A Day At The Airport

We had an eventful time trying to fly back home since we were Stand by passengers. Our goal was to fly out friday the 4th. We new it would probably be a long day at the airport, but we did not imagine the rollercoaster of anxiety we would go through!  Bret had to be back to school on Monday so he was more stressed than I.  There were three straight flights into MEM from SLC so at the first one it was overbooked so they were looking for people to give up there seats for compensation so we knew quickly there was no chance for us on that plane but what worried us was the amount of Stand by passengers in front of us on the list there were about ten.  We figured they would probably follow us over to the next flight that left at two.  Sure enough we saw familiar faces when we got there.  We walked around the airport, got some food, let Benson loose to play, Bret looked up all of the possible ways to get back to Memphis and realized there was no good way to get back everything was full.  I talked to the front desk helpers at the gate and she looked up flights for us and said the same thing everything is pretty full.  So our hope to fly home was dimming and Bret's stress to get back to school grew rapidly, he even looked up the cost to rent a car and drive back.  We did not make it on the two o'clock flight but the standby passengers in front of us decided to go different routes so we were now one and two on the list for the five o'clock flight.  So our hope was brightened once again but we knew a lot could happen in the next three hours so we went crazy waiting to see what would happen.  Once we got to the five o'clock gate and it was getting close I went up and asked what are chances were and he said as of right now you have a seat.  So we were really hoping no one else would show up and I listened to every conversation he had with other passengers just to make sure we had a chance.  Then I saw we were cleared and he called us up to get our tickets.  I was shaking Bret because I could not believe it.  As he was giving us our seat assignments he said never mind a family of five missed there connection and they will take the seats.  We had to go sit back down.  He called over the intercom saying the flight was oversold and asked if anyone wanted to give up there seat for a voucher.  No one took the offer but we were still sure that there was no way to get on the plane.  They boarded the plane and than the family of five showed up.  I listened carefully as he told them that there was only four seats so they could send four or they could all wait and fly out the next day.  They deliberated and finally decided to stay.  Bret was already walking around trying to blew off some worked up stress so I yelled over at him and said we are getting on they decided to stay and he did not believe it. He was so relieved after the plane doors shut and we backed away from the gate.  That was our Crazy adventure at the Airport we were so lucky to get on that plane there were a lot of people trying to get out of that Airport.