We Just Want to Go Home

Going home.  Sleeping in your own bed.  Sharing the embrace of family.  There’s nothing like it and when you know it’s coming it can’t come soon enough.

Sadly for our Cornell cohort it seemed like the world was against them and didn’t want to let them come home.

When we tried to check-in the day before for their flights the American Airlines site required that they select their seats before allowing them to check in.  For their second leg of the trip home this wasn’t a problem but for the first leg, the AA site said that all seats bit one were already assigned.

Packed in like sardines

Four hours on and off of the phone with customer service representatives in faraway countries was a fruitless endeavor.  Representative after representative pawned me off on someone else before they just decided that nothing could be done online and the cohort would have to check in when they got to the airport.  Even though they offered assurances that there would be no problems at the airport, with their shoddy service to date we were not convinced.

On Return Day the airport shuttle demanded payment—something that was supposed to have already been taken care of by others.

And then American texts Mr. Chan-Law that the flight will be delayed.  Delays are always bad but when you have a connecting flight in Chicago it can be a real concern.  There were no explanations for the delay—it was just delayed.

When the plane finally took off we were all concerned because the time between the scheduled arrival in Chicago and the scheduled departure from Chicago was only 20 minutes.

Even before the first leg took off American’s web site now added a new twist to the itinerary when they showed a flight at 7:00 AM Sunday morning leaving Chicago for SFO.

Even after they landed in Chicago and made their connecting flight, there was no guarantee that their luggage would be with them.

Fast forward several hours and the plane landed—20 minutes early!  Will wonders never cease.

And to top it off, the luggage was on the same plane.

Shortly before midnight the parents started to gather was the Cornell shuttle arrived.  Alfredo had texted a few minutes earlier that they wouldn’t be easy to miss and he was right.  Their shuttle was a stretch limo.

While stretch limos may be nice, their trunk space is limited so finding a place for the luggage for seven travelers meant that the interior was filled not only with the passengers but with their luggage as well.

Nonetheless, when their ride came to a halt and the doors opened, the weary Cornellians started rolling out of their ride and into the arms of their waiting parents.

Considering that they were still on East Coast time it was just after 3 AM their time and they were whooped—and well they should be.

Welcome home Cornellians.