We woke up at 4:00 this morning, and at 5:00 we were texted that our first flight was delayed and we would miss our connection to the island. We were encouraged to rebook a flight for tomorrow. Tomorrow?!?! Uumm, no! We continued to the airport hoping for good news. No changes, though. The flight was still delayed. We spent a good hour and a half with an AA agent in Nashville looking for another connecting flight. It was determined we would need to spend the night in Charlotte and try again tomorrow. No offense to Charlotte, but I have zero desire to see that city and I packed no warm clothes! My heart sank! Just as we headed through security, we were texted that the first flight was now leaving earlier than anticipated - so there was a slight possibility we could actually make our connection. But it was too late. Our bags were checked to Charlotte, and although we might make it to the Cayman Island, our bags wouldn’t!
Fast forward 45 minutes, we landed 15 min early in Charlotte, and then we learned our original flight to Cayman was now delayed. With the change in departure times, we could have made the connection after all! In the blink of an eye, Wes headed to baggage claim to get our luggage, and I headed to the ticket booth to get our original tickets back. I was stunned to learn our seats were taken in that 45 min we were in the air! We were told we could fly standby. Since we were flying standby, Wes had to bring the bags from baggage claim through security. All of my hair products, 6 bottles of sunscreen, and my lotion were thrown away. Wes had to throw away his knife because we couldn’t check the bags (and knife) to Cayman if we didn’t know if we had made the flight.
Then a miracle happened! The flight to Cayman had six open seats and we were able to get four of them! I called Wes and he was stuck in security trying to save sunscreen. I told him to toss it and run. Meanwhile, the AA boarding team was breathing down my neck, “Five minutes...only five more and we close the door.” I pleaded that they give me ten more minutes. I promised the boys were running to the gate. Sure enough in the far distance I can see the guys running with all four bags and three carry-ones! With a minute to spare, we made it to the door just as it was closing!
Tonight we are in 84 degree temps, wearing our shorts, eating jerk chicken, and thanking God for flying standby! With today’s stress, we’ve determined we won’t leave our beach chairs tomorrow!
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