"If I'd worn my fitbit I would've got a week's worth of steps today!," I thought. It was a long walk from Gate A20 at the West end of the Philadelphia International Airport to Gate C22.
It was my mistake!
Not only had I booked an 8:45 PM flight thinking it was AM, I also didn't realize it until after 9 PM last night when I saw the notification on my phone that my flight was ready for check in.
Although I called the travel agency right away to try and get me on an earlier flight, the best they could do was put me on standby for the 8:05 AM (for which I had to pay $75).
I immediately called Rapid Rover (the airport shuttle service) and altered my reservation so they would pick me up between 530 and 545 AM this morning (vs the 615 to 630 AM originally planned for the 845AM flight I thought I was to be on)!
Luckily, I had packed last night, so even though I awoke only at 4:55 (my target was 4:30), I was able to quickly shower, get ready and even make myself a cup of tea (to go) before the driver knocked my door.
I have never seen a longer line for security check as I witnessed this morning, but luckily (again), TSA not only opened up an extra lane and diverted a few passengers directly to it, they also did not require passengers to take their shoes off or take out the laptops from their bags!
"Should we get something to eat?," my boss asked.
So we left Gate B15 (where the 8:05 was scheduled to leave from) and checked one restaurant after the other back up the ramp in Terminal B to see if we could get something quick and dirty, but quickly understanding that most of them were sit in restaurants and none of them seemed quick, we decided to retrace our steps all the way to the end of the ramp where the Philadelphia International Airport's new Marketplace and Food Court were located.
"Should we do Starbucks?", my boss asked again, but one look at the line suggested we shouldn't so we settled on Subway and deciding to go healthy, I got myself a 6-inch sandwich on Italian-Herb bread with pepper-jack cheese, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, black pepper and oregano!
After stuffing our sandwiches in our bags, we started the trek back down the Terminal B ramp to B15, where my boss and another colleague boarded the 8:05 Amercian Airlines flight to Orlando, while I stood-by to see if I continued to be lucky enough, this time to get a seat on that flight.
The process was painless!
Once they had boarded all the passengers (Group 1 to Group 9), the Gate Attendants went on to board some crew members who were willing to take any open jump seats (likely to get home after long schedules on the road) and then let those on stand-by know that the flight was now full and closed and that they would automatically roll us over to the next flight which was at 1035 AM.
They only needed us to wait a few minutes to complete the process and then they could tell us which gate that flight was scheduled to leave from. That's when I ate my breakfast sandwich.
The trek from Gate B15 to Gate B8 wasn't so bad but the cold air that blew from the air conditioning vents no matter which part of the waiting area I sat in (I changed 5 seats including one on the floor) ensured that my brief stop at the men's room on my way over wasn't enough!
On my return from my second visit to the rest room, I decided to just stand, and right in front of the counter too, hoping that at least one at the Gate Attendants would recognize my face from the stand-by list for the 8:05 at Gate B15 and slip me a boarding pass in a pang of sympathy.
It was not to be and after standing on stand-by as Groups 1 through 9 boarded the 1035 AM American Airlines flight to Orlando, I was told again that all stand-by passengers had been automatically rolled over to the next flight, scheduled to leave at 1:34 PM, from Gate A20!
I decided it was time for a cup of coffee and since Starbucks wasn't on the way from B8 to A20, I settled for a small coffee with milk and sugar at Dunkin Donuts, but couldn't resist myself from adding 6 munchkins to the order (3 old-fashioned glazed and 3 old-fashioned chocolate) when the barista asked if that was all for today.
Luckily, Gate A20 was not only practically empty, there weren't any air-conditioning vents blowing cold air either and with an open view of flights taking off, I parked myself in a seat alongside the glass window and dove into my munchkins right away. That the coffee seemed bitter after 6 didn't bother me.
The wait was longer this time but the story (and its end) quite the same! This is when I was automatically rolled over to the stand-by list for the 3:45 PM flight out of Gate C22.
"I'll get a proper, sit-down lunch," I thought, a bowl of fettucine pasta in alfredo sauce with a hint of pesto topped with sauted mushrooms & slivers of roasted garlic swirling in my head at the same time, but for some reason, I kept walking past all the restaurants on the way hoping to find one near Gate C22.
When I had walked well past C22, the only sit-down place I could find on that ramp was Chickie's and Pete's and the waitress' first reaction to what was vegetarian on the menu was an expression that suggested "not much", I put my coat back on, picked up my bags and walked back towards C22.
Aldo Lambertini's Trattoria was modest with a seating space that held about 12 x 2 seater tables but the pizza slice with diced tomatoes, ricotta cheese and pesto sauce looked fresh and inviting so I settled into one of the 2-seaters and focused purely on what the knife and fork made of poor plastic could do for the next few minutes, before ambling across to Gate C22.
I had a bone to pick with the Gate Attendant this time!
"I paid to be on stand-by, this is the fourth flight that I have been automatically rolled over to and each time my name drops on the list of passengers on stand-by," I said, to which he responded that all those ahead of me had some sort of status with the airline and that there was little he could do about it.
So this time, I picked a seat in the farthest corner of the waiting area from where I had a clear view of the Gate Attendant's counter and yet, I wasn't in the way of anyone who was boarding the 3:45 PM American Airlines to Orlando or in the way of unruly air-conditioning vents blowing cold air.
Starbucks fell in the path between Gate C22 and Gate A8 where I was next headed (being automatically rolled over to be on stand-by for the 6:15 PM American Airlines flight to Orlando) and I decided to treat myself to a Blueberry Muffin along with my signature Double-Tall Latte!
"If I don't make this flight and am automatically rolled over to my original flight (not of course on stand-by this time because I had a confirmed seat for the 8:45 PM American Airlines flight to Orlando), I can complete my culinary journey with dinner!," I thought.
Although the weather turned bad and the plane had to sit on the tarmac for a couple of hours and be de-iced before it could actually take off, I considered it God's grace when the attendant at Gate A8 called "Ba la sub ra ma"...
They weren't carrying the Fruit and Cheese plate on board tonight, so I had to settle for a glass of water and a Biscoff cookie, but the flight attendant just asked me to shut down my laptop because in a few minutes, we will be landing in Orlando...
It was my mistake!
Not only had I booked an 8:45 PM flight thinking it was AM, I also didn't realize it until after 9 PM last night when I saw the notification on my phone that my flight was ready for check in.
Although I called the travel agency right away to try and get me on an earlier flight, the best they could do was put me on standby for the 8:05 AM (for which I had to pay $75).
I immediately called Rapid Rover (the airport shuttle service) and altered my reservation so they would pick me up between 530 and 545 AM this morning (vs the 615 to 630 AM originally planned for the 845AM flight I thought I was to be on)!
Luckily, I had packed last night, so even though I awoke only at 4:55 (my target was 4:30), I was able to quickly shower, get ready and even make myself a cup of tea (to go) before the driver knocked my door.
I have never seen a longer line for security check as I witnessed this morning, but luckily (again), TSA not only opened up an extra lane and diverted a few passengers directly to it, they also did not require passengers to take their shoes off or take out the laptops from their bags!
"Should we get something to eat?," my boss asked.
So we left Gate B15 (where the 8:05 was scheduled to leave from) and checked one restaurant after the other back up the ramp in Terminal B to see if we could get something quick and dirty, but quickly understanding that most of them were sit in restaurants and none of them seemed quick, we decided to retrace our steps all the way to the end of the ramp where the Philadelphia International Airport's new Marketplace and Food Court were located.
"Should we do Starbucks?", my boss asked again, but one look at the line suggested we shouldn't so we settled on Subway and deciding to go healthy, I got myself a 6-inch sandwich on Italian-Herb bread with pepper-jack cheese, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, black pepper and oregano!
After stuffing our sandwiches in our bags, we started the trek back down the Terminal B ramp to B15, where my boss and another colleague boarded the 8:05 Amercian Airlines flight to Orlando, while I stood-by to see if I continued to be lucky enough, this time to get a seat on that flight.
The process was painless!
Once they had boarded all the passengers (Group 1 to Group 9), the Gate Attendants went on to board some crew members who were willing to take any open jump seats (likely to get home after long schedules on the road) and then let those on stand-by know that the flight was now full and closed and that they would automatically roll us over to the next flight which was at 1035 AM.
They only needed us to wait a few minutes to complete the process and then they could tell us which gate that flight was scheduled to leave from. That's when I ate my breakfast sandwich.
The trek from Gate B15 to Gate B8 wasn't so bad but the cold air that blew from the air conditioning vents no matter which part of the waiting area I sat in (I changed 5 seats including one on the floor) ensured that my brief stop at the men's room on my way over wasn't enough!
On my return from my second visit to the rest room, I decided to just stand, and right in front of the counter too, hoping that at least one at the Gate Attendants would recognize my face from the stand-by list for the 8:05 at Gate B15 and slip me a boarding pass in a pang of sympathy.
It was not to be and after standing on stand-by as Groups 1 through 9 boarded the 1035 AM American Airlines flight to Orlando, I was told again that all stand-by passengers had been automatically rolled over to the next flight, scheduled to leave at 1:34 PM, from Gate A20!
I decided it was time for a cup of coffee and since Starbucks wasn't on the way from B8 to A20, I settled for a small coffee with milk and sugar at Dunkin Donuts, but couldn't resist myself from adding 6 munchkins to the order (3 old-fashioned glazed and 3 old-fashioned chocolate) when the barista asked if that was all for today.
Luckily, Gate A20 was not only practically empty, there weren't any air-conditioning vents blowing cold air either and with an open view of flights taking off, I parked myself in a seat alongside the glass window and dove into my munchkins right away. That the coffee seemed bitter after 6 didn't bother me.
The wait was longer this time but the story (and its end) quite the same! This is when I was automatically rolled over to the stand-by list for the 3:45 PM flight out of Gate C22.
"I'll get a proper, sit-down lunch," I thought, a bowl of fettucine pasta in alfredo sauce with a hint of pesto topped with sauted mushrooms & slivers of roasted garlic swirling in my head at the same time, but for some reason, I kept walking past all the restaurants on the way hoping to find one near Gate C22.
When I had walked well past C22, the only sit-down place I could find on that ramp was Chickie's and Pete's and the waitress' first reaction to what was vegetarian on the menu was an expression that suggested "not much", I put my coat back on, picked up my bags and walked back towards C22.
Aldo Lambertini's Trattoria was modest with a seating space that held about 12 x 2 seater tables but the pizza slice with diced tomatoes, ricotta cheese and pesto sauce looked fresh and inviting so I settled into one of the 2-seaters and focused purely on what the knife and fork made of poor plastic could do for the next few minutes, before ambling across to Gate C22.
I had a bone to pick with the Gate Attendant this time!
"I paid to be on stand-by, this is the fourth flight that I have been automatically rolled over to and each time my name drops on the list of passengers on stand-by," I said, to which he responded that all those ahead of me had some sort of status with the airline and that there was little he could do about it.
So this time, I picked a seat in the farthest corner of the waiting area from where I had a clear view of the Gate Attendant's counter and yet, I wasn't in the way of anyone who was boarding the 3:45 PM American Airlines to Orlando or in the way of unruly air-conditioning vents blowing cold air.
Starbucks fell in the path between Gate C22 and Gate A8 where I was next headed (being automatically rolled over to be on stand-by for the 6:15 PM American Airlines flight to Orlando) and I decided to treat myself to a Blueberry Muffin along with my signature Double-Tall Latte!
"If I don't make this flight and am automatically rolled over to my original flight (not of course on stand-by this time because I had a confirmed seat for the 8:45 PM American Airlines flight to Orlando), I can complete my culinary journey with dinner!," I thought.
Although the weather turned bad and the plane had to sit on the tarmac for a couple of hours and be de-iced before it could actually take off, I considered it God's grace when the attendant at Gate A8 called "Ba la sub ra ma"...
They weren't carrying the Fruit and Cheese plate on board tonight, so I had to settle for a glass of water and a Biscoff cookie, but the flight attendant just asked me to shut down my laptop because in a few minutes, we will be landing in Orlando...
