Delayed and Stuck, Delayed but Not Denied

Delayed and Stuck, Delayed but Not Denied

October 12, 2009
By Randy Bailey

It was a smoldering August day in Georgia with the humidity about 300 percent. We were trying to stay un-sweaty for the overseas trip to Germany to see my son, who was injured in Iraq. Then my brother-in-law picks us up at our house to take us to the airport shuttle and announces his air conditioning doesn’t work. We were on slow roast for 15 minutes and the sweat glands were laughing as they gushed. We took the shuttle to Atlanta, checked in with our six bags of luggage, and made it to the gate.

The big jet rolled in and we were starting to get excited. Then my wife says, “Looks like there may be a problem” as we saw a mechanic looking at one of the right engines. Sure enough, a few minutes before boarding we heard, “We have discovered a small oil leak and will be delayed for an hour while it is fixed.” We waited the long hour with our backs already sore from the day of dragging the luggage and sitting.

The counter makes another announcement. “This is more serious than we thought, please bring your boarding pass to the counter and we will give you a $15 food voucher. Hmm, 300 people rush the counter like they are giving away $100 bills. After an hour, I get ours and we go get half of a chicken sandwich and half of a turkey club and it came out to $14.96.

But Wait . . .

We made our way back to the gate and waited for another hour when we heard the dreaded message: “We are sorry to inform you that the engine is not repairable and we will have to get a new engine placed on the jet on Saturday.” If you think that was bad, hold on to your seats. “Please bring your boarding pass to the gate and we will give you a voucher for a hotel.” If you think the line formed fast for a free sandwich, you should have seen the stampede to get a hotel voucher. They made a terrible mistake by announcing the voucher before they called the surrounding hotels. Another hour in line and they got a brilliant idea, let’s call the names by alphabetical order. Thank God I am a Bailey. Still, it was scary as we got mean stares from everyone whose last names begin with a W or a Z.

The plane had to have the baggage unloaded and brought back in to the airport. We found our luggage in a sea of unclaimed bags and found out it was quarter-mile walk to the hotel bus shuttle stop. My head looked like a sprinkler, I was sweating a quart a minute while dragging four pieces of luggage down the sidewalk to the shuttle.

The airline said for us to call the 1-800 number once we got settled in the hotel to rebook our flight. I just got showered and heading to the bed when I heard my wife yell, “We can catch a flight on Delta, but we got to get back to the airport right away.” Ugghh! We were in our room 10 minutes and now we are dragging six bags of luggage down to catch the van back to the airport. I gave the same driver another tip and we ran as fast as we can to Delta to hear the lady say, “We don’t have anything for you, you can’t take the flight they promised.”

Lord, do you want to see how much patience I have? We are now literally dragging the baggage behind us and we ask a security officer where the hotel shuttle area is. “It is on the other side of the airport.” Who cares any more, right? My fresh new clothes are soaked and we get in line for the shuttle. 40 minutes goes by and lo and behold it is the same driver. “I ain’t giving you no more tips,” I tell the guy, you already got a week’s worth out of me.

Soon, it’s midnight and we are back in our room, hoping to catch a flight at 5:30 p.m. if they have room. We are getting ready to go back to the airport to wait in line with the other 300 people at the Lufthansa counter that opens at 2:00 PM, but we have to be in line early to be up front first. Putting on our 3^rd set of clothes and getting ready for round 2, please pray for a miracle.

Brother and Sister Bailey

. . . There’s More!

After waking up early we made our way to the airport. We had a new shuttle driver, who I tipped, and we made our way to the Lufthansa counter to find people already in line. It was about 10:30 a.m. and the counter was not scheduled to open until 2:00 p.m.

After waiting in line for an hour and a half I saw a man come in and go behind the counter. I watched him attempt to log onto the computer. He stopped and went to the next computer and then the next and looked out into the sea of anxious faces, before saying, “I am sorry to inform you we are having computer issues, we have been down since 3 a.m.” I saw a few people who spoke German walk up to this man and have some type of discussion and walk back to their place in the line. I decided to go and ask him if we were in the right line since they had us bumped to a Delta flight. The man told me that he would have to issue us a paper ticket for Delta in order for them to get paid for transporting us and he grabbed our passports and tickets and disappeared for about 45 minutes. The man came back and handed me some papers and told me to go to Delta and we would be taken care of.

Delta was on the other side of the airport of course so we walked with our luggage and made our way to the Delta counter. The ticket agent took our paperwork and started checking in our bags. This is what we heard: “I am going to have to charge you $50 dollars for each piece of additional luggage.” Delta only allows one suitcase and two carry-ons for international flights. I grabbed $100 and handed it to the lady.

“Where is the original copy of your paper ticket?” she asked. I told her this was all the paperwork I was given and she told us that we were flying from Atlanta to Cincinnati and then reconnecting on another flight from Cincinnati to Frankfort, Germany and we did not have the original copy to get us on the second flight. “What am I suppose to do?” I asked; she said go back to Lufthansa and get the original paperwork.

I went back to the Lufthansa counter and found all 300 people in line with angry expressions on their face with still only one guy behind the counter with no computers up and running. At this point I was going to have to risk my life and cut in front of the crowd (which I did) and explained to the Lufthansa agent that Delta said I would be stuck in Cincinnati because of the paperwork being incorrect. The man got very angry and told me to follow him as he and I jogged to the Delta counter once again. The Delta ticket agent assured us we would be stuck in Cincinnati and our baggage would be in Frankfort so the Lufthansa agent pulled me to the side and said, “Delta has no idea what they are talking about, I guarantee you will be able to get on the second plane with the paperwork I have given you.”

At this point it looked like we had a 50/50 chance of making it out of the country.

. . .And More!

We made our way to the gate for our flight to Cincinnati and boarded the plane. We were scheduled to land in Cincinnati at 6:15 PM and our flight to Frankfort would leave at 7:35 p.m. I told my wife we would have time to find our gate and grab a quick bite before boarding once we arrived. We found our seats and were happy to be finally getting out of Atlanta after two days of aggravation. The plane rolled onto the taxi way and then came to a stop. This is what we heard: “I am sorry to inform you that the tower is not allowing any planes fly out to the North because of the coming storm and we are 22nd in line for takeoff. We will be sitting here for a while, so you can leave your cell phones on,” said the captain.

“Does anyone have a gun?” I thought for a brief moment. This cannot be happening! We are in the twilight zone and who knows what will happen next. My wife and I started praying again and shortly after that we started to move. They opened a second runway and we were moving in line. The plane gunned its engines and we were in the air. The captain came on the speaker a few minutes after takeoff and said we would be landing in Cincinnati at 7:30 PM. “Ugh!, that gives us 5 minutes to get off the plane from row 42 and find our gate and get checked in. I told my wife, “We are not going to make it.” My wife began to tear up and said, “Let's just go home, I am not doing another day of this.” The plane started making its final approach and I stopped a stewardess, and said, “Excuse me, we have a problem.” I told her that our flight was leaving for Frankfort at 7:35 p.m. and we were trying to see our son who was injured in Iraq and was in Germany and this was our second day of trying to get there.

The stewardess told us to hold on and she ran up front to the cockpit. She came back at a fast pace and everyone was looking at her like something was wrong with the plane. “We have to do this quick” she said as she grabbed my wife and ran to the front of the plane. People were starting to get that panicked look on their face as we were only a minute or two from touching down. The stewardess put my wife in First Class right by the exit door and told her to run for the gate as soon as the door opened. My wife took off and I made my way through the crowd right behind her.

A Happy Ending

Happily, the captain had called ahead and told them to hold the plane for us. When we arrived at the gate they were standing there waiting for us. “Thank you Jesus.” We were delayed, but not denied.

Just as we run this Christian race with obstacles, frustrations, disappointments and unexpected problems, there is an end waiting for us that brings us to the final destination. As II Timothy 4:7-8 tells us, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

God makes a way when there appears to be no way. Stand strong in the Lord for God is faithful and He is with you every step of the way.

ninetyandnine.com

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Randy Bailey has been writing spiritual poems/devotions for the past eight years. Randy has one wife and three sons. Richard, Ryan, and Rodney are grown and on their own while Randy and Peggy live in Georgia. Randy and Peggy attend the First United Pentecostal Church of Warner Robins. Randy has recently had his book Spiritual Snacks published, and it is available at www.Amazon.com (plug). Randy loves to throw the seed through his writings.