I work for an airline. That means my family can fly when seats are available. I have one son who spent his high school years traveling the country to compete in track meets, and now attends college a short plane ride from home. I have another son who for most of a decade has traveled the world to compete in slalom canoe. For me, "will he win" is the second most stressful question of any trip. The first is, "will he get on the flight." We fly stand-by. If the plane is full we stand and say by. Even though both sons have been stranded, spent the night in airports, missed flights, stayed extra days on trips and just aborted trips altogether, Benn and Davis manage the process, with which they are both so experienced, in very different ways. I'll demonstrate with stories of their most recent flying experiences.
Davis called me on Dec 20th and said, "How does the last flight of the day look tomorrow?" He asked about one, not flights, not days, just that one. It looked fine. Naturally it would look fine for Davis. As is his habit he left at what I would call the last possible minute for the airport. He called me from his truck to tell me it wouldn't start. At first it was turning over but now just clicking. I told him his battery was dead. He decided to call a friend with jumper cables to get him started. He decided Future Davis could worry about the battery after Christmas. When the truck cranked he first noticed that the dome light came on, left on from the previous night. He second noticed that the gas tank was empty, also left so from last night. Of course he already knew then that he would leave at the last possible minute and have to fill it anyway, but no big deal. He's Davis. Now after waiting and jumping his truck well beyond the last possible minute, he still had to get gas. His friend followed him to be sure it cranked again.
A few minutes later Davis called again and said he was on the way. "How's the flight look? I think I can make it if I hurry." I said, "The flight looks soon, but there are still seats. I'm going to hang up so you can focus on not getting pulled over. That kind of ticket won't help you get on the flight." He said, "Wait! I forgot my confirmation number." I knew that already. He is Davis and that's what he does. I had it in my hand, and texted it to him, because I am Tom and that's what I do. He texted a few minutes later and said, "I got my ticket." I replied that I hoped he meant a seat. He had arrived at the very small Bloomington, IL airport and charmed the ticket agent into letting him check a bag, just a tiny bit late, smiled at her again while she, the same one, worked the departure gate, and waved at her as she threw his bag through the cargo door of the aircraft. I told you its a small airport, but I do think a couple of other people work there too. Davis made it home on a smile and a prayer due in no part to his own diligence. The smile was his. The prayer was mine.
I didn't set out to be that guy who has the confirmation number ready, who worries his kids onto flights. It's not Davis's fault I'm that way. I suppose its mine but I never once said as a kid, "I want to be that guy." I wanted to be a superhero. In the third grade I wanted to be super strong and to be super fast and to be able to fly. I turned out to be that guy who sits at home and frets about his kids getting on the flight.
So by contrast Benn asked in November, "How do flights from Atlanta to Sydney look near New Years Eve or New Years day? He figured those would be easy travel days. Being that guy I checked them weekly and then daily till Dec 30th. Suddenly there were large numbers of other stand-by travelers also on the flights and most with higher priority than his. And his girlfriend Bailey was trying to go with him with a lower priority than his. None of that made me feel better and it stressed Benn completely. He could still get on but barely and he was worried about it. He had been beaten into diligence by years of disappointments, set-backs and various stressful travel occurrences. Davis wouldn't recognize a beating if it... well beat him.
At any rate Benn suggested I look at earlier flights that day. Some of me was wearing off on him. Sure enough those large numbers of stand-bys grew geometrically on the earlier flights and would roll to his. He would not get on. He decided to go for the first flight of the day, good training from Dad. Bailey came over and we got up to leave for the airport at 5AM. I prepared him for the worst and even gave him a pre-scouted list of alternative routes if he didn't get on. He appreciated it, but he was already in that stressful frame of mind. We made it to the airport early. He had his confirmation number, and Bailey's. By the time I got back home I logged onto the system and saw that Benn had a seat but Bailey looked to be number 14 waiting for 5 seats. Remember diligence though. That's why you go for the first flight of the day. People "no show." Both Benn and Bailey eventually got seat assignments and experience finally told Benn he could relax.
If experience knows what's good for it, it won't tell him that again. When he ran his boarding pass through the scanner it failed. He somehow disappeared from the list. Software bug? Gate agent error? Or just another beating? In the last minute frenzy of boarding, last minute passengers running to the gate to find boarding complete and doors closing, nobody fixed it. Benn didn't get on.
He spent a few brief minutes being devastated and telling Bailey via cell phone that he'd get there. Then the mental and physical training of an elite athlete paid off. He focused. The next flight was about to start boarding on concourse A. Benn was on concourse E. Have you been to the Atlanta airport. A and E are in different counties, the National Weather Service issues different weather forecasts for them, they are... What I'm trying to say is it was really far. Benn ran. I was still that guy and still checking. I texted him his seat assignment for the next flight before he even got to the gate. Yes. He made it and got a seat and is in Australia now for warm weather winter training.
Davis is back at school. The return for Davis was less eventful. That's because I was there to organize and drive. Neither Benn or Davis has to fly again for a while. I can relax. I don't worry about them while they are away. They are big boys and make good decisions. I just worry about them while they travel. Will they get on the flight? If I had my way back in the third grade I would now be able to pick them up with my super strength and fly them where they need to be and do so very fast. Oh well. Instead I'll just wait for Benn's next beating and see what I can do to help.
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