This basically means we get a seat only if there is a seat available. It makes sense and it seems fair. Usually this is not a problem and we can get to where we want to go with the exception of a few flights every now and then where we are bumped to the next one. If this happens we simply explore the airport, read at the gate, and wait patiently until there are seats for us. Sometimes we have to fly in groups and choose which people to leave behind. There was one time we were denied seats in first class because we were wearing jeans and that is not the proper dress code (for non-revenue passengers), so we had to wait three hours for the next flight. That never happened again, which means that every time I fly I'm wearing slacks. (A lot of people now ask me if I'm traveling for work.)
I thought I knew how to roll with the punches that come with flying standby, but never have I ever tried to fly in and out of LAX.
Los Angeles International Airport.
One of my very close friends is living in LA this summer because she is currently an intern for Warner Brothers! This is a really awesome opportunity for her, and of course I told her I would come and visit at some point this summer. Originally, my friend, Laura, and I were planning on going to see Claire, and the three of us had an entire weekend marked with a full itinerary.
Laura and I packed our bags and woke up at an ungodly hour on a Thursday morning (4am) to see if we could catch the first flight out of DFW. If we did not, there would be no worries because there was a flight departing for LAX every hour, and since we had been listed for the first flight, we would assuredly be given seats by the end of the day.
I have never seen anything like it. Full flights and oversold flights with more than 50 passengers on standby. Our names would bounce through the numbers in line going from the 40s to the teens and then back up to the 30s... we were getting nowhere. The day resulted in seven hours at the airport bouncing between gates and six missed flights. We gave up and went home after that feeling rather depressed.
2 weeks later, I told Claire I would try again. Why not at least try? However, this time I had very low expectations. I didn't want to get my hopes up! I packed a bag early on a Friday morning and planned to head to the airport after work. After talking to my Dad about how flights were looking, however, I saw that once again the plan was futile. There would be no traveling from DFW to LAX that day.
"Saturday looks like it might work though," he told me, so I planned to try in the morning instead. The last flight out of DFW on Friday night was cancelled, so this made things even more complicated. It looked like my only chance would be to opt for John Wayne in Orange County as my destination. I told Claire I would let her know if I caught a flight and told my Dad I would keep him updated and early that morning my Mom drove me out to the airport.
I got through security fine and made it to my gate, spotting my name as the seventh on the standby passenger list. I sat and began to read where I had left off in The Hobbit, wondering in the back of my mine how long my wait would be at the airport that day before I gave up again. Once the entire plane had been boarded I changed my seat to be closer to the gate agents so that I could easily get information about being rolled over to the next flight.
Then, to my surprise, the gate agent called my name! I walked up to the desk, a simple boarding pass that was only meant to get me through security in hand, waiting to see if I could trade it for an actual plane ticket with a seat number on it. The two ladies on their computers hardly paid me any attention as they balanced phone calls, read information, and printed documents in a rush to have all in order before the plane took off. Finally, one of them looked up and pointed a manicured finger at me saying, "You're a maybe."
Ok, a "maybe". I felt like that was my constant status with a running record of turning into a "no". But I could deal with that, so I patiently waited at the ticket-checking machine, not daring to get my hopes up, all the while watching the two gate agents stress about getting this plane properly loaded on time. After what might have been only a couple of minutes, the same lady with the manicure looked up again and commanded, "Alright Heidi, follow me," taking off quickly down the jet bridge.
This was really strange - something I have never done before. I've never strolled down the jet bridge without a legitimate ticket in hand. Of course, this could not mean that I actually had a seat, so still I tried not to be too hopeful. She did not even look back at me when we got down to the plane, and I knew it would be foolish to follow her on board, so I awkwardly stood off to the side next to a worker who was collecting strollers to load underneath. There were not any passengers in view, so I was left there feeling teased as they had brought me that close to the plane only so I could look at their anxious fingers itching to close the door and close me out. Would I watch it pull away from the bridge too? It was too cruel!
Finally, the gate agent stepped off the plane and acknowledged me again. "Row 19!" was all she said, indicating that there was no time to lose. Towing my bag behind me I entered the plane, and the male flight attendant looked at me impatiently and actually ordered me with these words: "Quick as a bunny." I would have laughed if I wasn't feeling so rushed!
As I stormed down the aisle as quickly as was possible without hitting other passengers with my carry-ons, I was beginning to think about how this was the first time I was only told a row to go to and not actually given a seat number. For a second I wanted to panic, but then I realized that with everyone else seated it would not be hard to find my seat. I had to text both my parents and Claire who were all waiting to hear if I had made this flight, and they were already telling us to put away our electronics. Only moments after I was seated, the plane began to back out of the terminal. I started to just breathe and try to go through everything that had just happened in my head, and that's when it first sunk in - I was actually going to be seeing my friend and spending my weekend in California!! I finally made it!
And it was well worth it. :)
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