We hung out at the San Jose airport for a couple of hours, had a snack, and finally boarded our plane. We sat on the tarmac for a bit and then the pilot came on to tell us he had “a little bit of bad news.” Apparently the First Officer had arrived at the airport not feeling well so they tested him for covid and he was positive. They were going to have all of us deplane while they searched for another first officer to join the flight. We went back to the terminal and at first they told us the flight would probably go around 6 PM (it was 2 PM at this point). Many passengers had connecting flights at DFW so they were being rerouted but since DFW was our final destination, we thought we would just wait it out. Later I saw that there was a flight sooner that went through Phoenix so I went up to the desk to ask about it. While I was waiting, a guy came out to say our flight was cancelled altogether and we’d be rebooked for 10 AM the next day. There were seats on the plane from San Jose to Phoenix but no more from Phoenix to Dallas so that didn’t help us at all.
We had to go get my one checked bag and then were told to go to the ticket counter to get rebooked and to get a voucher for a hotel and meals. This took awhile since there were several of us in the same predicament. We finally got to the counter and the guy told us we were on the 10 AM plane but he couldn’t print our boarding passes so we would have to come back and get in line in the morning. We asked about hotel and meals and he gave us a voucher for the Homewood Suites near the airport and two $12 meal vouchers which he said were good at the hotel or the airport.
We called Homewood Suites for their shuttle and were told they would send a taxi so we went outside to get our ride. Got to the hotel and were told there was no restaurant but they did have a free breakfast in the morning. By then it was dark and raining but we walked around the corner and bought some Chinese food to bring back to the room. Found some Snapple peach tea and broke out the gourmet popcorn Kris had given us for the flight. Set our alarm for 6:45 and tried to get some sleep. 🙂
Had breakfast at the hotel, then they sent us another cab to go back to the airport. There was already quite a line at the American Airlines counter so we joined in and waited our turn to get our boarding passes and recheck my bag. Whew. Went through Security and the woman told me she needed to pat down my back. She proceeded to reach into the hood of my sweatshirt and pulled out a sock I thought I had lost. She said “oh, aren’t you a sneaky lady?!” LOL
Got to our gate and I wanted to spend my voucher on some lunch or snack to take on the plane so I walked down to one of the stores but they said the voucher was only good at a restaurant. I said most of the restaurants were permanently closed so she suggested Starbucks at Gate 13 which was a good little hike. At that point we were told the plane would be boarding in 20 minutes so I hoofed it down to Gate 13 where there was of course a long line at Starbucks. Finally got my little package of hard boiled eggs, fruit, cheese and crackers, and my usual Venti black iced tea for $12.09. The woman had trouble using the voucher and then said I owed her .09. I said I had no cash so I would have to put it on my credit card. She said it was okay and took a dime out of the tip jar. I felt bad but I had to get back to my gate so I thanked her for the kindness and hurried on!
Loaded up and the flight was not full at all so Rich and I had three seats to ourselves to spread out a bit. And the pilot said we were going to have a nice tailwind so we’d be home early. Woohoo!
Smooth flight and we were finally home…
The kitties were happy to see us and Ajax soon made his way to his usual spot on top of Rich. We had a ton of mail and Christmas cards, which made me happy! We will not see any of the kids till after Christmas this year so we are looking forward to a couple of quiet days.
Postcards from Retirement 
