Travel foo...

Mother Nature, is one mean lady. She was nice to me all Memorial Day weekend and then right when I was ready to leave Charlotte – boom, unleashed her fury.

A delay out of Charlotte because of monsoon like conditions in Atlanta set me back slightly. That should have been my first red flag. The second flag came with an announcement we were near Savannah. Savannah isn’t exactly on the straight shot to Charlotte. We were in a ‘hold pattern’ into Atlanta.

Wonderful.

The flight attendants assured everyone on the flight that because of the weather, Atlanta was a mess and most likely all connecting flights were also delayed. “Except for mine,” I thought to myself. Then I decided to be a little more optimistic.

As I walked into the terminal my connecting gate flashed closed. I had missed my flight by about four seconds. No sweat, I’d catch the next one to Kansas City. There wasn’t a whole lot I was going to do. I should have shared that with the other idiots freaking out in line.

The flight I wanted to catch left at 3:55 and arrived in Kansas City at 5:10.There was also no guarantees I could get on the flight. I had been put on standby. At this point I realized I was probably going to miss the flight to Dodge City that was supposed to leave at 5:05.

I made a few calls back to Kansas and life was back to order, I also accepted the fact I wasn’t going to make it home when I was supposed to.

Flying with a teeny tiny airline means no amenities like major carriers. It also means having to go through the ticket counter for everything, no online check in or printing boarding passes. I walked up to the ticket counter and apparently interrupted what appeared to be an intense game of Sudoku.

I had called the teeny tiny airline from Atlanta, so they expected my issues – the attendant in Kansas City did not. I politely explained the issue and that I would like to be issues a voucher for future travel. I got responses like, “it’s not my fault you’re late,” and “we don’t offer refunds for weather.”

This is where I may, or may not have, lost my cool.

“You call Tarrah in Cheyenne and you get me my voucher. I have to travel this joke to get anywhere, and I will be using your airline again. I want my voucher, which she told me – with the proper verification that I am holding– that it would be no problem. Yes, it’s not your fault I’m late, it’s also not Delta’s fault a monsoon went through Georgia and the Carolina’s that caused me to be late. Make it happen. Please.”

I’m usually not so bitchy, but I had been through the ringer and I was really irritated by the lack of customer service. Delta, which is a thousand times bigger, was awesome. These clowns handle fifty travelers a day – maybe. The least I could get was a little service.

I spent an extra day in Topeka, which made the travel day from hell totally worth it. I hopped the train Thursday morning at 1 a.m. and arrived back in Dodge by 6 a.m., and was sitting at my desk by 8:30 a.m.

Oh, and I did get my voucher.