GRAND!
Let me tell you where it all started.
We (Marianne, Chelsea and I) arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Chelsea was SO prepared that she had already checked us in online so all we had to do was go through security and check the big screen for our departure gate. So, we did just that. After breezing right through security we checked the gates. We all looked up. Saw "San Francisco...8:30" which is right when our flight was scheduled to leave. So we found the gate and sat there for about an hour. We were chatting about how we thought for SURE something was bound to go wrong to the 3 of us, but somehow we had done everything just perfectly and here we were an hour early. We chatted about past airport experiences (as there always seems to be). Finally it was time to board the plane. We waited around until they called Zone 3 so we didn't have to be sitting on the plane even longer. We got in line and I handed a nice man my ticket. He scanned it and said, "Um...you're not going to San Francisco...you're going to Oakland". Oh ya...minor detail in the story..we bought our tickets to Oakland cause it was cheaper!!! But somehow all 3 of us forgot this. And of course the plane left at the exact same time and this one. SOO mostly because I was so embarrassed and somewhat because I knew we needed to run as fast as we could in order to get to our correct flight on time, I BOLTED out of that place. Now as luck would have it, we were at gate B17 or something. Which is DOWNSTAIRS. So we had to run upstairs, down the B portal, make a right, run down a huge never ending hallway, take another right and our gate was at the end of that hallway. Well poor Mari was wearing flip flops that were loose so she couldn't keep her feet in her shoes, and Chelsea, being the kind person she is, stayed back with Mari and I just ran as fast as I could to the next gate. When I arrived the doors were shut, the plane was sitting there, but the "suction cup" was pulled away from the plane. They would not let us on. I realized we missed it, and there was nothing to be done. I starting walking back to meet up with my friends and I was shaking my head. They thought I was joking, but alas, I was not. A very nice gentleman was overly eager to assist us in our dilemma (as all delta reps are) and told us (without looking up from his computer) that we'd just have to go use the "help line". So we walked over to the phones. Chelsea picked up the phone and a delta rep was on the line. Chelsea chatted with them for about 5 minutes. They told her they didn't do standby anymore so we'd have to pay 50 bucks, or if we wanted to fly directly to san fran we'd have to pay 150 PLUS the difference of the ticket. So they told us there were three seats on the next flight out. BUt when they patched us through to someone to make the reservation she said the seats had been taken. Our only option was to pay 50 bucks and hope we could all get on a standby flight...not happening. So she hung up and I picked up a different phone. I told the lady on the other line that I only wanted to talk to someone who really wanted to help us out. She told me I was talking to the right person. She said we wouldn't have to pay anything, she'd change our tickets to standby tickets and we'd have to see if we could board the next flight and cross our fingers. Well that sounded like the best option so we went to the next gate and waited for another hour. As the plane boarded our chances looked grim. We starting talking about if 2 of us could get on maybe the last person could later. Finally AS THEY WERE CLOSING THE DOORS 3 women ran up to the gate and BARELY made their flight. 3 traveling women. THOSE COULD HAVE BEEN OUR SEATS! So we didn't get on that flight either. The lady came to the counter and told us what time the next flight left so we could go wait for that one. I started to walk away, feeling hopeless. But Mari and Chelsea turned back around and went back to that lady. She was an older lady with wild white hair. She didn't smile, and was very "matter of fact". I felt that she wanted to help us out just about as bad as the first guy we encountered. But Mari and Chels tried to stay optimistic. They turned around and went back to chat with her. They told her the mistake we had made, and that we were really trying to get to San Fran, but blah blah blah. She told us to hold on while she made a phone call. While she was working behind the desk we tried to make comments that we thought might help us, like, "Oh I think my temple recommend has expired, I need to get on that right away so we can all do a temple session" (hoping she might be LDS and think we were awesome). Mari called Kory to update him and said (extra loud) , "Well this really nice lady is trying to help us. I think she's typing as fast as she can trying to work something out, she's so great" blah blah. Finally she looks up at us, glances around like she's being watched, and tells us to gather round close. Mari hangs up on Kory and we hover over the desk. She puts her face close to ours and says, "Listen up ladies, because I'm only going to tell you this once. This is your LAST chance!" cue me laughing. "Hey...I'm serious, it's not funny...this IS your last chance!!" cue me...shutting up. "Now, I need all of you to go to B1. That's "B" as in "BOY" "1" as in..the number 1. B1!!! You need to be there by 2. NO LATER THAN 2. The flight leaves at 3:14, direct to San Francisco, 3 seats left. Free of charge. NOW GO!" We were SO elated. We were thanking her as best we could, I even told her I'd kiss her which led to her making some really disgusted face, then we started to prance to our next gate. I stopped and said, "We've got to get her name! She just pulled off a miracle for us!" I think she overheard me because when Marianne turned around to ask for her name we THINK she said, "Just go! It's "Grand", but just go! Hurry! Get out of here." It's "Grand"? Like her name is "Grand"? Or everything will be just "grand"? What did she mean? Well either way she shewed us off and we happily went on our way. We decided her name was "Grand". And I decided that is the best word to describe our trip. Grand. Without her we probably wouldn't have made it without spending another small fortune, which I wasn't about to do. So thank you Grand, for making our trip Grand!
Side Note: We made our 3:14 flight. We had front row seats which meant that the 3 smallest people one the plane also had the most leg room! All of us were even able to sit together.
