Yesterday was a harrowing day of travel beginning when the alarm sounded (KPLU Jazz Overnight) at 2:45 a.m. C decided just to stay up all night, and we got on the road to Seatac after about an hour. Flight was due to board at 5:15, but by take-off time it was apparent that all was not right with Frontier Airlines. Several minutes later, the supervisor (Ehren) announced that a light had been left on all night on the airplace and that their battery was dead. Charging was taking place, but if that was not successful, that they would begin “reprotecting” passengers at 6:30 a.m.
Sure enough, the call was made and the process began. When it looked like there would be a line, C told me to go get in there, and that was the right thing to do, because we were third in line, good because it took over an hour for Ehren to take care of the first two passengers. We got bumped out of line, because our connection was 10 minutes later than the cutoff, but then the announcement was made all passengers would be ‘reprotected.’ So, we got back in line, just behind the couple traveling to Cancun. Two hours later (!) after leaving the wife in tears, reaching different air carriers by personal cell phone, Ehren got back to us. We were easy, going to NYC, with three airports to choose from, and got seats on a Delta flight leaving a bit after noon. For our time and trouble, Frontier gave us $150 each toward a future flight, plus $9 dinner vouchers.
So, we sat down at Africa’s lounge, just across from the Frontier counter to have breakfast, where the waitress told us that breakfast would only be served for twelve more minutes, and that they couldn’t accept dinner vouchers for breakfast. No, I am NOT making this up. The folks at the yogurt stand and the wonderful Filipina grandmother at Dish D’Lish had no problem accepting the money. She sat down next to us on her break, told us about her children and grandchildren, and mentioned that raising kids in the Phillipines was easy compared to the US, where there was plenty of trouble to get into. Her co-worker sat down, and the wonderful Grandma asked if she had been to the doctor. A nod, and Grandma said, “I knew you were pregnant!” Lots of life in that one encounter.
The flight after that was uneventful. Flew over the old and new Yankee Stadiums, and then drove past the old Shea and the New Citifield on the way to Westchester County. We arrived and breathed a sigh of relief.
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