“First flight”, Lost luggage, Wendy’s at 1am

Our flight from Seattle to Atlanta left at 12:06pm. We arrived at the Delta counter by 10:30am and got to go through to the agent line because of the stroller and because I had change our seats. The alternative was going through the VERY LONG e-check-in lines.

Got that taken care of and were seated one right behind the other (the Delta agent on the phone who’d I’d talked with on Friday night to try and fix this early had us in 3 rows, 10 rows apart… uh… duh… minor child riding with parents! Idiots!)

When we got to security the line was even longer! So, I headed us to the wheelchair accessible and 1st class line and this Northwest agent stopped me and said ‘no, we had to go through the regular line.’ So, we headed that way and the airport security said ‘no way’ go back to the 1st class line.

Got back to that line and the ticket checker said he was going to let us through, no problem. He didn’t know what that Northwest lady was saying. Anyway, go through it ok.

I decided, on the way to the gate, that I would buy lunch for on the plane and I am soooo glad I did! We were to get into Atlanta at 7:49 and depart within 1 hour for Raleigh. I hadn’t a clue what they’d serve for food on the long flight and it turned out to be crappy snacks and that was it!

The flight was uneventful with the exception that there were storms in Atlanta so we hovered for a bit and landed late. The captain stopped us though and gave Joseph a Delta 767-400 card. Very cool! We headed straight to our connection and made it with about 20 minutes to spare. MANY many others didn’t make it. The full flight was no where near full. Because so many flight were delayed, they held the plane a bit to allow folks to meet it.

This time, food wise, all we got was peanuts and water. So by 9:15pm, we were off, having had nothing to eat in 6 hours. Luckily I had snacks galore for the girls. Joseph, Ron and I were eating the “free” peanuts and stuff. 😉

We landed just about on time — 10:20pm ish. This captain stopped us too and gave Joseph a 737 card and the girls a “first flight” certificate even though this was their 4th flight now! D’oh! It was a very nice gesture though. We went to get luggage for Delta flight 1234. Some people on our plane got theres, but nothing for us. 11pm… still nothing. 11:30pm still nothing. Remember, we had checked our car seats! So, we weren’t going anywhere that night without our luggage!

I waited for 30 minutes in the line to the Delta luggage claim office and we learned there was another Atlanta flight coming in at 11:45pm it would take 15-20 minutes for luggage to get on the 2 working belts (1 broken one) and we should wait for that flight. Why would ours be on it? Becuase it’s standard fare for Delta, from Atlanta, to throw missed bags on other flights.

So we waited. 12:15am and there are all 7 of ours bags. Mixed emotions… totally ticked at Delta, but at least we got our bags.

By 12:45am we were out of the airpot, 2 hours later than expected. Of course, now we haven’t eaten in 9 hours! So, we headed home. We picked a Waffle House at first, but it was cash only (we don’t carry cash!). So, I thought I’d run to Harris Teeter (open 24 hours) and grab something. On the way there, I noticed a Wendys (Cary Parkway and Hwy 54) was open … we had 9 minutes to spare (closed at 1am) and Joseph, Ron and I had the best(!) cheeseburgers and fries at 1am Sunday morning on the way to our house.

Needless to say, that was LONG(!) day and one that was incredibly irritating!!