Nightmare at JFK

The excitement of going to Florida to see the Red Sox quickly dissipated as the length of time we had to spend in the airport at JFK lengthened. Nancy's plane got out (not even that much delayed). Sadly, she was unable to pick up the car that Sedwick had reserved (and paid for), so she had to spend the day in the hotel (which might have been more relaxing than anything else).

Sedwick found out quite late that his flight on Saturday would be canceled. He then got into the line and was happy to learn that he would have a flight the next morning at 7'55 to Ft. Lauderdale (which, a you can probably tell, was NOT Orlando). He had to scramble to make some plans via Alamo and Priceline to hold his reservation (in Orlando) for 24 hours so he could pick up the car the next day, rather than losing (and paying for) the reservation.

I (Michele) stood online for at least 3 hours total. Of course, Delta did not even announce that the plane had been canceled (after it had been delayed at least twice and at least four hours). The only way I learned of the cancellation was through Nancy, who had seen it on the Delta website while she was waiting for her own delayed flight. So, I got in line. Then, some idiot woman came along with little pieces of paper telling us to go to the Kiosks and see which flight we had been reschedule on. So, stupidly, I did so. The stupid machines were all saying the same thing, "Please See Agent." Now, one would have thought the people working would have known that the machines were not working, thus not screwing people up and making them lose their places in line. So, I got back into the line, only to be directed (about 45 minutes later) to "follow those people" who were apparently getting in another line. However, no other line existed and NO ONE working at Delta at the other terminal knew where we were supposed to go, and a bunch of people actual left the terminal, which I was NOT going to do since I did not want to go back through security. So, I went back and once again got in the same line. Some 3 hours (or so) later, I talked with the agent, who told me that the next flight I could get on to Orlando was on Tuesday. Tuesday. Really? So, I said to send me anywhere in Florida. I got on a standby flight for Sunday (to Orlando) and was confirmed on a Monday flight to Ft. Lauderdale.

Sedwick and I met up around 11pm to get a cab to a hotel (in Bayside, since ALL of the hotels were booked anywhere nearby the airport). We finally got in around midnight and immediately decided to go to bed.

Sedwick took at cab at 4:45 Monday morning (after maybe three or four hours of sleep, since it was daylight savings time change) and went off to the airport. Sadly, upon arrival, he learned that his flight to Ft. Lauderdale had been canceled. Once again, he stood inline. He finally got confirmed on a flight to Ft. Myers (supposedly at 9 or 10, I don't remember). The flight was delayed several times, and when it was finally going to go, they didn't have a crew. So, they waited for a crew and finally got out at 2pm or 3pm. He had NO IDEA where his luggage was going to go (which was all of his skydiving gear) and had to cancel the car at Ft. Lauderdale and get one in Ft. Myers. So, upon arrival at Ft. Myers, he had to see if his luggage was there. It was not. He then drove to Ft. Lauderdale and finally got there around 10ish (he had to be there before 11pm to not lose the car) and exchange the cars. There is more to that story (moving around from terminal to terminal in order to get the car and all), but he then had to find out about his luggage. He told the Jet Blue baggage people that his luggage could be in any of four cities (since he left one and had flights to three different cities scheduled and canceled). Happily, his luggage was in Orlando. He got it, went to the airport, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, my flight on Sunday was canceled. So, I made my way to my friends' house for the evening/night (thank you very much for putting me up). Then, the next morning I got up, got to the airport, and after a delay or two, flew to Ft. Lauderdale, where Nancy and Sedwick picked me up.

So our original screwed up trip (with us flying all different flights from two cities to Orlando and then from two cities back to two different cities) was even MORE screwed up, since we all ended up flying into different airports. Sedwick has seen a lot of Florida on this trip, but really, nothing that we had planned.

And, most sadly, we missed our Red Sox game.

More about this really odd trip later.