Girl, I Am Going to Hook You Up!

I’m not exactly sure how it happened. I think it was a combination of the flight time changing,  arriving later than we should have at the airport, and the incompetence of the airport staff. Anyway, last year April 2011, we missed our flight to Florida. It was spring break and ALL the flights were overbooked. We were flying from our local airport in Albany, NY and we were stuck.

At least it appeared we were stuck. One of the guys that worked there tried to help us but after 20 minutes we were getting nowhere. I flagged down one of the women working at the Continental  check-in desk (before Continental became United Airlines) and told her that we got to the airport ‘technically’ on time but that the gate was closed and that our seats had been given away and it was Easter and we were going to miss spending time with our family in Florida . . . yadda, yadda, yadda.

She looked at me and said (and I quote), “Girl, I am going to hook you up.” And you know what? She did. Within 20 minutes she gave Mark and I each vouchers for the following:

• Cab fare to the airport in Newark
• Meals for the day at the airport
• Drinks on our flight
• Standby for all flights leaving Newark with GUARANTEED tickets for a flight leaving around 4pm later that day
• AND, wait for it, vouchers for two round trip tickets!

We ended up arriving in Fort Meyers the same day we planned on arriving, just much later.

Fast forward.  This past spring we planned on using our vouchers to visit my in-laws. Unfortunately we couldn’t go because Mark had back surgery in March and since he was still recuperating, he couldn’t fly.

I called United. I was sure that we missed the deadline for using our vouchers. I can’t tell you how relieved I was when they said that I had to make reservations for a flight before the year ended. I thought we had to fly before they expired. How cool is that?

So I did some research and we are flying to Puerto Rico. Just the two of us. As much as we enjoy vacations that include spending time with our family, we are really looking forward to going away – just the two of us.

It’s kind of weird. With Justin going to college next year, we’ll be empty nesters. This trip (I hope) is the beginning of what the two of us will be doing in the next stage of our lives. And you know what, I’m looking forward to it. I really am.