Some two weeks ago I took a business trip to one of my favorite destination..Calgary! Nothing unusual there, I take this trip all the time, what is also not unusual for me is to just some how catch the plane on the nick of time. Well not this time…as yours truly left for airport I checked the time, 4:15 on the watch, plane leaves 6:00 pm, 1 hour to the airport , it still leaves me 45 minute of slack to catch the plane, good enough for me..I thought.

My miseries start soon after, on the way to airport I thought I should fill up the gas tank of my car, it was tending towards empty and I didn’t want to take a chance with a car stuck on the highway with no gas and my plane gone. I pull in to the gas station, run my credit card through the automated payment system, pick the nozzle and start pumping…surprise surprise..repeated attempt and not a drop of oil! I go, what…and I nervously watch the time on my cell phone..already 4:45pm. Never mind, I can still make it, I run to the customer service window and explained the situation , the darn thing is not pumping any gas!!

The sales woman at the customer service desk was considerate, she leaves her desk immediately and comes with me to inspect. She appeared surprised what could have gone wrong…turns out there were two sets of nozzles, the regular 87,89 and 91 Octane on one side and the 94 Octane on the other side. “You were trying to pump from the wrong nozzle, you picked the 94 Octane one”…man …what was I thinking…why didn’t I read the labels clearly, I curse myself , fill the gas and make a hurried exit back to the freeway!

The freeway wasn’t any better, you can imagine peak office hours, 5:00 pm on the radio, and this traffic driving me nuts..moving at a snail’s pace…I tried the best I could have under the given circumstances..of course it is a car and not a plane, you can’t make it fly, so whatever you do , you have to do within the confines of an automobile…that means some frequent lane changes, some angry looks from fellow drivers and so on…but you got to do what you got to do , right..otherwise you miss the plane.

Finally at the airport 5:20pm sharp, here comes another mistake, I parked the car at the airport terminal’s first available empty parking spot. Well , the one which I had grabbed, turned out to be near the international terminal and I had to fly within North America, guess what, my terminal was a long walk away. Oh boy….I start walking quickly, meanwhile I get couple of calls on my cell…a friendly reminder shouldn’t you be at the gate already…I say don’t worry, I still have time. At the terminal sharp at 5:30 pm, I go to the check-in kiosks, it asks for the reservation number, I fumble my way into the blackberry emails, trying to locate the confirmation note from airline …yep here it is, punch in the number…I am thinking..now give me the boarding card quickly and I am on my way….

That was not to happen, the kiosk came back with an error message…”All kiosks check-in get closed 30 minute prior to departure of the flight..please see a customer service representative”….I go…what? Now that is a machine, no amount of pleading would have made the kiosk change its mind, so I impatiently start looking for the nearest customer service window..yep this one is a short queue only 2 people. Boy the woman who was being served at the moment, I thought she took unusual time in getting her questions answered, and those 6, 7 minutes I waited for my turn seemed like an eternity. My turn comes and I tell my situation to the booking clerk, she says…nope too late, I can’t do anything, the computer will not allow me. I ask who has the authority to over-ride the computer, she tells me her supervisor. I ask where is your supervisor, she tells me on a coffee break…will come after 10 minute…I go again, what? By then I had resigned to my fate with the resulting sinking feeling, boy the airlines got me this time, I am going to miss my flight!

I comeback to reality, she asks me, would you like to wait for the supervisor or would you like me to book you on the next flight out at 7:00 pm. I had to be quick otherwise that flight may get full…I knew luck wasn’t with me today, I should accept what was being offered. Ok put me on the next flight, are there any extra fees, I ask? Yeah…it comes out to be $159 after taxes…what late by few minutes and you guys are asking me so much money. She expressed her helplessness and the policies and what not. I found myself providing my American Express to her…sir please sign it here…I did and reached my destination an hour late and a tad poorer

Talk about a perfect storm leading to my missing the plane:-)During the flight, I started thinking…was so much stress worth it, why couldn’t I start just 15 minute earlier for the airport and if I was early…well I could have spent time listening to music on iPhone or reading a book or a magazine or some work on my laptop..what is wrong about waiting 15 minutes extra on the airport..I think some more, I have been like this for most of my life, it seems to be almost in my DNA now, waiting is the most difficult thing I will ever do, why? I do not have an answer yet, seems like taking a pause, catching a breath is not a bad thing after all.

The return flight, tested my patience in a different way. I finished the work early and got at the airport at 4:30pm, my plane was scheduled for 7:30pm, now who the hell is going to wait that long ( yeah the wait..hardest thing for me), I ask for an earlier flight. “Yep there is one, will cost you $87, and you will be home 2 hours earlier”, I jump with excitement and offer my credit card. She cautions me again, and tempers my enthusiasm..”the flight is full, you are on standby, if they have opening at the last moment, they will take you else you go at your scheduled time”. I tell her..but I am a frequent flier member..she says “that status doesn’t help when the flight is running full”..my heart starts to sink..boy 3 hrs of wait..what will I do, I know my luck is not that good, what are my chances with the standby?

Anyway, I go to the gate for this early flight. Announcement after announcement for the late comers, last and final call for Mr…, in the heart of heart I am thinking..be good if some of these pre booked passenger’s don’t show up, I will have a chance..I ask the flight manager at desk, what are my chances? He says “Please wait Mr. Prasad, I will call out your name, if you get confirmed”. Then I see four last minute passengers running to the gate, show their boarding passes and gladly board the plane. I continue to wait..albeit with diminishing hope..few more last minute passengers show up, I almost give up on my hopes….all of a sudden..I hear this announcement..”Mr. Prasad please proceed for boarding…”, for a minute it felt like I am the happiest person on the planet Actually the crew must have been extra considerate to let me in, don’t know why..was it my frequent flier status or my troubled looks, because when I took the seat, I saw it was marked for crew..the last row. Hmmm…the airline flew me in the crews seat..yeah sometime luck does favor me..but that’s a rarity!

Here’s hoping going forward I have learnt something and will keep enough time on hand, not just in matter of catching planes, but life in general…my type A personality is about to change…god willing..only time will tell!

>Some two weeks ago I took a business trip to one of my favorite destination..Calgary! Nothing unusual there, I take this trip all the time, what is also not unusual for me is to just some how catch the plane on the nick of time. Well not this time…as yours truly left for airport I checked the time, 4:15 on the watch, plane leaves 6:00 pm, 1 hour to the airport , it still leaves me 45 minute of slack to catch the plane, good enough for me..I thought.

My miseries start soon after, on the way to airport I thought I should fill up the gas tank of my car, it was tending towards empty and I didn’t want to take a chance with a car stuck on the highway with no gas and my plane gone. I pull in to the gas station, run my credit card through the automated payment system, pick the nozzle and start pumping…surprise surprise..repeated attempt and not a drop of oil! I go, what…and I nervously watch the time on my cell phone..already 4:45pm. Never mind, I can still make it, I run to the customer service window and explained the situation , the darn thing is not pumping any gas!!

The sales woman at the customer service desk was considerate, she leaves her desk immediately and comes with me to inspect. She appeared surprised what could have gone wrong…turns out there were two sets of nozzles, the regular 87,89 and 91 Octane on one side and the 94 Octane on the other side. “You were trying to pump from the wrong nozzle, you picked the 94 Octane one”…man …what was I thinking…why didn’t I read the labels clearly, I curse myself , fill the gas and make a hurried exit back to the freeway!

The freeway wasn’t any better, you can imagine peak office hours, 5:00 pm on the radio, and this traffic driving me nuts..moving at a snail’s pace…I tried the best I could have under the given circumstances..of course it is a car and not a plane, you can’t make it fly, so whatever you do , you have to do within the confines of an automobile…that means some frequent lane changes, some angry looks from fellow drivers and so on…but you got to do what you got to do , right..otherwise you miss the plane.

Finally at the airport 5:20pm sharp, here comes another mistake, I parked the car at the airport terminal’s first available empty parking spot. Well , the one which I had grabbed, turned out to be near the international terminal and I had to fly within North America, guess what, my terminal was a long walk away. Oh boy….I start walking quickly, meanwhile I get couple of calls on my cell…a friendly reminder shouldn’t you be at the gate already…I say don’t worry, I still have time. At the terminal sharp at 5:30 pm, I go to the check-in kiosks, it asks for the reservation number, I fumble my way into the blackberry emails, trying to locate the confirmation note from airline …yep here it is, punch in the number…I am thinking..now give me the boarding card quickly and I am on my way….

That was not to happen, the kiosk came back with an error message…”All kiosks check-in get closed 30 minute prior to departure of the flight..please see a customer service representative”….I go…what? Now that is a machine, no amount of pleading would have made the kiosk change its mind, so I impatiently start looking for the nearest customer service window..yep this one is a short queue only 2 people. Boy the woman who was being served at the moment, I thought she took unusual time in getting her questions answered, and those 6, 7 minutes I waited for my turn seemed like an eternity. My turn comes and I tell my situation to the booking clerk, she says…nope too late, I can’t do anything, the computer will not allow me. I ask who has the authority to over-ride the computer, she tells me her supervisor. I ask where is your supervisor, she tells me on a coffee break…will come after 10 minute…I go again, what? By then I had resigned to my fate with the resulting sinking feeling, boy the airlines got me this time, I am going to miss my flight!

I comeback to reality, she asks me, would you like to wait for the supervisor or would you like me to book you on the next flight out at 7:00 pm. I had to be quick otherwise that flight may get full…I knew luck wasn’t with me today, I should accept what was being offered. Ok put me on the next flight, are there any extra fees, I ask? Yeah…it comes out to be $159 after taxes…what late by few minutes and you guys are asking me so much money. She expressed her helplessness and the policies and what not. I found myself providing my American Express to her…sir please sign it here…I did and reached my destination an hour late and a tad poorer

Talk about a perfect storm leading to my missing the plane:-)During the flight, I started thinking…was so much stress worth it, why couldn’t I start just 15 minute earlier for the airport and if I was early…well I could have spent time listening to music on iPhone or reading a book or a magazine or some work on my laptop..what is wrong about waiting 15 minutes extra on the airport..I think some more, I have been like this for most of my life, it seems to be almost in my DNA now, waiting is the most difficult thing I will ever do, why? I do not have an answer yet, seems like taking a pause, catching a breath is not a bad thing after all.

The return flight, tested my patience in a different way. I finished the work early and got at the airport at 4:30pm, my plane was scheduled for 7:30pm, now who the hell is going to wait that long ( yeah the wait..hardest thing for me), I ask for an earlier flight. “Yep there is one, will cost you $87, and you will be home 2 hours earlier”, I jump with excitement and offer my credit card. She cautions me again, and tempers my enthusiasm..”the flight is full, you are on standby, if they have opening at the last moment, they will take you else you go at your scheduled time”. I tell her..but I am a frequent flier member..she says “that status doesn’t help when the flight is running full”..my heart starts to sink..boy 3 hrs of wait..what will I do, I know my luck is not that good, what are my chances with the standby?

Anyway, I go to the gate for this early flight. Announcement after announcement for the late comers, last and final call for Mr…, in the heart of heart I am thinking..be good if some of these pre booked passenger’s don’t show up, I will have a chance..I ask the flight manager at desk, what are my chances? He says “Please wait Mr. Prasad, I will call out your name, if you get confirmed”. Then I see four last minute passengers running to the gate, show their boarding passes and gladly board the plane. I continue to wait..albeit with diminishing hope..few more last minute passengers show up, I almost give up on my hopes….all of a sudden..I hear this announcement..”Mr. Prasad please proceed for boarding…”, for a minute it felt like I am the happiest person on the planet Actually the crew must have been extra considerate to let me in, don’t know why..was it my frequent flier status or my troubled looks, because when I took the seat, I saw it was marked for crew..the last row. Hmmm…the airline flew me in the crews seat..yeah sometime luck does favor me..but that’s a rarity!

Here’s hoping going forward I have learnt something and will keep enough time on hand, not just in matter of catching planes, but life in general…my type A personality is about to change…god willing..only time will tell!