View From the 23rd Row

(sorry in advance if this post is a bit disjointed, I've not feeling so good, heartbroken).

Delays
I was traveling this past weekend and made it into my airline's hub city early Sunday morning. This city is in the South, so wasn't affected by the snowstorm. But Washington DC was hit, however when I went to my gate for my flight to Regan National the flight was leaving on-time. Fifteen minutes later the customer service agent announces that the flight is delayed. I knew what that meant and ran to the Washington Dulles gate and got on that flight. I came to find out later that that National flight got canceled. I was so glad I made the change.

Delays are inevitable in air travel but knowing how to read a delay can help you to avoid getting stuck somewhere indefinitely.

The following delays probably mean you will get out, just a little later than expected:

• crew (waiting for a flight attendant or pilot to come)
• plane coming in from another destination

The following delays probably mean your flight is going to be canceled:

• Mechanical problems
• weather

In these instances, as soon as the gate agent announces the delay and why it is happening, go up to the agent and see if you can get on another flight to your destination. Don't wait around for the sad, "sorry to inform you this flight is canceled" notice, because at that point you are going to be lumped in with every other passenger. Check to see if a flight is going to an airport near where you wanted to go, i.e. you are scheduled to land at JFK, maybe there is similar timed flight to LaGuardia. My friend was scheduled on United to go from Charlotte to Las Vegas, but her flight was massively delayed, she went over to the US Airways counter and got the last seat on their Charlotte to Vegas flight - no extra charge and landed only three hours later than planned, much better than what happened to the rest of the passengers on her flight, a stay overnight in Charlotte cause the United flight couldn't come in that evening (due to weather). Just remember when a delay happens, don't panic, think of some alternative solutions and know that there is no harm in talking to a gate agent (that is what they are there for, to help you).

Sidenote - Men's short program last night, like I thought just a matter of who would land their jumps. Sad to see Sandu (Canada) and Lysachek (USA) self implode, good skaters who have lost a shot at a medal in 2 1/2 minutes.