Traveling Drama

With all the shows I was planning to see, I was expecting a fair amount of drama on this trip, but I was hoping it would all be on the stage. Unfortunately, the act of getting to New York involved more drama than anything else. Our flight was at 6:20 last Tuesday night. I work about 20 minutes from O'Hare, while my companion works downtown. We decided that I would take both of our suitcases with me to work, leave my car there and take a cab to the airport after work, and then when we got back on Sunday we'd take a cab back to work and I'd drive us home. A round trip cab ride is much much cheaper than parking at O'Hare for 5 days. I had no problem with that and Tuesday morning we packed both of our suitcases into my trunk and my companion said he'd be at the airport at 5 to meet me. Now, he is physically incapable of getting anywhere on time. We are always slinking into the opera just as they are closing the doors and we have had several flights where they've closed the door as soon as we got on board. So, I offered to just check both of the suitcases under my name so that he wouldn't have to rush. However, he was afraid his suitcase would be overweight and wanted to check it in himself so that he could pay the extra if it was. I wasn't thrilled, but he promised he would be there by 5, so I said ok. I arranged for the cab to pick me up at 4:30, which it did. I then called my companion to let him know I was on my way, and found out that he was still at work, in downtown Chicago. It takes at least an hour to get to O'Hare on the el, and that's if it doesn't stop between stations for 10-15 minutes anywhere on the line while waiting for construction workers to clear off the tracks. So, I was not at all surprised, but he said he would leave right away and when I got there I positioned myself by the self-check in machines and waited. I assumed it was common knowledge that airlines stop checking luggage 40 minutes before takeoff. As 5:30 approached I called him and offered to check his suitcase, although I neglected to remind him that we had to be checked in by 5:40, and that is my fault, I should have known he wouldn't have been tracking the time that well, and he said he was 3 stops away and to let him check his own suitcase. Just as I resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn't be going to New York after all and I had just spent hundreds of dollars on shows I wouldn't be seeing, he showed up at 5:39. I ran to the self-check in machine and stuck in my credit card. He waddled along behind me, fumbled with his wallet, got a call on his cell phone and fumbled with that, and finally got his card into the slot. I processed my check in and the attendant called my name with the tag for my suitcase. As he was putting it on, my companion finished up, and got a second piece of paper out of the machine with his boarding pass that said "Pre-checked baggage only." As I was taking my suitcase to the x-ray machine, I heard the attendant telling him baggage check had closed before he put his card in the machine. He got furious since I had been able to check in, but the attendant said that all he could do was stand in line and see if the people behind the counter could help. So, my companion told me to go through security and wait for him at the gate. Now, there was almost no one in the terminal when I got there about 10 minutes before 5. However, by this time, the security line was almost half an hour long. I turned my phone off because I don't want it going off while it's going through the machine and freaking out the security people who aren't that smart to start with. So, by the time I got through security, it was almost 10 after 6, only 10 minutes to go before take off, and looking back, I could not see my companion anywhere in the line. I turned my phone back on and it immediately started ringing. It was my companion and he said that the woman at the counter was a bitch and would not let him check his suitcase, and he had to take the next plane to New York, which left at 7:15. I suppose it could have been worse, there could have not been a flight until 11 or even until the next morning. However, it was very annoying because we were flying into LaGuardia which is the grossest of the 3 airports in New York, so there was going to be nothing for me to eat when I got there and I would have to wait for almost an hour, assuming his flight didn't get delayed along the way. But, there was nothing I could do, so I said I'd see him there and proceeded to the gate printed on my boarding pass. When I got there, everyone was still sitting and people were coming out of the gangway. I figued the plane taking us to New York had arrived late and sat patiently. About 5 minutes later, with 5 minutes to go before take off, one of the attendants got on the overhead and said "For those of you just showing up for the New York flight, there has been a gate change and your gate is now. . ." I forget what the gate was but it was three terminals away, although fortunately still within the same secure area. I took off running and got there just as they were about to close the door. I was furious and told them that I had been sitting at the other gate for 5 minutes and that the screen had still said it was the New York flight and they didn't announce the gate change until I had been there for 5 minutes. So, I got through and was the last one onto the plane. The flight was smooth and uneventful, although they put us in a holding pattern around New York for about 20 minutes before we were able to land. Sure enough, everything was closed when we got there, so I went to get my suitcase and wait. After about half an hour, there was still no suitcase and just about everyone else had cleared out, and the conveyer belt had stopped. So, I had to take a trip to baggage services and found out that my suitcase was on my companion's plane. It's a good thing he ended up on that plane because we would have had to wait for it to come in anyways to get our luggage. He got there about 20 minutes after that. His plane had left on time and was no more delayed than mine was, and sure enough, both of our suitcases came out together and we went out to get a cab. It was only a few degrees above zero and we had to wait almost 20 minutes because of the weirdly designed cab area at LaGuardia. Eventually we got a cab that fortunately had good heating and got to the Sofitel a short time later. We unpacked and were both passed out a short time later.