Saturday morning, bright and early, Lloyd drove Laura and Meghan into Toulouse to the airport, and waited with them through check-in, and while they went through security. After their delay of 12 hours when they were coming over here, he figured he'd wait until they were on the plane before he left. He watched the board, which showed them boarding, and then he returned home. I watched the departure information on the computer, and it showed that they had boarded, and were on schedule. I continued on with my day, and Lloyd returned home. I had the arrival information up on another screen for their flight, and was tracking that, too. All of it seemed, OK, fine, on schedule, etc, etc. I went up a bit later in the morning, and while I was relaxing in the tub, Lloyd informed me that the flight, was now reading as canceled. W.T.F.?? Really??? How much more did those girls need to deal with regarding flights on an eight day trip?? As it turned out, they had to cope with a fair bit more, yet.
So, we scarfed down our lunch, loaded the children up, and went to the airport. We hadn't heard from the girls yet, but I wanted to be there, to see for myself if they were going to make it onto the 3:30pm flight into Frankfurt, and find out first-hand what was happening with their flight from Frankfurt to Calgary. Because, the final leg of their journey needed to be arranged as well. By us, not the airline they were flying on into Calgary. I headed to the Information desk in the airport, who directed me to the Lufthansa desk back up on the departure level. As I headed toward the desk, I saw Laura standing in line. I sneaked up behind her, and gave her a little tap on the shoulder. She jumped about a mile high, then I got an enormous hug from her. They were still waiting, three hours after they were taken off the plane, to find out what was going on with their flights. The entire plane load of people were waiting at that Lufthansa desk. (My sympathies went to the woman at the desk, who apparently arrived to work at noon that day to discover she had to deal with an entire plane load of people who had been jerked around all morning, and were looking for information. I am so glad that I did not have her job that day.) Meghan came back to the line-up from wherever she was, and was so surprised to see me, and so relieved. She just hugged me and hugged me and hugged me, and when I made a move, she asked if she had to let go now? Yes, I said, probably. Then I got a good look at her. She was S.I.C.K. Again. She was on medication for the first part of their trip, but whatever it was, was back. With a vengeance. Poor girl. So, Laura pulled out the travel insurance info, and we phoned to find out precisely what recourse the girls had wrt to rescheduled/canceled flights*. A claim was opened for both girls, and they finally got to the front of the line. After running through the options, Laura and Meghan would be flying out the next morning, basically following an identical itinerary, just one day delayed. So, we all piled back into the car, to go back to Loupiac for one more night. Margo was so excited to have "The Aunties!" back for one more night.
I managed to change Laura's ticket from Calgary to Edmonton with no problem, but Meghan was not so lucky for her ticket change from Calgary to Saskatoon. Luckily, our other sister lives in Calgary, and was just back from her trip away, and would meet Meghan at the airport if she needed a place to stay overnight.
The Departure, Take 2!
Apparently, the second time was the charm for leaving Toulouse, because they made it out, and into Frankfurt on time. (Lloyd stayed until their plane was actually in the air this time.) Their flight from Frankfurt to Calgary was on time as well, and they actually arrived a bit early into Calgary, and made it through Customs easily enough. Meghan was very sick by then, and opted to stay at Jean's for the night, and leave late the next day for Saskatoon. And wouldn't you know, that flight was delayed, too!!! She got back to Residence, sick as sick can be, unable to talk, at 2:00am. Luckily, our brother was there to take her from the airport to Residence, and to call Mom and let her know that her last little chicky was at home.
I am glad that you are finally well, Meghan!! And Laura, I am so happy that the rest of your trip home was uneventful!! Thank you both, very much, for coming to visit us! I had such fun, and it was so wonderful to see you both, here! Love you, both, and I'll see you soon.
Love your Big (little) Sis
*There was also a fair bit of stress for them to make it home on the Sunday, as they were flying on Lufthansa, and on Monday, the pilots were going on strike! Yikes!!
No comments:
Post a Comment