Drunk Nerds fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Dec 10, 2019

• After a couple of weeks away my flight back was 2 days before Uni started back up, it was a late afternoon flight that was intended to get me home at about 10ish that night. My ex, her mother and teenaged brother dropped me off at the airport to see me off onto the plane. We arrive at the airport two hours early for my flight. After parking we entered the terminal to find it packed to the brim with people, they were EVERYWHERE. Massive queues at each check in counter and masses of people sitting in group or proped up against walls or pillars with their luggage looking worried/mad/lost. The queue is moving at a decent rate though so Ex and I get in the queue while her mother and brother wait for us.
  
  
• While we are in the queue she jumps on the phone and discovers that a fibre optic cable at the airport was accidentally cut during some works. This has killed the airline that I was on across the country as this airport was their hub. They only have manual check by staff at the counters and no computer systems. Still after 20min in the queue to find out WTF is going on (cause I paid a decent whack of dosh for my ticket) a staff member announces via megaphone that a number of flights are cancelled and if people are able to delay their flights for 2 or 3 days they will have a hotline for people to re-book flights once systems are restored. In retrospect I should have followed this offer, the Ex and her mother said I could stay with their family for another few days no worries; but I was determined to get back on time for class.
  
  
• ONE HOUR IN THE QUEUE. We get to the front, I get checked in and my baggage taken from me. Yes my flight is still leaving as scheduled at the moment, go on through security. We grab her mum and brother and I say my goodbyes. Mum and Ex say no way they are staying till I'm on the flight in case something goes wrong. We go through security together and find a cafe to have coffee in. No digital displays are up for any flights. The time of my flight arrives and a plane docks at the loading gate, people file off. A staff member announces they will prep the flight out but it will take some time because they need the manually check baggage for transferring flights.
  
  
• ONE HOUR LATER. My flight should be departing, we haven't bordered. No staff have given us any updates. A few minutes later a staff member appears and announces this flight is now going to a different city as it is fully booked and they're behind schedule. Please move to a different gate where our flight will be ready within the hour.
  
  
• ONE HOUR LATER. Nothing, no plane even at this gate. Ex's mum calls home and tells her husband what is going on, he suggests we go back and ask for my bag back and leave. No problem in keeping me for another few days while this poo poo is sorted. I'm an idiot and say "It can't be much longer "
  
  
• ONE AND A HALF HOURS LATER. We've now been here for 4.5 hours. A staff member comes to announce the flight is about to land, once they have disembarked we can board! This process takes another 3/4's of an hour but I manage to say my goodbyes, hug the mum, shake the brothers hand, have the tearful goodbye kiss with the ex while I gently caress off for the eternity that is 4 whole months (shits long when you're 18 and in love) I sit on the plane for another hour before it takes off three and a half hours after it should have. About a half hour in I phone the Ex who is still with mum and brother at the gate juuust in case we all get kicked off and told to leave, apparently they asked someone at the desk why the flight hadn't left yet and were told apparently they were debating if its worth sending the flight as it won't arrive at the destination till 11:30ish. I tell them to go and if I have to I will let them know if it is cancled and find my own way back to their place. (Their parking ended up being over $100 dollary doos) The flight it self wasn't too bad. Got free booze, free movies and free meals (main and desert PLUS like 5 bags of pretzels!) because they staff felt bad for all the poo poo people were going through. Eventually the flight touches down at about 11:30 as predicted and everyone shuffles off.
  
  
• DO YOU THINK IT ENDS THERE? I HOPED IT DID! BUT NO: As I get off I head a staff member requesting anyone with connecting flights to a small list including my destination to please move to the side. She points out being 11:30 at night no more flights domestically will be departing (that's Australia for ya! No regional flights after 10pm!) and we will all be booked into tomorrow. Please collect out bags at check out and make our way to a bus outside, the airline is giving us accommodation at a hotel in the city for the night. The bus ride in plus checking into rooms at what was now midnight was surprisingly painless, and we got told the airline had paid for late night room service so we all got early bird breakfast meals (the dinner menu finished at 11pm and breakfast menu started at 1am but the chef made an exception for us. I ordered the pancake stack with ice-cream strawberries whipped cream and syrup, it was nice :3) There was only about 10 of us so the now very haggard looking airline lady (who was staying in the same hotel) told us all our flight times individually before we went upstairs, mine was at 7am.
  
  
• ONE SMALL ISSUE HERE! The hotel bus only leaves every 3 hours, so 12-3-6-9-12-3-6-9-etc etc. We were warned the issues with the airline may not be fixed and to get the earliest trip we could in. SO I now had this nice hotel room and early breakfast FOR THREE HOURS before I had to be outside on the bus BACK TO THE AIRPORT to make sure I could get my flight. I ended up deciding to have a change of clothes so after the food arrived I opened my suit case to find that the jars of tomato relish I brought as a gift for my mother had been shattered. So now there were shards of glass, which luckily were mostly kept in place by the tight packing, and sauce all through my clothing. I washed what I could with the machine and dryer in the room and tossed all the glass. I then ate my breakfast and no kidding spent the next hour just sitting on the floor of the hot shower with the door open and a big mug of black coffee outside next to me trying to focus up. I packed everything and made it onto the bus downstairs for the trip back to the airport.
  
  
• When I get to the airport it's bad but not awful like the previous day, obviously their systems are still down. The queue is already nearing the entry point so I quickly duck in and hope to get through poo poo quickly. It actually goes quite well and within an hour of standing I make it to check in the lady working there is friendly enough and checks me in, but I still have my bag. "Oh," she says "You need to go through bag drop for that sorry, they have all the luggage checking paper work." So glad I got there early, into the long rear end bag check line I go for ANOTHER hour. Get to the front, had over the pass annnnnd NOPE. "Sorry mate, bag check is only doing flights south. If you're on the flight North you need to drop your bag off when you check in." And he points to the hand written sign I apparently missed because of the sea of people. Back over to the other, now much more massive queue I go.
  
  
• I am in this loving queue and have been queuing for just over 3 hours now. I've nearly been awake for 24hrs straight and am being kept going by a bad cocktail of sugar, booze and coffee. Lucky there were two cute backpackers behind me in the queue and they were nice to talk to while I waited. The queue is slow and I try to be helpful by looking after their bags and place in the queue so they can get a bathroom break or grab a coffee from a cafe outside. This pays off because as I am nearing the front of the queue I see a sign with cut-off times for baggage checks for flights written on it. My flight is on it, it leaves in about 45min and cut off is in 15min. I'm close to the front but still probably another quater of an hour away. Oh gently caress I realise I'm going to miss this flight.
  
  
• So SUDDENLY I do something I'm surprised that 18 year old me was capable of doing. I actually remember it REALLY vividly. I recognise that the lady who served me earlier is now over at priority check-in, you know the one used by 1st class guests and rich rear end fuckers in business suits. It's literally just a duck under the rope and a few short meters over to her. I turn to the backpackers and ask them if they could please watch my bag I won't be a minute. I duck under the rope and walk straight over to the priority counter staring straight at this lady, a murmur of some dude behind me in the line about some "kid cutting in." reaches my ear and I just hold up a single finger at him while I speak to the woman. I ask if she remembers me "Yes/", I ask if the cut off times board is accurate "Yes it is." I point out I've spent the last day being hosed about by the airline and would really just like to go home, can she PLEASE check my bags for me "Where are they?" Just over there I say and point with my free hand. "Ok dear, if you run over and grab them I will get them in for you." I ignore the guy behind me still complaining and walk back over to the backpackers who are watching with wide eyes, I thank them for their help wish them a good trip and grab my back and start walking back over to the priority lanes. The man in the suit, who I assume was the one complaining, starts walking forward towards the lady behind the desk. I remember almost yelling "Mate you wait right there for a minute while I get my bags in, if they don't go on right now they miss my flight home." as this bloke as I walk towards him. He steps up, in his suit and tie with his little carry on baggy and glasses and says he will call security how dare I act in such a manner. I was now between the counter and him, I turn to the counter and put my bag on the belt for it to go on and hand the pass to the lady. I turn back to Mr Suit and say "I've spent the last day just trying to get home, you do not wanna gently caress with me today." with what I assume was a face of pure rage and terror. I turn back to the counter, sweetly and sincerely as possible thank the lady for her help and go to run through security to get to my flight.
  
  
• Lucky for me security is only another few meters away from the priority check in, apparently the security bloke watched my "performance" and was impressed enough to rush me through so I could get on my flight. I had to run to make it to boarding and arrived about 5min before the closed the gate. I think I passed out on the flight home because I remember a hostess politely telling me we had landed.