Miracle in Maine

   On Friday we flew out of Jacksonville, changed planes in Charlotte, continued our flight with Dwayne and Karen and Sydney and landed at Portland, Maine, later that same day. All of this was to see, and be with, Sawyer, our first grandson in college and to be with his dad and mom and sister, who set up the trip and invited us to go along.

   On Saturday we watched the NECA cross country meet. This conference of Division III schools is eleven strong and all the schools are located in the same area as Bowdoin, Sawyer's institution.

   After the meet, and eating a little lunch, touring the campus with our grandson guide, and looking around that area of Maine (a beautiful spot to be sure), we were all set to go out for some Maine lobster. But some trouble intervened.

   Dwayne knocked at our door in the Inn, telling us that he had had an email alert from our airline, saying that because of Sandy, the latest hurricane, and its path toward the northeast, we might want to rethink our going home on Monday. After talking it over, we decided that prudence might dictate that we try to get out on Sunday before the storm hit that area, even though that would cut our visit short.

   Then the fun began. Dwayne managed to get into the US Air web site and get his reservation changed to a Sunday flight, this being the exact same flight we were to take on Monday to Charlotte. He had to take 3 separated seats, because so many had already taken that one and only non-stop flight from Portland to Charlotte, on that day. But he was all set, and now we needed to do the same.

   With Dwayne trying to help us book seats on that flight, we began the ordeal. Dwayne tried the phone line for US Air while I went downstairs to use the computer in the lobby. He stayed on hold for at least 20 minutes while I finally got on the website. When I got to the point where they told me what options I had, there was only one. Leaving on Sunday morning, going to Philadelphia and then on to Jacksonville later that day. Seeing that Philly was going to be in the path of the storm long before Portland, that did not seem like an ideal, so we decided to try another plan.

   While the rest of the family went on out for supper, I called the online travel site that I had used to book the reservations in the first place. After explaining the situation to the customer service rep, she said she would try to get through to the airline, and see what she could do. She put me on hold and about every 5 minutes she would come back online to tell me she was still holding for someone to talk to about the whole problem. US Air has thousands of flights all along the east coast and they were swamped with folks requesting changes to their booked flights. I did not count the minutes, but I imagine I was on hold for 20 minutes or so, when she came back on and said she could not get through, and even if she did, she did not think she could do any better that I could on my own, since the airline's email had said there would be no charge for any change in my booking, and she could not guarantee that at all.

   About this time I was getting a little agitated with the inability of anyone to help, and thought that maybe we might have to take a chance on Monday's flights being OK.

   In one last desparate attempt at a solution, I looked up US Air in the yellow pages and called, with little hope of any type of help. Lo and behold, after a short computer question asking me about my request, a real person came on the line and asked if she could help. After getting up off the floor, my situation was explained and then it became her turn to try to help. She said "I think I can help you in this, let's see what we can do". Could this be the beginning of a miracle.

   She then asked if I would like to go out on Sunday with the same schedule that we had originally booked for Monday. "That would be great" was the hopeful replay, and she continued to work. Then some partial good news, "I can book you on the Charlotte to Jacksonville with no problem so let's see about Portland to Charlotte". Great, now all we have to do is get to Charlotte.

   As she continued to work on her end, I knew we were not home free, the most important thing was leaving Maine before the storm, even if we had to take a roundabout route to get home.

   "I found two seats on the Portland to Charlotte flight at 8AM Sunday", she announced, and we cheered. That was the flight we needed to make our connection to the other one she already had lined up. Not only that but the seats were together, not even separated like
Dwayne's. We thanked God and took the booking.

   I had spent a couple of hours, spinning my wheels, being put on hold numerous times, becoming somewhat perturbed, and here this lady took care of it in 10 minutes. Let me list the parts of this Miracle in Maine:

   1. getting a person to answer, and not only that, ready to help, and have a solution

   2. not being on hold for an eternity while any possible seats disappeared from view

   3. getting two seats together on the Charlotte flight and the Jax one also

   4. having the same itinerary as Dwayne and family so that we could ride to Portand together

    We went to Portland early on Sunday, caught our flight to Charlotte with Dwayne, Karen and Syd, waited for an hour or so, had some breakfast and prepared to move on toward Florida.

   Then the icing on the cake. We got on the Jax plane and found that we had seats in first class. Talk about a happy couple going home, that was us, smiling all the way, and, along with all the amenities of that seating, they did not even charge us extra for our luggage, and it came down the luggage carousel as advertised.

   If that is not the definition of "cool", I don't know what is.

   God is Good.....Soooooo Good

   And we are blessed, Thank You, Amen