{"id":2173,"date":"2012-12-25T01:29:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T16:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-12-25\/2173"},"modified":"2012-12-25T01:29:34","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T16:29:34","slug":"thank-you-anonymous-hero-at-chicago-ohares-gate-e2a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-12-25\/2173","title":{"rendered":"Thank You Anonymous Hero at Chicago O’Hare’s Gate E2a"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 5000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOur Plane<\/span>\nfrom Tokyo to Chicago yesterday\n<\/div>\n\n\n

10-year-old Anthony and I flew from Japan to America yesterday, and now\nI'm at my folks' house in Ohio where I grew<\/span> up. It wasn't as eventful a\ntrip<\/span> as some horror stories you hear about, but it had its own bit of excitement,\nand some good travel lessons.<\/p>\n\n

I'll recount the long story here. I don't<\/span> expect anyone to actually read it... it's mostly for my own memory...<\/p>\n\n

    \n

  • \n\nMy father-in-law drove us to Osaka Itami airport, leaving from Kyoto at 11:30am and\narriving at 12:30 in plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely<\/span> Starbucks lunch\nbefore heading to the gate for the 2:35 departure.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

  • \n\nHeading through security, we found out simultaneously that 1)<\/b> Anthony\nhad left his large school scissors in his school pencil case, and that\n2)<\/b> this was frowned upon by security. They politely rescanned\neverything, then the security officer walked the scissors back out to\nFumie's folks, who were still watching from before security with curious wonder\nat the hubbub, expressions that turned to big smiles when the reason\nwas revealed when presented with the scissors.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

  • \n\nThe short 80-minute Flight from Osaka to Tokyo was almost completely full, but one of the few empty\n seats was next to us. Schweet! Bodes well for a great<\/span> trip!\n\n<\/p><\/li>

  • \n\n The transfer in Tokyo to the transpacific flight was uneventful. We boarded<\/span> United 882 for Chicago, seen above.\n When boardaing, I was<\/span> interested to see whether my seating ploy had worked....<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\n\n

    A few days earlier, I'd checked out United Airlines' iPhone app, which is pretty well done\nfor a first<\/span>-generation app of its kind. I can<\/span> see my reservation, change seat assignments,\nsign up for push notifications of flight changes, see the exact baggage allowances for my trip,\nand much more. There are still many areas for improvement, but I was<\/span> suitably impressed.<\/p>\n\n

    \n United Airlines iPhone app\n<\/div>\n\n

    And like putting candy next to the cash register, the app made it easy\nfor me to pay a bit<\/span> to upgrade to “Economy\nPlus” seating<\/a>, which adds a few<\/span> inches of extra leg room. I'm 6'4\" (192cm)<\/span> so the extra space makes a huge<\/span>\ndifference when spending 12 hours in the plane. I once got<\/span> upgraded to this\nfor free, and it was wonderful<\/i> (relatively speaking), so I decided<\/span>\nto pay for it this time to ensure it: $120 each to upgrade us for the\nTokyo\/Chicago leg. I'm fine with<\/span> the extra fee... I need<\/span> more space than\nthe average person, so it only makes sense that I pay<\/span> more than the average\nperson. (I wouldn't<\/span> want the cost of double-wide chairs for obese people\nbuilt into the cost of my ticket any more than I expect<\/span> the cost of double\ntall seating built into the cost of everyone else's.)<\/p>\n\n

    Anyway, I upgraded our seats in the app a few<\/span> days prior, and picked the two edge seats of a three<\/span>-seat\nsection, hoping that the undesirable lone middle seat between them would be left\nempty, and we'd get a three<\/span>-seat section for ourselves....<\/p>\n\n

    • \n\nIt almost worked. The flight was fairly full, but most middle seats were empty, but, alas, not ours. So I gave<\/span><\/span> the person a choice<\/span> of either of our seats to swap so that Anthony and my seats would\n be together, and she (a snowboard<\/span> instructor from Salt Lake returning from a trip<\/span> to Bangkok)\n choose the aisle.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n The flight was uneventful and we arrived into Chicago about 20 minutes late. The security<\/span> line for US citizens was really\n long, and once finally close to our turn got put into the line for an inspector that was really<\/i> slow. He would<\/span> hold up the passport picture next to each American and stare intently, taking his sweet time. I suspect<\/span> he wasn't comparing the photo as much as using the technique to check out the person's reaction, but anyway,\n it took forever to get through. Once he was done with us, he asked whether we had a connecting<\/span> flight,\n and I said<\/span> “yeah, boarding at 3:45 in Terminal 1<\/span>”, to which he looked at his watch and said “Uh, well, good luck,\n and happy holidays”, and with the tone of his voice, I suspected<\/span> we would not make the flight.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n We didn't make the flight. We picked<\/span> up our one checked bag and were out of customs within a minute,<\/span>\n but by this time it was 3:45 and our flight to Akron Ohio (over in another far-flung terminal, a train<\/span> ride and a security<\/span>\n checkpoint away) was boarding, so the 20-minute delay in arriving had doomed us. Unfortunately, it was sort\n of a crazy<\/span> madhouse and pretty much every seat leaving Chicago was spoken for, and the line to talk to a\n United<\/span> agent to resolve this was long.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\nWhen it was our turn, the kind agent spent what seemed an hour to try to find anything<\/i> that would get us to northeast Ohio\nthat evening, but absolutely everything was full. The best she<\/span> could do was waitlist us on the 9:10pm flight to Akron\n(five hours after our missed flight), and as a fallback<\/span> reserve a next<\/span>-evening flight to Pittsburgh. But she went<\/span> above and beyond\nand was using her iPhone to check weather (I considered<\/span> just renting a car<\/span> and making the 8-hour drive) and\nlooking up bus info, as alternatives that might help us.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\nI couldn't take our big bag through security, so had to check it, so checked it on the 9pm flight to Akron... it would go to Akron\nwhether we made the flight or not.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n We took the airport train to the terminal where the flight would be leaving that evening (hopefully with us on it),\n passed uneventfully through security, then stopped by United's Red Carpet Club, the ritzy travel lounge for the 1%.\n 20 years ago I had<\/span> traveled on United a lot<\/span> for business and had reached an at-the-time rare and unpublished “100k Status”\n (more than 100,000 miles per year), and had been allowed to use the\n lounge. This time I was<\/span> traveling in cattle class, but hey, it\n was their maintenance delay in Tokyo that caused me to be stuck here, so maybe they'd let us use the lounge for a few<\/span> hours.\n <\/p>

      “Were you traveling internationally in first class?” was the question. “No” was my answer, and so “No” was the\n answer from the man at the front desk who reminded me strongly of Chris Tucker's character from The Fifth Element<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n

      I thought at least to ask whether he could check whether my waitlist status had improved, but he directed me to a customer<\/span>-service\n counter instead.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\nWe got a very pleasant lady at the customer service counter in Chicago O'Hare Terminal 2,<\/span> who confirmed\n that my waitlist status hadn't yet changed, but she kingly dug in a bit<\/span> and listed all the flights going\n to Cleveland that night, suggesting that I could<\/span> just visit the gate to try my luck. One such flight<\/span> was\n leaving momentarily from a nearby<\/span> gate, so Anthony and I ran<\/span> over there...\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n We arrived as the final boarding call was being made, to a check<\/span>-in desk with other customers (obviously folks on standby) hovering\n around. I explained<\/span> the my situation to the gate agent (\"Flight from Tokyo arrived late so I missed<\/span> my flight to Akron; I'm just looking for\n anyway to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight\") and she inspected her terminal for the longest time, but in the end\n\n said there was no room. Bummer.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n I stepped away from the counter, but told Anthony that we should just stick around to see what might happen. She was calling<\/span> half a dozen<\/span> ticketed customer's names who had not yet shown up, and if they didn't show up, and if there\n weren't that many on the waiting list, we might actually have a chance.<\/span>\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n Time limit for the ticketed customers passed, so she calls the standby folks and they go on. Anthony and I just<\/span> stand nearby waiting,\n and suddenly she calls us over, gestures to the tired-looking buff guy in his late 20s at the counter who is turning to pick up his bags,\n and said “he just gave up his seat so you two could get on<\/i>”. He had been<\/span> there the whole time, and had apparently heard\n when I explained<\/span> my plight to the lady.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n “Dude, really, wow thank you so much! Are you sure<\/span>!?<\/i>” was all I could<\/span> mutter. I was<\/span> instantly choked up at this\n selfless act, and yet as happy as I was<\/span> for it felt bad for him... he looked very tired. But in a<\/span> truly selfless move he\n just picked up his bags, smiled a “good luck” smile, and walked away, not even allowing me to thank him properly.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n The check-in agent said “just give me your boarding passes (for the later flight) and go”, so Anthony and I shuffled<\/span> down\n the boarding ramp while I dialed<\/span> my folks to tell them I would<\/span> be arriving in Cleveland in an hour, asking the flight attendant\n what time we arrive while I stood<\/span> in the door of the plane. It was all<\/span> very rush-rush and a bit<\/span> exciting, and I was<\/span> so happy\n for the turn of events. Our seats<\/span> would not be together for the 45-minute flight, but I wasn't<\/span> complaining. I got<\/span> Anthony situated in one seat,\n then started looking for a place<\/span> to shove the carry-on bags...\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n ...when the gate agent appeared, waved me over, and\n apologized quietly that she'd have to pull us from the flight because a ticketed<\/span> passenger had finally just arrived. Doh! Easy come, easy go! I was<\/span> disappointed, of course, but mostly was still basking in the glow of the act of kindness by that guy at the gate who had given up his seat,\n and now felt really bad for him because now he had done it for nothing.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n\n I called Anthony from his seat, and we walked back up the deserted\n boarding ramp and into the now-deserted gate area. I dumped<\/span> our luggage and\n started to organize things and make a plan<\/span> for what to do next.\n First on my mind was to check the Cleveland flight leaving in an hour\n from the neighboring terminal, but the smell of popcorn\n from a nearby<\/span> vendor had Anthony's attention.\n\n <\/p>

      \n\n When traveling with not-small kids like Anthony (who is 10), their attitude can make or break the situation: when he's fussy,\n I'm fussy, and everything is much worse than it needs to be, but during this entire trip he was an absolute angel. Every time things got\n tough, he'd say “it's our buddy time!”, and we'd fist bump, and get through it together. He was perfect<\/span>. So it was<\/span> with this in\n mind, on my knees in the deserted gate area trying to organize my luggage, that I thought<\/span> to defer on the next flight and get the popcorn.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n Then the gate-agent lady appears again, and says they found room, and hurry up we can get you on. So we rush<\/span> down the boarding ramp again,\n and I'm calling my folks again to say that the 8:10pm arrival in Cleveland is on again. It turns<\/span> out that one of the passengers was a\n United<\/span> Airlines pilot, so he could move to an extra seat in the cockpit, freeing up a second<\/span> seat in the cabin. Other passengers made\n volunteer seat changes, leaving two seats for us next to each other. It felt like<\/span> a miracle.<\/span>\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n A flight from Chicago to Akron or Cleveland always feels a bit<\/span> odd because you taxi at the airport for about the same amount of\n time it takes to actually fly (about 45 minutes each). We arrived<\/span> to Cleveland at about 8:15, and Anthony ran into Grandpa's arms.\n\n<\/p><\/li>

    • \n\n It took quite a while to file the report about my bag, but I was<\/span>\nconfident that it would arrive into Akron later that night, and so\nhopefully\n they could deliver it to us the next day. Dad let me<\/span> drive, and we arrived at my folks' place an hour later. It was below<\/span> freezing\n so much so that we couldn't make snowballs when Anthony and I tried.<\/span> I took an<\/span> Ambien CR to fight jet lag and help me stay asleep,\n and we were in bed by 11pm.\n\n<\/p><\/li><\/ul>\n\n

      I got up at 6am... I would have liked it to be 8am or 10am, but seven hours of sleep is better than I usually<\/span> do. As of 9am<\/span> this morning,\nmy bag is still in Chicago, so Anthony and I may<\/span> head out to Walmart for some clothes. Christmas Mass is this evening at 4pm.<\/p>\n\n

      All in all, we were only a few hours later than our original plan, and\nI'm still touched by the anonymous man who gave up his seat for us. Thank you anonymous hero!<\/p>\n\n

      Now we look forward to Fumie arriving with her folks in a few<\/span> days...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      10-year-old Anthony and I flew from Japan to America yesterday, and now I'm at my folks' house in Ohio where I grew up. It wasn't as eventful a trip as some horror stories you hear about, but it had its own bit of excitement, and some good travel lessons.<\/p>

      I'll recount the long story here. I don't expect anyone to actually read it... it's mostly for my own memory...<\/p>

      My father-in-law drove us to Osaka Itami airport, leaving from Kyoto at 11:30am and arriving at 12:30 in plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely Starbucks lunch before heading to [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}