Thurman Saves Christmas (2006)

In looking back through my posts, I was surprised that this story has not come to light in its fullness. I will rectify that omission now.

The 2006 Christmas holiday was to be a special one, as nearly all of Carma's siblings were returning to Omaha for one last family Christmas gathering. Kristen was returning from her 18 month mission to Germany, and her siblings (and nephews and nieces) were excited to see her. Jenny and Aaron were unable to come for birth-proximity reasons (Spencer was born on the 24th), which is as good of an excuse as you can get. At the time of this story, Nico was a robust 1.5 year-old toddler, and Thurman was a soon-to-be 6-year old kindergartner.

(We had decided before never again to visit my parents for Christmas, nothing against them. It's just that 1) they live in the middle of nowhere in northern Minnesota, and 2) Christmas is in December.)

Unfortunately for us, December air travel had pretty much become the perfect storm of travel nightmares. A blizzard had socked Denver, causing a minimum of three days worth of back-ups, and Chicago also got shut down for at least a day due to inclement weather. There were national news stories of how people were camped out in airports for days waiting for flights, people abandoned by the airlines, and even if people got onto a plane, incredibly long waits on the plane before take-off.

So, it was with a bit of trepidation that we left for the airport (JFK) on the morning of December 23rd. We had an afternoon flight with a connection in Cincinnati on our way to Omaha. We hoped for the best, but expected the worst. Or, what we thought would be the worst.

Well, JFK is a busy place, especially as throngs of holiday travelers pass through it. But already the red flags were showing. Multiple delays (including our own flight, as we saw while passing through security), and lots of people looking like they'd been there all day already. So naturally, we waited many hours for our flight, and finally left 4 or 5 hours late. Naturally, we had missed our connection in Cincinnati, as we arrived there close to midnight.

Fortunately, the airline had some staff at the airport to help people make arrangements for the next day (as well as give us hotel and meal vouchers). Unfortunately, the arrangements were not optimal for us. They were only two seats on the morning flight from CIN to OMA, these were given to Carma and Nico. For Thurman and I, they sent us to Chicago O'Hare, with a connecting flight on a different airline to Omaha. 

In hindsight, I should have known there would be trouble. We had flown Delta to CIN, but to have us connecting on a United flight seemed like a desperation move. We asked to make sure that we were confirmed on the United flight, and the agent replied that we were.

So the next morning, we split up at the airport. We had framed this for Thurman (in an effort to make it more fun) like we were two teams on the Amazing Race (we had all become fans of that show about that fall). This worked for the most part, helping him not be anxious about being separated. So Thurman and I began our leg of the "race". As we were flying into Chicago I was able to point out downtown, the White Sox stadium, and even Evanston, where he was born. The real trouble began when we hit the ground. 

We were a little pressed for time to make our connection, and of course, we were in the completely wrong terminal. So after finally getting to the correct gate, I was told at the check-in counter that the flight was already full. I tried to explain that we had confirmed seats, she countered that we had been put on stand-by, and that a Delta agent cannot confirm seats for a United flight, and that if we had been told differently, the agent was lying. Shocked (but not really surprised), I tried to sort out my options. 

First was a call to Delta, which was completely in vain. Since Delta doesn't have any flights from O'Hare to Omaha, they weren't really in a position to do much. Next was to plead my case to the United agents. They were only slightly more helpful, saying we could stand-by on the four remaining flights to Omaha that day, but they were all over-booked, and since we did not book through United originally we would be the lowest priority. However, we could get booked and confirmed on a flight the next day (that would be Christmas Day). This essentially eliminated any flight options out of O'Hare, getting me to try to think of other options. 

Not having a iPhone (how did I survive?) I opted for the next best thing; I called a friend with high-speed internet. Thankfully, Trav was around and helped me. We found an Amtrak train heading out that afternoon, but it wouldn't get in until late (11 pm or so). I thought, "well it'd be quicker to drive", so he helped investigate one-way rental options from O'Hare. However, there were none to be found. So, thinking of the train as a last resort option, I decided I'd try my luck in person at the rental car counters without real hope of success. By this time, Carma had landed in Omaha and called me, so I related everything to her, admitting I was pretty much out of options, and didn't think we'd make it for the Christmas Eve festivities.

Throughout these two hours, I must say that Thurman was an absolute angel. I had explained the situation to him ("The airline lied to us and we don't have a way to get to Omaha until tomorrow."), and he was content to sit and watch a movie on the portable DVD player. So, as we started toward the ground transportation areas I related to Thurman what we were up to. He gave it some thought, and then asked me, "Why don't we try the other airport Dad?"

Out of the mouths of babes. I could have kissed him. In fact, I probably did. It was a genius idea that hadn't occurred to me, but should have. When Carma and I were dating long-distance (Omaha to Chicago), we used to fly Southwest out of Midway airport all the time. I called up Carma, who also thought the idea was spectacular, immediately bought us tickets.

Those of you familiar with Chicago will also know that getting between the airports is easy, though time consuming. The El train runs to both, and connections are made downtown. So we hopped on the Blue line, transferred to the Orange, and arrived at Midway 90 minutes later. Carma texted me our confirmation number, which I then used to check in at an automated kiosk (having no bags to check). We whizzed through security, and made it plenty of time for our 3:30 pm flight. We arrived safe and happy in time to celebrate the evening with our family. 

So that is the story of how Thurman saved Christmas. I guess the moral is, always be willing to listen to your children. And never, ever trust an airline to do what's right for you or your family.

Post-Script: To Delta's credit, after my scathing letter demanding reimbursement for our Southwest tickets, they did apologize and pay for the tickets.