Home, praise the LORD I'm home!

My flight, after multiple details (you saw them posted 'live' from the Vienna airport) got cancelled.

I returned from dinner and they told me at the (completely empty) gate that the flight was cancelled and that I'd have to go to the ticket sales window to perhaps rebook onto the 8:30 flight that was also delayed and perhaps not flying.

I walked through the airport, found the ticket sales window, and beheld the 200 other passengers in line in front of me. I stepped to the end and began to wait, when I suddenly remembered I had a number to call to reach the corporate travel agent!

I called and immediately booked onto one of the last seats of the 8:30 flight. But I was told by the agent that I had to go to the ticket sales counter in the airport. The one I was in line for at 8:20 which hadn't moved since 8:00. So I bolted. I went straight to the check-in counter and stood there in the much shorter line.

At the end of a long wait, I managed to be one of the last persons to pass the gate and board the bus to the plane. The plane with tons of empty seats. The airline didn't even bother to fill the plane with their stranded passengers, it took off as soon as the weather allowed. And I and about 6 other passengers from the cancelled flight were on it.

How do I know there was seven of us? Simple, none of us got our luggage and we all met up at the luggage claims off together. We'd spent hours in the airport(s) together, and none of us were happy... except for the little grin from the knowledge that we were some of the few who made it. Roughly 190 others are staying in Vienna tonight and for most that won't be good.

The luggage will probably return by tomorrow. Sunday at the latest. So I'll have my shoes and pants and shirts back soon. In the mean time, I'm home. And that is more than enough for a small grin.