Getting There

I left Thursday morning at 9 am for the Bar Harbor Airport. When I arrived they informed us that all flights have been cancelled until the radar weather equipment is repaired. They drive us in a van two hours to Augusta where after opening and hand searching every single suitcase even those being checked, fourteen of us board a turboprop to Boston. They plane was supposed to leave at 12:45 PM but does not get off until after 1PM. They had rescheduled my 1:30 connecting flight to 2:45. We arrive in Boston after 2 PM where I am directed to take a shuttle bus from the U S Air concourse to the Delta concourse. That was a huge mistake. There must be a way to walk. I found the shuttle busses but it was at least 10 minutes before the correct one arrived which then took another 10 to 15 minutes to get me to Concourse A. I had to go through security again which was all jammed up gobbling another 15 minutes. Finally arrived running to my gate at 3 pm, fifteen minutes after my plane had departed.

Delta put my on standby for the 4 pm to Atlanta. I didn't get on. They put me on standby for the 5:15 pm to Atlanta. I didn't get on. They put me on standby for the 6:30 pm to Atlanta. I was number one on the priority standby list, was called up during boarding to receive a boarding pass. After me, all the other standbys received passes. My seat was in Zone 4 so I was one of the last to board. When they swiped my pass it didn't clear. They wouldn't let me through. I told them I'd been waiting there all day to get on a flight. They said lots of people were affected by the delays. I said yes but I was number one on the priority standby list. The last person on the standby list should be taken off the plane and I should get their seat. The pass checking clerk just kept letting the last few passengers through and kept telling me to move back. I wouldn't budge. The clerk at the counter was dealing with another person who had confirmed tickets that didn't clear. I told her that this wasn't right and that I needed to get to Atlanta tonight. The woman she was helping told me not to bother her while she was helping her. I knew as soon as those last passengers got through I was dead in the water. I told the clerks, Look, I'm going to a Parkinson's conference and all my meds are in my luggage that went to Atlanta without me at 2 o'clock. I have to get to Atlanta. Then another guy's ticket didn't clear. The desk clerk sent the woman she had been helping through then another seat cleared. She passed it in my direction. I grabbed it and ran down the boarding ramp.

When I got on the plane, a woman was sitting in my assigned seat. There were three empty seats across from her. I sat there and called the steward. He moved the woman who didn't speak English. No one was allowed to sit in the empty seats because on the prior flight someone had thrown up there big time, with a projectile that splattered the walls and dripped down the head of the passenger in front of him. The stewards cleaned it as best they could to avoid putting the plane out of service and cancelling the flight but felt it wasn't sanitary enough for anyone to sit there.

And that's how I got to Atlanta for the Southeastern & Young Onset Parkinson Conference.