[ diaries of a mad STANDBY passenger ]

Holy heck...right now I'm irritated to the extent, emotionally frustrated, and patience is at about a zero. Being an airline employee has it's many perks. I have fun at work, I get along with my co-workers, I enjoy the company of many passengers, I work under a remarkable management and station, I love that we give to charity both big and small, and best of all......I FLY FREE!!

I love to travel and see many things life has to offer and many of God's wonderful creations, I find myself truly blessed............................................................................................................................................................Now, we all know there's opposition to all things. Well in this case......full flights (although perfect for the company revenue) is definitely one of those oppositions. When we {standbys} fly, we take whatever seats available. Which most of the time works out fine because working in Utah {one of Deltas main hubs} make's it easy because it has so many flights in and out and direct that I rarely have to worry about getting stuck somewhere or something trying to connect. Therefore, when flights are full it's normally aaaalll good cause there's a next flight.Well with the events going on this weekend- that wasn't too much of an option.

I had blogged a few times before about my gorgeous cousin Kaitie gettin hitched out in Orlando this weekend. I've been looking forward to it for quite sometime now. I've missed this side of the fam a great deal, I haven't been to Orlando for about 9 years, I miss Kaitie and am extremely excited for her to start her new life as a wifey (whoa...sounds kinda weird haha) but yeah.....I've been super stoked for this trip. As times passed to prepare for this trip my parents decided they wanted to come to and of course when my parents travel Pili goes.

Anyway, long story short- with UEA going on this weekend flights are booked full from every city that flies into Orlando. They're all just completely booked......oversold.....zipped.....nada.......NOTHING! But do we try? Of course... because there are ALWAYS misconnects, late checkins, and people that just get lost in the airport- I mean, that is normally what we hope for on full flights when flying standby. hahaha... and we've been in the game now long enough we know how the system runs. So we sit at the gates, crossing our fingers, HOPING a miracle happens. Also since we're pretty good 'standbyers', we know how to occupy our time in the airport- hence the pictures off the webcam. haha

Anywho, instead of taking our direct flights to Orlando from Salt Lake we flew out here to Vegas because it had more seats available. Flew in this late afternoon, ate, slept, relaxed, laughed, and just spent time with family out here. [[THANK GOD FOR THEM BEING HERE!]]
We then RE-packed up and headed to the airport for the red eye flight to Orlando. We waited.......and waited........and waited.........then the gate agent finally calls our name.

I run up HOPING [once again] that we're good. I get up there and the gate agent tells me there are only 3 seats available. Mind you, we need 4. Pili was clear down the list so there was no way he was going to be cleared for this flight. In that last 5 minutes as we sat there trying to make a decision as to who was going to go since we could only send 2 and the other would have to stay with Pili, I saw Pilis eyes water up and he just started crying. My heart broke. I knew how bad he wanted to go to Florida, but this was something totally out of our control. I ended up sending my parents because 1.) Mom had to teach Kaitie a dance for her wedding and 2.) Dad needed to go......I guess LOL. Na j/k I sent dad because it'd be much easier for me to fly on a higher priority rather than leaving my dad and Pili w/pretty low seniority. =( So i stayed back with Pili. I know the gate agent felt terrible as well because Pili was just quietly saying to me thru his soft little cry "Aunty...I just want to go to Florida..." My goodness....I had to be strong even though I was about to just break. The agent left and to make sure all were onboard so she could at least send him..... unfortunately everyone was on board. =(  And my parents were no help, walking away practically crying saying bye to Pili, I was seriously like "REALLY, who are the adults here?" lol....

After comforting my little man and getting him excited for a night full of fun at home Pili and I made a call and next thing ya know....we're back at the house eating Winchell donuts, Jack in the Box, Church's Chicken, and watching Red Boxes with Aunty Tina and Uncle TJ. haha... Tonight sucked for us as standbys, it really made me wish I was a millionaire with a private jet to fly anywhere. This is what I hate the most- not so much of ME NOT getting on but more of Pili not getting on after waiting for hours being super excited to go and then not getting on. I hate when things are out of my control like this. It drives me nuts. I mean, I am very grateful for my job and it's benefits but it's the downfalls like this that I can not stand. But......we expect that  when we fly like that.

Tomorrows another day so we will be hanging out in Vegas til then.......wish us luck. Thank God Pili's such a great sport. XoXo....