Missed Connections

A stiffly uniformed employee offered a shrug to the harried young woman on the other side of the desk. “I’m sorry, but we only have one flight to Heathrow each day. You missed today’s, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the next one.” The airline counter agent turned her gaze away from Kara and motioned for the next delayed passenger in line to come to her desk.

“But this is just an extended weekend trip!” Kara pleaded. She couldn’t believe that what had originally been a 50-minute layover was now turning into 24 hours. “If I don’t leave until tomorrow night, by the time I get there I’ll barely have any time before I just have to turn around and go home again. Can’t you fly me into another airport or with another airline or something?”

“There’s nothing else I can do.” The agent acted stuck up before she even started speaking to Kara, but her irritation grew with each word.

“Won’t the airline at least comp me a hotel stay here?” Kara glanced around this section of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. There were at least a hundred other delayed passengers who missed their connecting flights. Some were slumped over chairs, awaiting the impending overnight. Not as many seemed as worked up as she was.

“We aren’t required to compensate for weather-related delays. You can sleep in the airport, or we can offer a 10% discount at the airport Hilton. Now if you have any other questions, you need to call our customer service number.” The agent handed Kara a business card and immediately began speaking with the next person in line before Kara could get another word in edgewise.

The thought of a hotel made Kara realize that with this delay, she would miss her first night at the boutique hotel she booked in London. Assuming they had a 24-hour cancellation notice, she took her phone off airplane mode and searched for their number while trying to figure out if the time change meant she had enough time to give notice.

Before she could find the hotel’s number, her email notification pinged. Seeing that it was from her new job, she clicked right away. “Dear Kara: Thank you for applying to our recent opening. We’ve moved forward with another candidate but wanted to wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors.”

This couldn’t be. Kara hadn’t just applied for this job; she’d already been hired. During the last phone call she had with the manager, he asked her to come in to fill out paperwork next week. Kara’s only request was that she wait to come in until midweek since she’d had this trip to London scheduled months ahead of time. After all, this was going to be her first real job out of college. She had to have some sort of graduation celebration before starting out in the real world.

At first she thought the company must have mistakenly sent out this auto-generated email to all of the applicants, including the ones who were hired. But it did start out personalized with “Dear Kara,” so she needed to double-check. Switching her mental math from figuring out the time in London to figuring out the time back in California, she realized it was well after business hours. Too late to call, but she could still reply to this email.

Her thumbs tapped the phone screen as rapidly as she could, “Just wanted to let you know that I think I was accidentally sent this email. I was told to start on Wednesday.” After hitting “Send,” she switched gears back to the problem at hand: being stuck in the airport. A couple walked by, saying something to each other about heading to the gate that had cots.

“Sorry for eavesdropping,” Kara interjected, “but did you say something about cots?”

“Yeah,” the man replied. “The gate agent told us they were setting up cots in Terminal 3 for all of us who are stuck here overnight.”

Kara thanked them, wishing the pompous gate agent had shared this kind of useful information with her. Her original plan to sleep on the airplane tonight didn’t sound as great as a hotel with a view of The London Eye tomorrow night. But now she had neither, and a cot in the middle of an airport wasn’t going to make up for that. Still, it sounded better than trying to find a place on a row of chairs or the nasty-looking floor. She considered walking to the cots with the couple, but didn’t want to intrude. Besides, she had to get back to cancelling her first night at the hotel.

After finding the hotel’s website and figuring out how to dial an international number, a snobby British male voice answered.

“Hello, I need to cancel my reservation for tomorrow night.”

“We typically do not permit same-day cancellations.”

Kara realized it was the middle of the night in London. No wonder the voice coming from her phone sounded so cranky. Still, compared to the staff at the O’Hare airport, he seemed full of joy. Maybe she still had a chance. “Oh, please! I missed my connecting flight and won’t be able to get there for another day. Besides, it’s barely a same-day cancellation. In fact, where I am right now, it’s still yesterday!” Kara prayed that her plea would garner the hotel’s receptionist’s sympathy, or at least make sense. “I just don’t know what else I can do!” She made sure to finish with flourish by making a whimper of a cry into the phone. That wasn’t hard to do, as she had been on the verge of tears ever since finding out that her last plane couldn’t land on time.

After a pause, the British voice sighed. “What is your name?”

“Kara Ludwig. L-U-D-W-I-G.” Kara could hear the clickity-clack of a computer keyboard on the other end of the line. “Do you need me to spell my first name?”

“That’s not necessary; I found your reservation. Like I said, Ms. Ludwig, we typically do not permit same-day cancellations. However, the current residents of that particular room were interested in extending their stay. I will talk with them in the morning, and if they decide to keep the room, we will make an exception and not charge you.”

“Oh thank you. Thank you so much!” This stroke of good fortune didn’t make up for all the seemingly bad luck she’d had this evening, but maybe it was a start on the right path. She hung up, grabbed her carry-on, and started looking for the rumored cots. She wasn’t sure what terminal she was in or how many terminals there were in this airport, but she was sure she could find her way to Terminal 2. Or was it Terminal 3?

After wandering around for twenty minutes and seeing no signs pointing to any other terminals, Kara decided she’d better ask for help. However, all the counters that were overrun with delayed passengers were now empty, including the spots where the employees were supposed to stand. Kara had always assumed that big airports like O’Hare were always operating, but there were apparently at least a few hours when planes weren’t taking off. Now she was on her own.

Once she walked past a few more gates, Kara saw someone with a vacuum. She walked up and asked him where the cots were.

“I’m sorry,” the custodian carefully pronounced each word with a thick accent. “I don’t speak English well.”

Language barriers made Kara a bit nervous, which was why she decided that this first international trip of hers would be to an English-speaking country instead of somewhere else like France or Germany. Still, she had to try. She tilted her head onto her hands like a pillow and make snoring sounds.

The custodian shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Terminal Three?” Kara held up three fingers.

The custodian’s eyes lit up. That he understood. “Ah, yes! Over there!” He pointed down a hall that Kara hadn’t tried yet. Kara thanked the man and nearly ran toward Terminal Three.

Kara almost missed the hallway filled with cots, hidden in the shadows of now-closed fast food joints. A security guard at the entrance handed her a paper-thin blanket and tiny pillow. She then passed dozens of travelers who were already in bed as she tried to find an empty cot, hopefully one away from any snorers.

When she spread out a blanket and laid down, she realized she hadn’t brushed her teeth or changed her clothes. She thought about getting up and finding a bathroom, as she had managed to pack everything into her carry-on luggage for this trip. That was something she had never done before, but figured that it might make things easier for a weekend getaway. She wouldn’t have to spend any extra time at the airport waiting at the luggage carousel for her checked bags.

But she didn’t care much about hygiene at this point; she was just tired. If she had to spend most of the day in the airport tomorrow, then she could sleep a long time and still have the chance to freshen up before boarding the England-bound plane.

It wasn’t easy to fall asleep, and not just because someone’s snores echoed from the other end of the hall. It wasn’t just from the florescent lights beaming down on her, either. It was freezing, and the airport-issued blanket didn’t provide any warmth. Each time Kara nodded off, it wasn’t long before she woke up shivering.

When she was awake, Kara tried to distract herself from the miserable sleeping conditions by reflecting on everything she had done to make this trip possible. She worked nearly full-time in a customer service job that she hated while also keeping a full class load so she could graduate on time. She saved every spare penny she earned. It wasn’t like she had much free time where she could frivolously spend her paychecks anyway. Her goal was to save enough for a two-week vacation in Great Britain.

Then her parents separated.

When her dad disappeared with another woman, so did the monthly payments to the college that Kara never had to worry about before. Since college was only an hour’s drive away, Kara moved back in with her mom so they could support each other. It also saved her money on room and board, but she was still stuck with the tuition bill. There was only one way she could pay.

At that point, Kara had already planned out everything she was going to do in Great Britain. She was going to see Stonehenge, spend some time in Bath, take trips to Scotland and Wales, and enjoy a full week in London. With her parents’ separation, she needed this trip more than ever. But the college was threatening to send her tuition bill to collections, no matter how much she pleaded her unexpected case. With much deliberation, she finally paid for college by emptying out her travel fund.

When she went to the bank to make this large withdrawal, the banker mentioned that she could be approved for their credit card. That sparked some hope for Kara’s travel dream once again. By continuing to save her customer service paycheck and maxing out her new credit card, she once again made plans to go to Great Britain. But this time, she had to scale back. Instead of two weeks gallivanting around the United Kingdom, she’d just have an extended weekend to stay in London. She still wanted to make the most of it, and booked a boutique hotel in the Westminster area. At the time she booked, a weekend didn’t seem like enough time to experience all that London had to offer. Now with this delay, she’d only have one day!

Wondering what happens to Kara next? Does she make it to London in time to enjoy her trip? Help fund the next chapter with a tip!