Ah, I have been asked (sort of) for my 'How They Lost Our Plane" story!
A couple of years ago our best friends were at Baylor in Waco. They hated it. Apologies to anyone really really fond of Waco, but Baylor is the only reason to go there. So we went to visit them, and got a tour of all the great parts- the Dr. Pepper Museum and the suspension bridge.
When the time came to leave, they dropped us off at the airport, which is roughly twice the size of my one bedroom apartment. One gate. Two or three different airlines, tops. They had class, so they dropped us off early and we had an emotional leavetaking.
Half an hour to takeoff, and no plane is visible. I suggest going to talk to the nice people at the desk, but Mr. Lissar thinks we should wait a little longer. We have now been in the miniscule airport and forced to listen to CNN for three hours.
Five minutes to takeoff time. No plane. I go talk to the nice people at the desk.
“Excuse me”, I say, “we’re scheduled for a five o’clock departure. It’s four fifty-five. Where’s the plane?”
“Oh, yeah”, says the lady at the desk, in a vague tone, “we were wonderin’ what to do about that”.
What?
“Where is our plane?”
“Well, y’see, it’s rainin’ in Houston, so the flight won’t get here until it stops rainin.”
(Sound of Lissla and Mr. Lissar having a meltdown at them.)
We had an hour interval to catch our plane back to Toronto from Houston. We were given a number of brainless suggestions about rerouting us through four different airports with half-hour intervals between flights plus different airlines and different terminals. In the end, we phoned our friends, and got them to put us up for the next night, after the frigging airline refused to pay for dinner, breakfast, or a hotel. After we got back, Mr. Lissar had an extended phone shouting session at one of the employees, and got a $50 gift card. A whole $50.
The expression on the woman’s face when she said, “We were wonderin’ what to do about that.” will live forever in my memory. We were two of SIX PEOPLE in the airport. No one considered just strolling over and informing us? Nope. Was there an announcement? Nope. That, in my mind, epitomizes Waco.
