Home Again, Continued

If you are trying to read this lengthy post, please refer to the prior post to understand the full story. It's a good one, next to my travels through the O'Horrid Airport in Chicago.

I took my sweet time closing down my laptop (I was still working on my corporate finance final) as the line at the counter grew with frustrated customers. I grabbed my cell phone and headed over to the line, to wait my turn. The counter lady announced to all "We need to use this counter for another flight coming in. Please head to gate D4 to rebook your flights." I walked quickly to gate D4 to wait in another line. At this point I was beginning to feel the frustration. I flipped quickly through my Rolodex and found the SkyMiles Reservation number. I called the number, had a nice chat with the gentlemen on the other end, and was put on a flight going to San Jose in an hour and a half. Lucky for this guy, I decided not to chew him like I had with the United Airlines representatives when I got stuck in Chicago (my least favorite city). There was no way I was going to catch a flight on Friday during the day. I was already here at the airport; I am getting back to California!

I waited the allotted time for my flight and boarded the aircraft. The pilots were running a bit behind schedule, given the shortage of pilots and crew, so we boarded the plane a little bit late. the pilot announced to the passengers that the plane had to be deiced before take off. Whoa, I have never flown in a snowstorm or been in plane that has been deiced. I thought that the whole experience reminded me of a big car wash. The maintenance crew wash the plane with a solution to keep the snow off of the plane. By this time, only one runway was open for takeoffs and landing while the other was being plowed. We finally took off, only an hour and half after our scheduled flight time. I sat next to a man who worked in Chicago; lucky for him, he didn't know about my love for his hometown!