Without a doubt, airports and flying can be stressful. At least, this was the case last weekend during our trip to Atlanta, Georgia. The trip out actually was not a problem, everything went super smooth. We enjoyed our time with good friends, ate incredible meals, celebrated a birthday, went to the Blue Ridge Mountains, shopped, and had so much fun relaxing. The early morning trip to the airport from their house with decent traffic was one hour. As always, when you are pulled up to the curb to unload, it’s chaotic with the number of cars pulling in and out vying for that coveted spot to unload cargo. We hugged our friend in a hurried fashion and began our marathon into the airport.
As much as I fly, every airport is different, and after we figured out the maze we needed to go through, we got through TSA, jumped on the tram to our concourse, and found Gate C35. At 8:30 am, my husband, Craig, and I found a seat to settle down in, except I was hungry and went tracking through the crowds to find something to eat. When I returned, I did my normal people watching and pulled out a book to read. The gate sign did not say Des Moines, Iowa, but since we were early, we knew it would change. When the people for the flight boarded, the sign changed to Jackson, Mississippi. I looked at my phone and did not see any gate change come through in a text. I went to the monitors and told my husband we were at the wrong gate. We walked down to Gate 52, which was about to board. I told my husband, “Good thing I looked!” But come to find out, it was a different flight! We asked the ticket agent; she looked at my phone with the boarding pass and she said to go back to C35 as the sign should change. We went back to Gate C35, but I decided to ask a different agent. She looked at my boarding pass and said, you don’t board at 9:40 am; you board at 9:40 PM! Oh my goodness! When my friend in Atlanta had our itinerary, she also missed the PM. As many times as I have flown, I have NEVER misread an AM for a PM. The Delta ticket agent, who was incredibly nice, quickly scrambled and got us the last two seats (very back row, mind you) on the plane at Gate 52. We were so thankful we were not sitting in the airport in Atlanta for twelve hours. I would not have called our friend to drive all the way back and get us and drive us back that night.
The drawback with all this is, you got it, did the luggage make it? When we got to Des Moines, the luggage, understandably so, was not there. The ticket agent said it would come on the 5:00 pm flight. So, we made a day of it in Des Moines, ate at Cheesecake Factory, saw a movie, and went shopping. When we arrived back at the airport, the luggage was not there. The ticket agent gave us the reference number to check on-line, and we made our 90-minute trip home. The luggage did arrive about midnight, and we’ll go back up to Des Moines and get it, as they won’t deliver it since it was our initial error.
Here's one way to prevent stress while flying: Double -check the time on your tickets!
