Robin and I flew to Ft. Lauderdale in January. We did everything the way you're supposed to. We checked in 20 hours before the flight, online. We printed out boarding passes. Our passports were well within the 6-month expiration. We arrived at the airport an hour and 45 minutes before the flight. Robin checked her bag with the Continental agent, and when they reprinted her ticket, we noticed that it was a different seat than the original one. "No problem," I thought, thinking we could move her seat at the gate. So we went through security and headed directly to the gate (I didn't even stop at Starbucks first!). We were told that sometime overnight, the plane had to be replaced with one which seated 40 fewer peopler. 40. I no longer had a seat. For us, it wasn't terribly critical, merely aggravating. For others, it meant that their families were split up, or that they would be missing a cruise ship departure.
We stepped away from the agent to think through our options. I was told that they could put me on a flight to Miami 7 hours later (I'd still need to get to Ft. Lauderdale), or I could fly the next day (I was only going for 3 days, so this didn't really make much sense). An announcement was made that they would give anyone who chose to be bumped a $500 voucher. We huddled together and came up with a plan. Going back to the gate, we said that Robin would volunteer to be bumped, which left both of us off this flight. We asked to be put on the Miami flight later in the day, which they did. We were also provided with free transportation to the Ft. Lauderdale airport (so Robin could get her bag, which was now airborne), and vouchers for breakfast and lunch at the airport. We each also received a $500 voucher for flights.
Ok, so now we had flights, but what to do for 7 more hours in Newark Airport? We had parked the car at an off-airport lot, so if we decided to drive home for a few hours (we're only 15-20 minutes away), we would have to pay to get the car, pay the Turnpike tolls (twice) and then pay for another day when we brought the car back. The better option was to stay put. At least we were in Terminal C, which is the biggest and newest terminal at EWR. I went upstairs to the Continental President's Club, and pleaded my case. I didn't fly quite enough last year to get Elite status, which would give me Club access. They were nice enough to give me two one-day passes for the price of one ($45). Not THAT great a deal, but at least we had a much quieter and far more comfortable place to hang out. This gave us WiFi access, drinks (alcoholic or not), snacks, big comfy chairs, free newspapers and magazines, TV, and kept us away from the masses.
The bottom line is that we managed to make an unplanned change in plans something more bearable. How? After the initial annoyance, we took a collective deep breath, talked through our options and priorities, then put on our smiles and talked. In an interesting aside, there was a very irate gentleman in line ahead of us who ended up with a deal that was no where near as good as ours. It pays to remember that it is not the gate agent's fault when you are bumped, and most importantly, they are a human being, just like you and I. Patience and a smile will get you farther (usually) than screaming and carrying on like a two year old.
We did eventually make it to our final destination, and now have free tickets for our next trip. Oh, I did get that coffee at Starbucks eventually :-)
