At the Booking Desk

I’ve been standing at Delta’s ticket counter long enough to browse all the iPhone travel applications, decide I probably don’t need one, download a blog updater, and write this post.

We’ve now missed hours of sleep and an amazing breakfast feast at Embassy Suites in exchange for a greasy egg and sausage biscuit from Wendy’s and long lines. Instead of casually enjoying a Starbucks with my wife, we’re rushing through PDX attempting to make our itinerary fit into the matrix of the largest airline in the world.

It’s really not Delta’s fault; the problem is an unresponsive attitude indicator–an old school piece of aviation machinery that relies on a spinning gyro to demonstrate the pitch and roll of the aircraft relative to the horizon. Our captain pleaded with the little guy, poked and prodded it, and finally admitted his failure and our mutual frustration. We all deplaned once maintenance confirmed it would take too long to make our connections. The good news is that someone saw Virginia’s protruding tummy and booked us an extra infant for this return flight. Glad we don’t have to pay for that.

The staff has been downright cheery, seemingly enjoying disgruntled customer handling long before dawn. My attitude indicator is still registering in the green: we’ll still get home on time with our bags, Josiah will survive (as long as the DVD player does too!) Virginia will get to sleep in her own bed, our joy-riding infant will continue forming at an alarming rate, and we’ll get to see the inside of Minneapolis. “Don’t fret, it only causes harm.”

I realize I haven’t written on this blog since August and when I finally did it was concerning one of the lesser exciting events of our lives. I also realize that in my usual writing style I enjoy using a little story from my personal life as a launching point to instruct my readers in a spiritual truth. Today I just had some extra time and wished we could have been spending it together instead of the above non-adventure…

Update: Virginia called from Gate D7 to tell me that Maintenance fixed the indicator early and they were reboarding the flight. Since we were already in process out front, our bags (and now we ourselves) won’t make our original flight. And this new app erased my entire post when the phone rang…so this is a re-write. Sad.

Update2: I busted through security and literally ran to our new Gate D8 alongside two new Delta friends to find my frantic wife nearly in tears, immobile with 3 large carry-ons, a two year old, and no husband to board with. The valiant workers finally worked past the glitch in the system and got us onboard within minutes of takeoff. We moved approximately 8 feet before the captain sadly announced that this plane also is experiencing technical difficulty and Maintenence would be called in for a flap problem. Unbelievable.

Mercifully this one was short, we’re now in the air, Josiah is resting his sleeping head on my arm, and barring any unforseen setbacks, we’ll glide into Entebbe on schedule. I just hope Zane got my txt about picking us up…

-Brent