What a nightmare

We flew to Florida from Michigan Saturday. We arrived at the Ford International Airport at 11am for a flight at 12pm. After quickly checking our luggage and going through security, we had to wait about 30 minutes to board. Rylee did very good waiting, and was excited to get on the plane. We took her car seat on the plane and strapped it in, figuring she'd be most comfortable in a familiar seat.

Our flight taxied out of the gate and into deicing. This all seemed to go well. Then the captain came on to tell us that there was a delay in Detroit, so we were holding taking off, rather than get there and not be able to land. We took off about 10 minutes later. Rylee, happily chewing her gum, loved it. She watched out the plane window, and thought that it was so great that we were above the clouds.

Our landing in Detroit went fine. Rylee asked if we were in Florida yet, and I told her we had one more plane ride, and we'd be there. She pointed out the window and told me she could see Florida, much to the amusement of our flight mates.

We touched down at about 1:15pm, and our next flight left at 1:47pm. We thought the time was close, but we could make it. Fifty minutes later, we were still sitting in the plane, waiting for airport personnel to plow out the gate area.

After finally disembarking, we hurried to the nearest monitors, hoping our next flight had maybe been delayed. Unfortunately, it wasn't even listed on the board, an obvious sign to us that it had left. We decided to go to the gate we were supposed to have left from anyway, hoping that someone would be able to help us.

Little did we know that Detroit Metro Airport was so huge. We walked, and we walked, and we walked some more. Rylee wanted to ride the moving sidewalks, but Nolan was very upset about the flight, and in no mood to oblige her, which led to some whining from Rylee.

On our way to our gate, we spotted an empty gate, with a Northwest agent behind the desk. We went up to her and told her our problem. After doing some typing on her computer, she informed me that we were scheduled to fly into Houston, then into Tampa. Nolan and I shared a look, just as she said that there was also a flight leaving Detroit and arriving in Tampa at the same time as the Houston one. She made a call and got us on that flight. The only problem being that none of our seats were together. She told us the agent at our gate would be able to help us get them switched. Then she told us that we weren't leaving Detroit until 7:47pm. Keep in mind, it was only about 2:15pm, we had over 5 hours until our next flight.

After a talk on the phone with my in laws, I decided to try asking a different agent if there were any other options. He told me he couldn't do anything at his desk, but to go to Gate 43 to see what they could do. We were at Gate 15. So, we turned around and headed back the way we came. We got to the help desk finally, and were told that our new flight was the first Northwest flight to Tampa. I asked if there wasn't another airline we could take, and was told that because our delay was due to "weather", they wouldn't pay for a different airline. Great, we now had 5 hours to sit and wait with a THREE YEAR OLD!

We headed back to our gate. Along the way, we passed a gate that showed a flight to Orlando at 4:15pm. A quick call to the in laws gave us the go ahead to try to get on that one, as Orlando is only an hour drive from them. More bad luck, it was overbooked, and we couldn't get on it. Back to square one.

For the most part, Rylee was so well behaved. We had grabbed some McDonald's for her on our way down to our gate, Gate 10. She ate some of her food, and played for a while. Then people started showing up for the flight that left at 5:20pm (to Grand Rapids ironically). Nolan joked that we'd just get on that flight and when people asked what we did, say, "We flew to Detroit, sat around the airport, and flew home." At least he was in a better mood.

After the flight to Grand Rapids had left, I was able to talk to the agent about getting our seats together. Big surprise, this flight was overbooked by 16 people and she was going to have to ask for people to give up their seats and take the 9:20pm flight to Tampa. It definitely wasn't going to be us, no matter what they offered. She was very nice about it, and took down our three seat assignments, and said as soon as the people flying in the surrounding seats arrived she'd see if she could get someone to change seats.

Rylee did have some moments of boredom. Even a three year old has a limit on how many trips you can take to the bathroom, and how many times you can ride on the moving sidewalk before it gets boring. She finally settled down with her DVD player, and was almost falling asleep when people started arriving at the gate for our flight. As we started packing up our belongings and getting ready to do a final bathroom run, the agent brought over two new boarding passes. She had gotten two people to change seats and we were all sitting together. It was the highlight of our day.

We boarded the plane, and got Rylee strapped in her seat, waiting and ready to go. Before we even backed away from the gate, Rylee was asleep. She slept through the deicing, and take off, and woke up about an hour into the flight. After a harrowing and failed trip to the bathroom; after which I had to explain that even though it looked like one, it really wasn't a port-a-potty, and that there were no "creepy crawlies"; she consented to going back in. Despite a dead battery on the DVD player, she was able to play the DS for a large portion of the flight, which kept her happy.

We started descending into Tampa, and Rylee pointed out "Grammi's house" from all the lights below. We touched down in Tampa at 11:04pm, six hours and thirty five minutes later than originally scheduled.

Nolan and I had formulated a plan during the flight that as soon as the seat belt sign went off, I would unhook Rylee and unbuckle the seat. He would jump up and grab the bags and we would get off quickly, rather than wait because of the seat. We took the tram or "roller coaster" as Rylee called it from the gate to the terminal, and as we were heading down the ramp, Rylee spotted her grandparents. Her first words to her grandma were, "Hey, what are you doing here."

Luckily for us, our luggage had also missed the original flight, and arrived with us to Tampa. We grabbed it off the turnstile and headed for the car. Following an uneventful drive home, and some much needed dinner at midnight, we were ready for bed.

It was a long, temper-filled day, but waking up Sunday to sunshine and no snow on the ground, almost; not quite, but almost; makes the travel nightmare worth it. I just hope we make it home on time.

Until next time,
Chelle