Travel

So, we cruised back from Dayton today after my mother's grande fete. Anna was grumpy, but her mood cleared by the time we landed in Philly.

We landed in Philly with some time to spare on our connection. I thought we should stop for some food, but the lines were long--and my gut said we should move on quickly to the gate before taking any extra time. When we got there, the Richmond tag was on the wrong gate--18 when our tickets said 22. Pretty soon, it was clear that US Airways was battling some kind of massive SNAFU.

Apparently the plane that was supposed to go to Richmond had also been booked for BWI, and we were now pawns in a stand-off between two CSR managers for the airline. One wanted to move us to a 4:00 flight, on which there might not be enough seats. The other wanted to follow the original schedule, in which case the BWI passengers would actually be put on a bus headed for Baltimore.

Both groups of passengers milled around the gate areas, and I decided lunch would be the fruit and nuts we had with us. There was too much chance of losing the flight all together if we walked away. The two groups alternately commiserated--of course I understand or yeah, you could rent a car faster--and faced off--that's supposed to be our plane.

In the end, roughly a half hour after we were supposed to have left, the CSR who had advocated for Richmond threw open the doors and called out that all Richmond-bound passengers should board now, parents traveling with small children first.

It was a rickety, old propeller plane, but we didn't care. We made it home.