Standby Shenanigans & Travel Karma

Summer Camp Travel Fiasco, Part 2: Airline Roulette, Angel Travelers & Airport Strategy

In part 2 of this mom travel story, the stakes rise: no longer just a family travel blog recount, but a testament to the ingenuity needed when solo travel plans for moms go sideways…especially when it’s combined with summer camp travel.

Get caught up by reading part 1 of this summer camp travel fiasco.

Airline Roulette: How I Navigated Oversold Flights as a Solo Mom

Where we left off, I’m still on the summer camp travel fiasco / hunt to get myself on a plane to pick up my daughter from summer camp in a cabin in the woods of Tennessee. I’m still at the airport, simply trying to get out of Charleston. It’s been an eternity, in reality 5 hours. My frustration and anger has exceeded limits, which means I now speak to everyone in a calm, soothing voice (truly meant to calm and soothe myself). And yes, my voice does get calmer and smoother when I’m at this point.

So we continue…

I later asked a gate agent to explain the volunteer option – why it’s made available and who gets the newly opened seats provided by those to take the $1,000 incentive. I can’t recall what she said, but her answer made no sense to me. But how could it? At this point, I’m delirious, frustrated, desperate to get to my kid, and worried about my kids’ welfare. Long story short, however, the volunteer list and the standby list are in no way connected.

So, we continue to wait expectantly and in hopes to make standby flight #2. Once it finishes boarding confirmed passengers, I am informed that no standbys are allowed to board (why did you return the flights to the $1,000 volunteers then???). At this point, anyone on the standby list will be rolled to yet the next standby list. I’m so frustrated at this point, that without saying a word, I turned an about face from the gate agent desk and simply walked away. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, right? It took me 3 minutes of being away from the gate agent’s desk that I realized I needed to stay nearby. Even worse case scenario, the agent might assume I had left the airport and removed my name from the standby list entirely. That simply could not happen.

Airport Strategy: What Every Mom Travel Story Should Teach

Upon my returning to the gate agent desk, I asked to know my number on the standby list and was informed I was first on the list. FANTASTIC. All I needed to do was walk 10 feet over to the gate where the flight would be departing to check in with the next gate agent handling said flight.

The Human Side of Standby

In the 10 foot shift to the next gate, I introduce myself to the other two ladies also in standby purgatory. The first was a 20-something woman named Jane, who was on her way to her best friend’s wedding in Kentucky. In fact, the rehearsal dinner was that evening and it was looking like she may not make it at all. The second woman, Sarah, was around my age. She found out her dad was newly admitted to the ICU in her hometown in Arkansas, so she dropped everything to board a flight to be by his side. Everyone has an important story, right?

(Note that all names have been changed for privacy, and because I forgot them anyway.)

So, we line up together to wait for the third plane. I walk up to the new gate agent first. This agent was very dismissive and claimed he didn’t see my name on the standby list…plus he alleged I was inquiring about a flight he wasn’t working anyway. I quenched the fire on my tongue to explain to him that I was not the one to mess with today. I could see clearly that he was indeed working on my standby flight, plus it was his supervisor who indicated I was on said flight🙄😡.

Listen, all I want to do is get to my kid. She’s exhausted and in another state. She’s at a camp site in the middle of the woods and this can’t be happening. Am I asking too much? Am I being selfish? Jane and Sarah have important reasons for travel too. We all have places to be; these are not frivolous excursions. 

So, over walks the gate agent’s supervisor to investigate my situation. She works, staring coldly at the screen like a robot while I stare at her. How is it possible to be so inhuman in appearance? I mean, all of the gate agents are that way. Jovial and joking with all the confirmed passengers and other crew members, but stone faced cold with anyone else. Maybe it’s a survival tactic given previous rude customers, or to ward off ill-doers or something. I’m not sure, but I do know that I’m going to stare her down until I get some answers.

Down the Standby List Again?!

She hands me a ticket and states I’m 4th on the list. WHAT???!!! FOURTH???!!! I was first! “Well, it doesn’t roll over from flight to flight like that.”

Who created this system?! I don’t fuss and fight because doing so would accomplish nothing (except making me look like a fool). I wait patiently for the tide to turn, because I know it will. It has to.

The Bar Offer & A Plan

At this point, it’s me, Jane and Sarah, standing nearby and looking at our names on the list in the airline app. In walks the next person, Paul, a 20-something guy who travels for work. While us three women had been there for several hours, his demeanor was fresh and he had clearly just walked into the airport. He jokingly asked if we could all go to the bar for a drink in the event we missed this flight.

The three of us politely declined and I could immediately sense his discomfort concerning our facial expressions. I assured him “it’s not you…we’ve all been on standby since 6am, so this RBF is about the situation, not you”. Once he understood, he let out a sympathetic laugh.

Turns out he learned a few things from us, that Paul. He was really kind and up for adventure judging by his conversation and energy. He was happy to share that whatever happened was fine – he had “no where to be” and wasn’t at all worried about being on standby.

That’s when I saw my opportunity. Turns out that he was just ahead of me in the standby line at position #3. Given his priority status on the airline, we was placed higher than I was on the standby list. (After all, I was apparently a mere peasant in the travel world. I miss my days of having airline status, with free upgrades and priority everything. Sigh.)

Angel Travelers: When Solo Travel Kindness Saves You

I turned to Jane and asked, is it illegal to offer him money for his place in the standby line? She shrugged with uncertainly but the look on her face agreed with mine – it’s worth a shot.

So I took aim and asked Paul if he would be willing to take money for his place on the standby list, assuming it wasn’t an illegal proposition. Now to be clear, I had no idea how much money I would offer, and I had no intention (or ability) to fork over hundreds of dollars to him, but it was worth a shot. My strategy was to let him tell me what it would be worth to him, and I could negotiate from there. The worst he could say was no, right?

To my surprise, he obliged. He was like, “sure…I don’t care. I’ve no where to be. You’re trying to get to your kid.” I offered repeatedly to give him something for his kindness and each time he refused. May Karma forever be in that man’s favor. As luck would have it, after he gave up his spot, allowing me to make the flight, then the gate agent confirmed that he too, could still make the flight. Hallelujah!

Tearful Takeoff: Standby Victory After a 12-Hour Battle

I wished Jane and Sarah well and waved them goodbye. No lie, it was a Herculean effort for me to hold back my tears of joy as I walked down the runway to board the flight. By the time I got to my seat, another 2 big tears escaped, this time of relief.  Thankfully i was able to whisk them away quickly before we took off. 

My seat was in the last row of the plane, but I didn’t care. I popped in my AirPods for noise cancelation, and we were soon in the air. 35 minutes later, we were landing in Atlanta.

At this point, I had not yet told my husband about this fiasco. I needed to stabilize first and make sense of the situation. No need to call him, full of uncertainty, only to be met with a barrage of reasonable questions I’d be unable to answer. That would only increase my frustration, making it even more difficult to problem solve. AND it would cause him panic, knowing his wife is going through craziness to get through the trip and knowing I do not yet have my hands on our kid. 

Decision Time in Atlanta: Drive or Fly?

At this point, I had a choice to make. Once I arrived in Atlanta, I’d still be on a standby list for the flight to my final destination followed by a 1.5 hour drive to my daughter’s exact location. I did not have time to again fumble through a standby list, so a bit of travel math was in order. Would it be faster to ditch the connection, grab a rental car and drive the 3.5 hours to get my kid, or should I stay on the flight as planned to my final destination, the nearest airport that was yet a 1.5 hour drive to my kid?

You’ll find out my decision in the third and final installment of this summer camp travel fiasco story next week (Wednesday).

In the meantime, stay seasoned my friends.