It’s who you know!
It’s a saying that’s become almost so cliché… yet, was sooo very true today and I am so thankful that I know people. =P
So, earlier today, I was checking my seat assignment for my flight back to JFK from the Dominican Republic (SDQ)… and discovered that my reservation wasn’t showing up online.
I call the reservations desk to find out that… “Oh, we’re sorry, your flight was canceled but you’ve been rebooked on a flight through San Juan (SJU) which will get you back at JFK around midnight.”
Ugh.
So, I do a little bit of research and discover that, I’m probably not going to get upgraded on the SJU-JFK flight… BUT that the flight from SDQ to SJU continued directly to Newark (EWR) and would get me back in the NY area at least 3 hours earlier AND had plenty of seats available upfront!
A quick call back gets me rebooked in 3A all the way from SDQ to EWR. All is well.
Arrive at the airport about 45 mins before the flight (which is pretty much what I’ve been doing for years… no bags to check!). Flight is closed.
What?!
“We’re sorry, but we already gave your seat away and the flight is completely overbooked.”
Ok… so what can I do?
“We can get you on a flight to Miami which will connect to JFK and get you in after midnight.”
Ok… what about the later direct flight to JFK? (My original flight was supposed to leave at 2:50PM and the next direct flight was out at 5PM)
“Sorry, but that flight is completely oversold as well.”
So, at this point, I resign myself to getting home ridiculously late.
Then, I bump into my travel friend with whom I’ve shared many flights to and from the DR over the past few years.
He is the man. Haha, he puts a good word in for me to the airline staff and suddenly, I’m #1 on the list to get onto the “completely oversold flight”.
My flight to Miami leaves before the direct flight to NY but I’m told to “miss” the Miami flight even though I don’t have a seat on the NY flight.
A few minutes later, voila! I’m on the direct flight back to NY upfront rather than connecting through Miami in the back! =)
Thank you Lord for random friends and getting me home in one piece waaaay before I had expected! =)