I left the day after Christmas to visit the BF and his family in Florida. I flew out of the Orange County airport with a layover in Houston before ending up in Tampa. Okay, this is a long story I am going to try and make short-
The flight out of Orange County was about 20 minutes delayed and then we had to stay in some flight holding pattern above the Houston airport for another 20 minutes while they switched the direction planes were landing, then the gate we were going to taxi to had another plane there and we had to wait for it to leave. The flight ended up being an hour late and my layover was 1 hour! A lot of people of that first flight had layovers too so we were all rushing to get off.
Once I got off the plane I checked with one of their “red jacket” employees to see where my connecting gate was – he said, “C-24, but I don’t think you’re going to make it. I have the hotel informa…” I took off running before he could even finish his sentence. I was NOT staying in Houston overnight!The plane I was coming off of was in the E terminal. I had 1 minute to get to C-24! I ran with my HUGE purse and my backpack full of reading materials and my laptop to get to terminal C. I was in flip-flops and almost fell a few times. I considered taking them off and running barefoot, but I didn’t even have time to stop and kick them off. I ran.
7:06pm – I skidded to a stop at C-24 and the ticket agent was sitting there watching TV. I asked if I had missed it and he said yes. But, the plane was still there – I could see it in the window! He said they wouldn’t let me on. The plane was scheduled to leave at 7:05pm – I was 1 minute late! WTF. I almost started to cry because I was so pissed. I had just sprinted across the Houston airport for nothing. The ticket agent was very impressed with how quickly I got there. He said, “Didn’t you just get off the flight in terminal E? You got here quick.” I said, “Not quick enough. I’m a runner.” He said, “Faster than I would have.” I said, “I obviously have to train harder.”
Before I could burst into tears he told me there was another flight in 2 hours and they put me on first class since they knew I wasn’t going to make it. Those airlines should ask you when you book a flight what your mile time is, so if your plane if running late they can figure out if you will make your connection based on you running to the next gate. I would have made it if they would have held it 1 minute.
Oh well, I got wasted on first class. I didn’t know you get free alcohol since I had never been on first class before. When the guy sitting next to me ordered a drink I realized it and he and I had some drinks and laughs. It was a good flight. I love vodka. Merry Christmas.
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