Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“It's pretty bad. On the other hand, if I quit I'll end up announcing the blue light special
at
Kmart
.” She smiled—and yes, this time it actually qualified as a smile, though still with
slightly sinister undertones. “Or worming puppies at the
Bethesda Humane Society
.”
“Either way, you're dealing with assholes,” I said, hoping to dazzle her with my wit.
She stared right through me.
“What can I do for you?”
“We were wondering,” I mumbled, tempted to flee in terror, “if there's a chance we
could get on another flight, maybe with a partner airline.”
A look of pity flitted across her stern features.
“That seems highly unlikely, considering that all the airlines have either merged or des-
pise each other at this point.”
“Ah.”
She sized me up for a couple of seconds. “Where's your traveling companion?”
I pointed at Michael who was lingering impatiently nearby.
“The tall one?”
I nodded.
“Yep.”
She stared at her screen for a few moments.
“Tell you what,” she began. “When we
do
actually get this wretched flight in the air
I'm going to upgrade you gentlemen to business class.”
“Oh my God, that's so nice,” I gushed.
She gave me one last appraising look. “Save it,” she said, not unkindly. “It's gonna be
a long wait.”
☼ ☼ ☼
We got to San Juan at six-thirty that night. We had missed our connecting flight by almost
six hours. There was still one flight to Vieques but it was full. We were stuck.
Resigned to the idea of spending the night in San Juan, we rushed back to the airline
ticket counter and explained our fate, hoping at least to get a free room.
The agent typed our information into her computer at a glacial pace.
“I sorry,” she said. “Since San Juan no your final destination we don't have no respons-
ibility for you stay here.”
At this point Michael moved into battle mode. He positioned himself directly in front
of the diminutive woman.
“It's been a long day,” he said. “Have a heart.”
She gazed up into his big blues eyes for a moment.
“Excuse me.”
Ten very long minutes later she came back with her supervisor.
“It okay.”
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