Life has been a whirlwind of activities here in our household!
Monday daughter and I drove to Charlotte to spend the night with SIL so I could take daughter to the charlotte airport for a 10:00am flight on Tuesday.
We had a great drive up and a wonderful time visiting. SIL made a wonderful lasagna. spinach salad, and carrot cake, for dessert! We were able to visit with her whole family as her son and DIL, my BIL and his son, and another nephew all came over for dinner.
Daughter and I got up early Tuesday morning and headed to the airport. We were able to walk right up to the unaccompanied minor check in at US Air and complete all the paperwork and pay the additional fees($100 each way), since she was traveling alone. I had her booked on a flight into Laguardia, where her friend's mom was going to pick her up and take her to their home in CT. She is spending the next two weeks with them!
At 9:30 we said our goodbyes and daughter started crying because she was nervous about flying alone. I told her not to worry, that she would get on the plane, it would fly to the next airport, she would get off and her friend's family would be there to get her! The US Air person at the gate escorted her onto the plane with her arm around her while telling her that everything would be just fine!
I received a few texts from daughter and she seemed better. She told me about the people sitting around her and what was going on while the other people boarded.
At 10:05 the plane pulled away from the gate and started it's taxi to the runway.
At 10:15 daugher texts me and says something is wrong at Laguardia and they can't take off for 50 minutes. I tell her that it will be fine and they'll leave before she knows it! I tell her that I am still at the airport and won't leave until she takes off (there goes my plan for stopping by Trader Joe's!)
Finally, at 10:45 she tells me she has to turn off her phone because they are getting ready to take off. I see several planes that look like hers take off and go to the car to head back home.
At 12:30 I start thinking I should hear from her soon, as I told her to send a text as soon as they landed.
At 12:55 I get a call from the girl's mom at Laguardia asking me if I have heard what happened?
When she said that I almost drove off the road! I'm thinking what do you mean "heard what happened"?
She says that daughter's flight was diverted to Philly. All flights in and out of Laguardia have been cancelled! Wile I am talking to her I get another call, so I take it and it is an automated call from usair letting me know her flight was "cancelled"! That's all, no phone number to call for more information, nothing.
So, I find an exit and pull off since I have a feeling I might be on the phone for a while!
I get a text from daughter that says "you know I'm in Philly, right?"
To make a VERY long story, short, after MANY delays, a VERY RUDE and unprofessional US air worker at the Philadelphia airport, daughter FINALLY got to Laguardia at 6:30 that evening. Of course her luggage wasn't on the plane and they told her it would arrive on a 9:00 flight. I told her to have it sent to her friend's home and to get the heck out of there!
To make it even worse, the friend's mom got to Laguardia at 10:45, she wanted to be sure she was there with plenty of time to get parked and get a gate pass before daughter got there! And, besides daughter's friend, who is 12, she has a child that will be one year old next week! How much fun was that trying to keep a one year old happy for almost eight hours?!
On Wednesday I got a text from daughter saying she was scared to death to fly home! I told her that the odds of that same type thing happening again were very low and besides if it did, she know nows what to expect and will be a pro at handling it!
