Stuck in Chicago

I had a bad feeling when after checking in at the OKC airport I was told by the attendant who was supposed to tag my bags that I would not be able to catch my connecting flight to NYC because the flight I was taking to get there was delayed. Great I thought, just what I need since I was already supposed to get into NYC after 9pm local time as it was. Come to find out they put me on standby for a flight leaving about the time I should have been arriving in NYC. That flight would not get into NYC until close to midnight. Oh well, I can still get a little sleep before going in on Monday morning to class. Scratch that, not making that flight, time to stand in line for an hour at customer service(not applicable here as far I can tell) only to find out the earliest flight they can confirm me on is leaving Chicago at 4pm but the good news is I can fly standby on flights as early as 6am and they have flights leaving every hour after that so I'm bound to get on one of them(in theory). Oh and here's some hotel information where you can get a discount. A discount? Why should I have to pay for a room so I can wait around for you to get me to my planned destination as we agreed when my flight was booked. No thanks I'll stay here at the airport so I can be sure to be here for that first flight and get there as soon as I can.

Oh sorry that one didn't have enough seats for the confirmed passengers because they booked it assuming there were 3 extra rows that weren't there. Really? How does that happen? On the 7am flight, no problem. Well actually we only took one standby passenger(even though I didn't hear them call for anyone for that purpose, but I guess they were being discreet since I am not the only one waiting around. On to the 8am flight then. Well this seems familiar, we only have 1 seat for a standby. Guess what? You guessed it, not me.

I did press for a bit more this time and discovered the wait list they transferred to the 9am flight was about 35 people. I pointed out that at the rate they were going, we would be here until tomorrow. They indicated there may be a better chance on the 9am flight but of course they don't know until all the passengers check in. They also wouldn't tell me what spot I was on the list since the numbers would change. I inquired what the order was based on and apparently it's very complicated and may involve calculus(j/k). They base it off the fare you paid, if you are a mileage plus member(which apparently makes you specialer than others who are waiting ;) ) and potentially other variables but those were the only ones mentioned. They did get my name and seemed to indicate a chance of getting on the next one but of course I won't know until 830am when they close the check in for the 9am flight. And so here I sit.

I'm not normally a pessimistic person but I'm getting the very strong feeling that I will not be getting out of here until 4pm after all. This does bother me a bit. I could have taken the hotel room and had a good night's sleep in a bed and then leisurely strolled about then came back to the airport to check in for the 4pm flight if that was the end result. Instead I slept(very intermittently) about 3 hours l think on a bench in the gate area. Since then I have been waiting patiently to be called and to no avail. I am told my baggage should be put on one of the first available flights and so hopefully is already there or on it's way and will be waiting for me once I get there. I am hopeful that is the case but I was told earlier this morning that there is no way to know from here so I won't know where my bags are for sure until I get to NYC. Great.

I haven't said this yet, but I may reach the point sometime soon, I have been very accommodating for something that was not my fault and I have not felt the same accommodation from this airline(United by the way) as of yet. Stay tuned, I will either post a new post to continue the saga or just edit this one as the story unfolds. Like I told my wife, it's a wonder anyone gets anywhere like this. In case you are wondering, this is not my first flight or even my first flight to this location. I have never had this much trouble in all my years(admittedly not all that many) of flying.

Thanks for listening.