Leaving Michigan

It was time for me to leave Michigan and head home to London. I had planned to leave Muskegon on an evening flight and connect in Chicago to the last of three evening flights to London. As an airline employee travelling standby this wasn’t a very good decision - we often try to leave on earlier flights so that if anything goes wrong there are ‘backup’ options. So I was taking a gamble that nothing would happen with a delay, cancellation or an inexpectedly full plane. What could go wrong? The flight had LOTS of available seats and there was some rain but no snow or storms.

Ahem...

So I was enjoying a lazy day and while I was packed I didn’t even plan to shower until mid afternoon. For some reason I decided to check the flights at 1pm to see if all was well. I was NOT happy to see the big letters in red - FLIGHT CANCELLED!!

Whaaaaat??? Silly me - I hadn’t checked Chicago weather. They were having a storm come through so there were lots of delays and cancellations. I knew better!

So rush rush rush - in the shower and out the door in about 45 min. My dear cousin was available to drive me to Grand Rapids, an hour away. He had an errand there, so he was happy with a change of plans. I was aiming for a 5pm flight to Chicago which was full but I hoped I would still get on. If not, there was a later flight to Newark as a back up. We even had time to stop for lunch on the way. When we got to the airport at 330pm, I saw that the earlier flight was still there and had been delayed until 4pm. Thank goodness for small airports. I got my reservation changed, got checked in, and through security in about 15 minutes. There were LOTS of seats on this plane and I made it to the gate just as they were finishing boarding. SO happy to get on even though I wasn’t sure if my checked bag would make it.

This view is of the approach to Chicago after flying over Lake Michigan. It was a bumpy ride as we approached the city and a windy landing. Since I got to Chicago earlier than I’d planned I was able to get on the middle of our 3 flights to London, and even got a seat in Business which I hadn’t expected. So all in all a great outcome to what could have been a mess!