Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
And things looked normal enough at the gate. The waiting area was crowded with
sleepy-looking people sipping coffee, the heavy silence punctuated by the occasional,
muffled flight announcement or the scream of an over-excited child.
We settled in for a half-hour wait before boarding began.
We were still waiting five hours later.
First came an announcement that the “carrier” (aka plane) that was slated to take us to
San Juan had been delayed in New York. This seemed odd. Typically planes scheduled to
depart as early as seven in the morning have been loitering on the tarmac since the night
before.
“But,” we told ourselves, “of course, there are always exceptions.”
And anyway, the flight from New York was a short one and, since there was no bad
weather to cause further delays on this cloudless July morning, there shouldn't be a prob-
lem. Maybe we'd be delayed an hour or so and would be forced to take the two-thirty.
No big deal.
Then came the announcement that the plane in New York was experiencing mechanical
difficulties.
Suddenly it was a big deal after all.
We swung into action. Michael tried to reach the airline on his cell phone while I dashed
to the gate counter. Two people had already queued up ahead of me, but I'd been quicker
than most, and within minutes at least twenty people snaked along in my wake.
The woman in front of me was soon up to bat.
“I'm making a speech in San Juan this afternoon. How are you going to make sure I get
there on time?” she hissed, all but seizing the gate agent by the neck.
The agent, who had looked grumpy even before the delay was announced, now posit-
ively bristled with irritation.
“To be honest,” she replied, not even bothering to look up, “I can't do anything to guar-
antee you'll make your speech today.”
“You're not even going to apologize?” the woman spluttered.
The agent looked up at the woman and flashed an odious smile.
“Okay, I apologize.”
This was spoken with all the sincerity of a python to a rabbit just before swallowing it
whole.
I was up next.
God help me.
“Well, she was lovely,” I commented as I sidled up nervously to the counter, gesturing
towards my predecessor in line.
“Charming.”
“How do you stand it?”
She finished typing and hit enter with a loud click.
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