Longhand Pseudo-Blogging, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Unintended Layover
[Originally written on 5/19/2007 at 11:08 AM. Transcription below. It is surprisingly difficult to buy a pad of paper in an airport terminal. -- ed.]
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It isn't really a layover per se because I'm still in my home city: My "Dreamhouse" itinerary had me flying from IAD to LGA and thence (after a late morning wait in New York) on to BOS, but United 846 was cancelled shortly after its scheduled departure since the pilot didn't show. Couldn't reach him at home, couldn't reach him on his cell. I hope the captain is OK; an unusual circumstance.
After an hour or so of waiting online, I was rebooked on a later flight direct to Boston from Dulles, so (knock on wood) my total delay won't last any longer than a couple of hours. And I am ultimately happy with the airline's customer service process, which limited the period of complete confusion about what would happen to around twenty minutes or so.
While stuck near the front of the customer service queue in Concourse C (two of three agents were occupied for a long time with knotty international itineraries; if this were an Internet server protocol, I grumbled to myself, us easy requests would be processed first) I overheard a useful and soothing bit of perspective from the person in front of me: a military-looking man probably in his mid-thirties, lean face and a close haircut, talking to a young son with a similar close haircut who was fussing a bit at his feet. "Do you know something funny? Every single person in this line probably wants to do exactly what you're doing, throw themselves on the floor and go, 'It's so unfair!' But we have to stand here like, 'It's okay, I can mostly handle this.' It's not so different being an adult except you have to act like you don't care. It's strange." Said in a calming, humorous, fatherly tone of voice. It is strange.
***************
It isn't really a layover per se because I'm still in my home city: My "Dreamhouse" itinerary had me flying from IAD to LGA and thence (after a late morning wait in New York) on to BOS, but United 846 was cancelled shortly after its scheduled departure since the pilot didn't show. Couldn't reach him at home, couldn't reach him on his cell. I hope the captain is OK; an unusual circumstance.
After an hour or so of waiting online, I was rebooked on a later flight direct to Boston from Dulles, so (knock on wood) my total delay won't last any longer than a couple of hours. And I am ultimately happy with the airline's customer service process, which limited the period of complete confusion about what would happen to around twenty minutes or so.
While stuck near the front of the customer service queue in Concourse C (two of three agents were occupied for a long time with knotty international itineraries; if this were an Internet server protocol, I grumbled to myself, us easy requests would be processed first) I overheard a useful and soothing bit of perspective from the person in front of me: a military-looking man probably in his mid-thirties, lean face and a close haircut, talking to a young son with a similar close haircut who was fussing a bit at his feet. "Do you know something funny? Every single person in this line probably wants to do exactly what you're doing, throw themselves on the floor and go, 'It's so unfair!' But we have to stand here like, 'It's okay, I can mostly handle this.' It's not so different being an adult except you have to act like you don't care. It's strange." Said in a calming, humorous, fatherly tone of voice. It is strange.
2 Comments:
I eagerly await Dreamhouse comments... (any recordings made available? (I mean, shit, they recorded the Allegheny Valley Honors Band, they may as well have done the same thing for Dreamhouse.))
I don't know if it will be a recording of the concert or not but BMOP plans to commercially release a Dreamhouse Album next year. Until then I guess you can keep an eye on the Internet for bootleg concert recordings; Mike apparently came by a fairly low-fi capture of "Doctor Atomic" that way though that way, though Dreamhouse is much lower profile than that...
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