BUFFALO, NY - When we landed at the airport in Buffalo on Christmas Eve - the flight crew said “Welcome to the North Pole.”
I’m in Buffalo - enjoying the Christma holiday with Mark’s family. I’m missing California and my family - terribly….like a heart ache. Still…it’s quite pictureque out here….it’s a White Christmas - just like anything you’ve seen in a holiday film or heard in a Bing Crosby Christmas song. It’s snowing….and we’re sipping gingerbread lattes in Starbucks - just off Niagra Falls Blvd.
We almost spent Christmas Day in an airport.
On Christmas Eve - my dad dropped us off at LAX - 6 AM. We waited in three different lines (to check-in baggages, to x-ray baggages and to have security frisk our carry-ons and bodies) before we boarded our 8:15 flight to Baltimore…..that’s where we had a connecting flight to Buffalo.
In line at LAX - we faced absolute chaos. One Southwest jerk said we stood in the wrong line….and he bluntly pointed out that there were only 6 southwest agents outside and 30 inside - he said the line may be longer to check-in, inside, but we would get through faster. He was right. While waiting in line for baggage check-in, we milled around the background of a CBS reporter’s stand-up….the usual report on how LAX sucks for traveling and reminder for people to get their asses to the airport 2 hours before their flight departure.
We watched the sunrise was we waited in line.
We boarded the plan with minutes to spare. We were supposed to take-off at 8:15…..it took us more than an hour to get the plan off the ground…apparently one flight attendant was stuck in traffic.
We endured a bumpy ride to the east coast…snacking on danishes I grabbed at a store near the gate. Southwest offered a hearty meal of ritz crackers, oreos and jello pieces. We made it to Balitmore with 15 minutes to spare before our connecting flight.
Our flight was delayed due to the snowy conditions in Buffalo….
We got a real meal inside the Baltimore airport….pizza, bread sticks and some Aspen beer.
Then our flight was canceled because the Buffalo airport was closed.
We got our butts back into another line….fellow passengers whipped out their mobiles and frantically dialed Southwest ticketing…..after five minutes standing in line - all flights for Christmas day were booked until 11:15 AM….after ten minutes of waiting - we heard all flights were booked until 3pm…..after 20 minutes of waiting, we the only flight we seats available, on Christmas Day, was the 10 pm flight.
Shit.
We discussed driving to Buffalo with another passenger. She was ticked off about driving because she didn’t have any CDs in her car. We figured it would be an 8 hour drive. I didn’t want to drive in whatever snowstorms were brewing on that day. By the time we reached the gate at the desk - the Southwest agent said she could put us on standby. We said go for it. Then we checked if could rent a car. She said they were out of car rentals.
I stretched out on a couple of chairs inside the gate and fell asleep on Mark’s lap. I bought some visine and a contact lens case and swapped out the contacts for glasses.
After four hours of limbo - the airport opened in Buffalo and we hopped on the next plane out of Balitmore. We gave the flight crew a standing ovation for getting us out of Balitmore and helping us avoid waking up to Christmas day inside an airport.
Small blessings.
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