I Spend a Lot of Time in Airports Trying Not to Cry

Those of you who know me, know that I have the worst luck when it comes to air travel. If something can go wrong with my flight, it will. Lost luggage, interminable delays, security issues. I didn't know what else they could come up with to ruin my travel. This past week I learned not to underestimate them--they will always find a new way to screw me over. I should be smart enough to give up on travelling at Christmas time. It's expensive, it's crowded, and there is weather, but I do it anyhow. My 3-hour layover in Newark on my way to Ohio became a six-hour delay. The plane was there, but we had no crew. I think they had a weather delay somewhere. I figured I paid my dues on the way to Ohio, so they trip home should be OK. The weather across the country was perfect and I got to Pittsburgh Airport in plenty of time. I strolled around for a while to get some exercise, then went to my gate. Pulled out my boarding pass, which I had printed out the night before, and noticed that it said "No seat assigned. See gate agent." I had chosen my seat when I purchased the astronomically expensive ticket back in September, so I wasn't worried. I just assumed it was some kind of system glitch. I went to the gate agent and she explained that they had overbooked and would call me when they "free up some seats". I told her I had already chosen my seat. She said that really doesn't mean anything. They make that announcement saying "We have an overbooked flight. If you have flexible travel plans and can wait for the next flight, please come to the podium and we'll give you a $400 travel voucher." They made that announcement a few times. They start boarding the plane by groups, but she hadn't called me back to the podium. They boarded the next group, then the next, and finally the last group. I was still sitting there. I went up to the gate. They had overbooked by 3 passengers. No one volunteered for the $400 voucher. Three of us would be deemed "involuntary denied boarding." I was being bumped from a flight that I reserved and paid for in September! I didn't think that could really happen. I should have known better. My gate agent Alisa, who was very nice, explained that they would pay me "for my inconvenience". Whatever--I just wanted to get rebooked on another flight. So Alisa is looking on the computer for another way to get me home, while she is on the phone to the people who make the payments. She writes down a number and shows it to me. This would be the amount they would pay me in cash--not flight vouchers, or tickets, but cold, hard cash! It was 205% of my ticket cost! Yes, you read that right: more than double what I paid for the ticket. Suddenly, getting bumped from a flight didn't seem so bad! Although, she wasn't having much luck rerouting me to Orange County. I told her I could fly into Long Beach or Los Angeles, if it would make it easier. It made it a lot easier. She booked me in the front row of a direct flight to LAX, leaving at 7pm--6 hours after my original flight left. She handed me my boarding passes and that large check, and mentioned that there was also a flight to LAX via Chicago leaving at 3:30. It was full, but I might want to try stand-by. What did I have to lose? I went to that gate, got my stand-by ticket and headed to the bar. Ordered a beer and watched the Notre Dame - Rutgers bowl game. It was getting close to the time I needed to check my standby status, but ND had the ball and was marching down the field. As soon as they scored the winning touchdown, I mosied over to the gate to check the standby monitor. There were 3 names on it, but only one with a check mark next to it--mine!! It was the happiest moment of my life! I turned in my standby ticket, got my boarding passes and got in line. I spend a lot of time in airports trying not to cry, but this time was different. I was so overcome with joyous happiness that I was a little teary as I boarded that flight. My original flight took me from Pittsburgh to Newark, with a 3 hour layover and arrival in Orange County at 10:30pm. My standby flight was scheduled to touch down in LA at 7:45. To make that silver lining just a little shinier, I landed half an hour early--3 hours and 15 minutes BEFORE my original flight. Earlier and richer! A shared-shuttle to Orange County was supposed to be there in 20 minutes, but it got there in 5 minutes. We were on the freeway and home-bound by 8pm. Got home, collected my mail, checked on my new car, unpacked my suitcase and was in bed 35 minutes before my original flight landed. It was bliss! Who knew that being bumped from a flight could make me so happy??