Expect The Unexpected

This title has now become the unofficial theme of my mom's trip. After missing our flight in Chicago because we couldn't get a taxi to pick us up, I thought that no other delays would befall us. Well, I was wrong. When leaving our parking garage the outgoing gate was stuck and we, and a bunch of other cars, had to circumnavigate out the ingoing entrance. Still, we had left 4 hours early so had lots of time. I thus got my mom to West Palm Beach Airport 2 hours ahead of time. We had a bite to eat and she went through security around 5:20pm, an hour before her departure.

It took me about 2 hours to get back to Miami. Upon my return I decided to check my mom's flight status. At first my brain wouldn't accept what I was seeing: Her flight to Houston was delayed by an hour, getting her in too late to catch her connecting flight back home to Vancouver. :-(

Of course I freaked out, worrying if she had the wherewithal to deal with getting a hotel and such. So I called Continental and asked if they could take some extra steps to help her.

It turned out that all my worries were for naught. About a dozen passengers missed their connecting flights because of the late departure from West Palm Beach. This provided a comradery of sorts for my mom and perhaps some of the others took her under their wing. Anyhow, she checked herself into the "Woolley Inn" for just $55 and was doing fine when I chatted with her around 11:30pm. She had no access to her toiletries or a change of clothes because they weren't able to retrieve her suitcase but she's more of a trooper than perhaps I give her credit for.

What's interesting about all of this is that they were told on the plane that the delay was because of a bunch of planes stacked up in Houston. When they got there they asked about this and were told that everything was operating normally. So once again, an airline has got caught in a bold faced lie.

She'll [hopefully] be on this flight today:

Continental Flight 389

DEPARTS ARRIVES City: Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental) Gate: C-18 Check-in Terminal: Terminal E Scheduled Time: 9:30 a.m. Estimated Time: 9:30 a.m. Scheduled Date: Sat., Feb. 24, 2007 City: Vancouver, BC Canada (YVR) Gate: Terminal: International Terminal Scheduled Time: 12:33 p.m. Estimated Time: 12:33 p.m. Scheduled Date: Sat., Feb. 24, 2007

P.S. I'm tracking her flight here.