11. We stood and watched the baggage carousel go round and round. Finally all our bags, minus the stroller, came down the conveyor belt and right by us. Three carts, each piled about 6 feet high, were pushed through immigration without a hitch and off we went again.
12. After receiving directions from an airport employee we hurried up an elevator (2 trips) to the wrong ticketing office, back down the elevator (2 more trips) and the air train to a different terminal, out some doors, through a garage, up another elevator (again, 2 trips) and to the right ticket counter.
13. "The closed the gate 7 minutes ago. Sorry!" We just looked at each other. After all of that we had missed our flight. You hear stories about airlines putting you on a different flight, sending you with another carrier, or at least providing a hotel stay and some food vouchers. Apparently these things are made up. The US Airways employee just stared at us like we were crazy and blames another airline. Our option was to sleep in the airport and take a flight the following morning. Yep, you read that right. 20 bags, 4 kids and a pregnant lady in an airport lobby for the night. So we bit our tongues, arranged some chairs and covered the kids with blankets and clothes. Around 1 o'clock a security guard came and told us we needed to move to a different part of the terminal. In spite of having the okay from the customer service supervisor we were forced to move.
14. At 3:45am we headed back to the ticket office, kids and bags in tow, and waited for them to open at 4.
15 At 4:20am we got to speak with someone.
16. At 4:40am a very sweet customer service representative, Helen, handed us our boarding passes, apologized again for the situation and wished us a pleasant journey.
17. Through security, x-rayed bags and scanned people...again. Patted down, thanked and bid pleasant farewell.
18. By 5:15 we were drowning our sorrows in McDonald's bacon, egg and cheese biscuits.
19. We got to the gate and were getting ready to board when the ticket agent said, "Wait, you don't have a seat assignment." Fortunately there were enough seats for us. Unfortunately none of them were together. How do you tell a 2 year-old and a 4 year-old to sit beside a stranger? Thankfully our kids are resilient and other passengers kind enough to move.
20. "Ladies and gentlemen we have a small mechanical issue that we're dealing with. We're gonna do some checks and hopefully be out of here soon." We weren't surprised at this development. Of course the plane was going to break down. Would we ever get to North Carolina again?
21. 2 hours later we were landing in Charlotte. The mechanical issue had been quickly resolved and although we sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour we were able to take off.
22. 30 minutes later we were hugging family and waiting for our bags on another conveyor belt.
That's the basics of our trip. Quite an adventure but definitely worth it. Welcome to America 14 Beautiful Feet.!
See some pictures from our trip on the kids' blog.
welcome home!
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