Crisis Averted

About 2 minutes before I had to turn off my cell phone when I was on the plane from Cincinnati to Dallas yesterday, I got a voicemail from a 1-800 number. I never answer when those numbers call, b/c it's always a "courtesey call" from one of my credit cards or something equally stupid. So this time, they left a message, which 1-800 numbers never do. I listened to the message, and it was from American Airlines saying that one of my flights on "September 2nd" (um, that's the same day you're calling me...!) has been cancelled. But it also said not to worry, b/c I had been re-booked on another flight, and now I leave from Dallas on "September 3rd" and get to Pismo Beach at 10:50 AM. I was supposed to land at 5:15 PM on September 2nd. Not good. My meeting in Pismo Beach is at 8:00 AM on the 3rd.

As the voicemail ended, the flight attendant made me hang up my cell phone! I had a 2 and half hour flight to think about what the hell I am going to do in Dallas for a day?! They could've at least re-booked me out of Austin!

So I landed, called Brandon to see if there were any other flights, and he said there were no seats on any other flights leaving that day. We found one flight that was leaving 45 minutes before my cancelled flight, so I called American and told them that I could make that flight, if they could confirm me and give me a seat. She said the flight was oversold and the best I could do was standby.

So I went and prayed that the standby list wasn't closed. I HATE when it's closed and you know you could've made it on the flight. But it wasn't, so I put my name on the list of 17 people, and I ended up being first on the list! My platinum status is already paying off! :)

Anyway, I made that flight, got to LA an hour early, checked email, and then went to board my flight to San Luis Obispo (Pismo Beach). I was sitting in my seat, and some lady tried to make me move, like I was at a football game, and I wanted to get a better seat or something idiotic. I showed her my boarding pass and told her it was my seat, and both of us had the same seat listed. I was so worried that they were going to kick me off the plane and tell me that my flight wasn't until 8:30 in the morning!

Somehow it all ended up working out, b/c there was one empty seat and that lady had to go sit in it. :)

Flying is a pain. I was on 3 flights yesterday, and in 3 time zones. Oh, and I went to bed before 9:00. My life is fabulous. :) On a bright note, I did earn some extra money for being out of town 35 business nights during the last quarter! Congratulations to me! (If that's something to be excited about!)