I was already nervous enough as it was to fly so we got the airport early and got through security and just hung out and read at KCI. Things were great, even after our flight had a thirty minute delay. Finally they let us board the airplane so still nervous, we boarded and took our seats. 18B and 18C. We were sitting next to some guy who was trying to get to Charleston. That's about all I know. They closed the doors and started the flight safety information but then the pilot came online and said that we had an hour delay. Now this is a full flight and it's hot. No biggie. The hour flies by and they shut the door again. Then the captain comes back on and says that we have another hour delay. By this point it's uncomfortable and we were worried about missing our connecting flight. So they start passing out these cards with a number we can call to check. We call and they say that there is also a delay on that flight too so we should be fine. We aren't really worried at this point just because it is what it is and we're just happy we're together. Finally, the hour is up and they close the doors, and we pull away. The entire, full plane is just happy because at least we're going somewhere now. But before we can take off, the captain - the bearer of bad news - comes back on to say that we have another thirty minute delay. Not a happy day and I'm just happy that I was on the outside seat.
Finally, we take off and the flight is smooth, I read the whole time, much to my surprise that I could without feeling sick at all, I eat my pretzels and drink my Sprite. Things are good and the flight goes quickly.
We arrive in Atlanta, yes we went to Atlanta to go to Portland, and get off. We check the boards to see what gate our connecting flight is but we can't find it on the boards anywhere. We don't panic yet but it is worrisome. We find those cool machines that let you check to see if you missed your flight, so we scan our tickets. The same flight number and time of departure shows up but it says 6.27 instead of 6.26. Not encouraging. We find the Delta line to talk to someone and go start to wait in it. As we stand there we get to thinking that maybe our bags made it off our last plane since we missed our flight. So Rob heads down to baggage claim while I stand in line to keep our place. The line moves up a little more so I get to this lady who is asking people what the problem is before we get to the people at the desk who can actually help us and I tell her the situation. She then sends me over to a help line phone. I'm not happy because I want to talk to a person face-to-face. So I started to call but there were a dozen people around me all on hold so I hung up and went in search of Rob.
I finally found him with no luggage. So now, we are stuck in the Atlanta airport with no luggage, no place to stay, and no flight until 9:10pm. Oh and we're starving because we haven't eaten since about 11:00 that morning and by now it's about 11:30pm. It had already been a long day and we were not happy. Our first plan was to try to get an earlier flight so we call from our one working cell phone this silly hotline number. We are on hold for just shy of an hour before I finally get a hold of someone. At this point the best she can do is put us on a two-connection flight from Chicago (so yes back to the midwest) then to Detroit then to Portland taking off at 8:25 and finally arriving in Portland at 3:45. It was the earliest they could do and we weren't happy about it but we kinda had to take what we could get at this point.
Our next plan is food because we were both grumpy. There was a Wendy's open in the airport and that was about all we could do because we were stuck at the airport. It's just past midnight when we sit to eat our hamburgers which tasted awesome. After we eat we go to make sure that we have our boarding passes then we're going to enjoy sleeping in the airport. We go to those self-check-in stations and start the process but all it says is that there was a change and to see an agent. We are a little worried because this might mean we have no ticket at all. We would have to reenter security but we have no boarding passes so we head over to the ticketing counter which has a fairly long line actually and wait to talk to someone in person. We wait for two hours before we finally make it to the front of the line.
We talk to this nice man who listens to our situation and that we just wanted to get to Portland because were on our honeymoon, so he goes to reissue our two-connection tickets, where by the way we won't be able to sit next to each other. He goes off to take care of our tickets and he comes back a few minutes later with two tickets on a flight at 9:25am, a direct flight to Portland with seats next to each other. I am so surprised that I question him to make sure it is Portland, Maine and not Portland, Oregon. He said that there was a last-minute opening and he was able to get us on that plane. We were so excited. But we were still minus luggage and still minus a place to stay. All I wanted at this point was a blanket so we could at least be comfortable at the airport. The guy also produced for us a free nights stay at a local hotel, even after we were told that there were no hotels left. By this point it is almost three in the morning and we were only going to get three hours of sleep but at least we could lay down flat and rest for a bit so we take it.
Needless to say that man made our day. We were overjoyed of all that they did. There was nothing else about Delta that we were happy with at this point but we were excited about how this guy was able to help us. After just three hours of sleep, we were able to get on our flight with no delays. We took off and landed and got our rental car and head straight to Kennebunkport and our little cottage here and had no more problems. So now here we sit watching Die Hard 3. It may seem like a weird thing to do on a honeymoon, but hey we're together so who cares.
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