Comming Home...

Well we had quite the adventure on the way home from Chicago. It started with a series of unfortunate events and ended with a series of great ones. We felt confident in using the subway system to get back to the airport as we had used it over the past few days and it wouldn't cost us anything because we still had our pases. It takes about 45 minutes to get back to the airport, or so we thought. Well the main subway that goes out the airport, they all the sudden announced as we are getting close that due to construction we would have to get off, reboard buses then get off and reboard another train to get to the airport. Needless to say this added quite a bit of unexpected time to the trip. That pit of my stomach feeling starts and I practiced some self talk, we gave our self extra time surely we won't miss our flight. Well we got off and had to RUN to the check in place. I check in at the self check in but they had no place to check bags and Ryan had one to check. They informed us he would have to go upstairs to check in. So we separate he says go to the gate and see if you can hold the plan for me.
From there I go to the gate (the gate that was the very last one on that very long terminal) just in time that they are boarding the plane. I explain the situation the attendant tells me its likely he won't make the flight. I ask about possibilities of both of us flying standby for the next flight, he says that plane is over sold and would be unlikely we could get one. Ryan is having his own adventure down stairs. (I am reframing it as an adventure since its over at the time torture would be more accurate). He gets in the line to check baggage and when he gets to the front they say "Did you check in at the self check in already? You'll have to do that first". So he goes over to that line, that computer tells him "Your to late to check in". He explains the situation and that person says they aren't an agent so they can't help you need to go stand in that line and points in vague direction of where there are about 5 long lines of people. He gets back in line over there once he clarifies where exactly, they confirm he will not make this flight and put him on standby for the later one. From there he "randomly" gets selected by the airline at security for the full security search and pat down, etc. He tells me via cell phone to go ahead and get on the plane and go home. I am fighting back tears (I don't know why these situations get so emotional but they do). So I am boarding with I am sure my head cast down and making lots of swallows to keep from crying. As I am entering the plan the attendant from the desk that our gates comes and gets me. He says if I want to give up my seat and fly stand by the next flight he can offer me free round trip ticket to anywhere in the US. I call Ryan, we decide this is for sure the way to go. The Lady I gave my seat to was very grateful, she was flying standby and really wanted on that flight. Finally I meet up with Ryan we are trying to be on standby for the next flight that just left an hour later. They have a board at this gate that tells you how many seats are left and they have the list of standby people. Somehow I was number one on the list and Ryan was number 6. They had 3 seats left of people who hadn't checked in. The attendant told Ryan it didn't look good for him getting on this flight. Then they had a couple who had checked in but didn't board when it was time. They called me up and asked me to bring my husband too. We waited as they waited till the last possible minute to see if the other couple would show. They never did so they let us board the flight and we even got to sit together. We were home in OKC by noon and I have a free round trip flight to anywhere in the 48 states of my choosing!