Winter Travel Advisory

Nearly anyone who glances at the news now and then knows that New York has been having a pretty brutal winter. I laughed about this in Colorado, remembering my New York friends' dire predictions that a winter in the Rockies would finish me off; instead, I basked in abundant sunshine and watched reports of them being buried in snow drifts. It's less funny now.

My parents and I spent a quick weekend in New York and I was prepared for the cold. It was predicted to be quite chilly indeed, but I was relieved to see that snow was not supposed to be part of the equation. This made packing, especially with regards to footwear, much easier. In defiance of the forecast, though, flakes began to fall as I walked my parents to the subway for their flight on Sunday. Mine was due to take off at 4:15 the same afternoon, and after spending a bit of time with a friend, I navigated through thickly falling flakes to get on the subway myself. My mom texted to say that they'd been delayed by de-icing but were on their way. My flight was showing reported to be on time, however, and there was, it seemed, little reason to worry that I'd miss my connection in Dallas.

Curse you, hubris.

-My 4:15 American Airlines flight turned out to be so delayed that it was certain I'd miss my connection in Dallas. Ed's brilliant cousin Sandy, the travel agent who'd booked my flights, advised me via phone to ask the gate agent to book me on a Delta nonstop to Denver leaving at 6:15 instead. Dallas, impacted by ice storms, had no flights to Denver available and it looked like I'd be stuck there, probably for more than a day.

-The gate agent complied and I changed terminals—which at JFK entails leaving the secure area and then going back through security all over again—feeling lucky. Even with the two-hour delay, I'd still get to Denver at about the same time as if my original flights had gone without a hitch.

-A large glass of wine later, I showed up at the gate to board. No dice. One posted delay followed another. Our original plane had been rerouted to Boston, where it was waiting to try to get to us. Finally, several hours later, we boarded another plane that had shown up from the Dominican Republic.

-We waited on board for five hours. The snow had turned to freezing rain and de-icing was taking ages. Because of the passenger bill of rights, airlines are not allowed to confine people on board for more than 2.5 hours; they have to go back to the gate and give people a chance to get off if they're stuck on board that long without departing. So we waited at the gate for our turn to get in line for de-icing. (The cabin door was left open and I took the opportunity to duck out for a snack at one point.) It was after midnight when they finally closed the cabin door.

-There was a loud clunk as we began to back away from the gate. We stopped moving and sat for about 15 minutes. Finally, the captain announced that we all had to get off the plane.  A mechanical problem had occurred and if we waited for it to be fixed, the crew would go over the number of hours they were legally allowed to work. That crew wasn’t going anywhere that night, so neither were we.

-I rushed off the plane and ended up about 6^th in line at the counter. Although it was now 1:00 A.M., Sandy called in response to my text. Twenty minutes into his research and our discussion about the best course of action, we were interrupted by an announcement: Instead of being cancelled, the airline had simply rescheduled our flight. Everyone was rebooked on the new one that would leaving JFK the following morning at 9:00.

-Sandy booked me a spot at a Comfort Inn about 20 minutes away and I waited on an icy sidewalk in a mass of milling, frustrated, exhausted people for a while before finally fighting my way onto one of the free cabs Delta had arranged. I arrived at the hotel at 2:00 A.M. and learned I'd gotten the last available room at the hotel; a slough of cancellations had filled rooms all over Queens.

-I slept for a little over three hours then woke up to shower and call a cab back to the airport. The airline's free cabs were going to take too long to arrive, though, so I paid $40 to go with another company, arriving at the airport just in time to charge through security, take a shuttle to the next terminal when they changed it last-minute, and arrive, puffing, at the gate.

-...but all of this was unnecessary because of course the flight was delayed yet again. The plane was at the gate, cleaned, fueled, and ready to go, but the crew was in Detroit. The other passengers, beginning to look like old friends by this point, and I took advantage of the free egg sandwiches, snacks, and coffee Delta had provided and waited. We were now scheduled for a 10:00 departure, but with the crew landing at 9:40 no one believed it. A smattering of applause broke out when part of the crew arrived.

-I refused to celebrate when we boarded the plane. It wasn't until our wheels were actually off the ground that I finally relaxed and fell into an exhausted sleep. I landed in Denver around 2:00 P.M. local time, drove home, and collapsed in bed.

What can we learn from all this? Traveling light is certainly necessary, as it makes last-minute changes easier to navigate. Use a good travel agent (contact me if you'd like to work with Sandy for your next trip and I'll put you in touch) who can go to bat for you if things go awry. Have cash available, and either invest in an extra cell phone battery or plug in your phone whenever you're near an outlet. And bring more underwear, socks, and reading material than you think you'll need.