I Don't Think This Was Supposed to Happen

You know, I wasn't planning on writing the first entry in this trip's blog until we actually got to Germany.  But seeing as how we're now on plan B to get there, I figured I might as well share.

That's okay.  You can thank me later.

Originally, our plan was to fly from Marquette, make a quick connection in Chicago to Charlotte, and then fly from there directly to Frankfurt.  But...the flight from Chicago to Charlotte (a flight with a lot of fellow Yoopers on it, for some bizarre reason) was first delayed, then canceled due to "maintenance" issues.  As we landed in Chicago I received a text that American had rebooked us on another flight to Charlotte, and then on a flight to London.

I mean, that's cool, but we are going to Frankfurt and not London.  And I forgot to bring some swim trunks with me for the journey across the English Channel.

Loraine said it was time to "Amazing Race" the situation, which meant standing in line for American Customer Service--

We were finally taken care of by an amazing woman named Sheri (or Cheri; she told me her name but didn't spell it, and I DO wanna give her all the credit in the world).  The first thing she told us was that yes, we WERE booked on an American flight to London, and then on a BA flight from London to Frankfurt.  But that Frankfurt flight wasn't until Friday, which means we'd get to London Thursday morning and then have to, I dunno, spend a day visiting King Charles or something.

And I don't know if he'd like us popping in unannounced like that.

Anyway, it took a little bit, but Sheri (or Sherry) cut through all the airline reservation red tape.  Despite the fact that their system kept wanting to route us through Charlotte, she cut that out entirely, booking us on a BA flight from Chicago to London and then one from London to Frankfurt, meaning we'd get there just a few hours after we were originally scheduled to land.

And that's cool for us.  King Charles, I'm not so sure.

So as I write this we're in hour 4 of the nine hour wait we're having for the flight to London.  I'm not in any way complaining; we're getting where we're going, and it was all because of the work of one amazing American Airlines Customer Services Representative.  Airlines get a bad rap these days (you know, thanks to things like rebooking you on a flight with an overnight stay in London) but on this journey, at least so far, the bar has been cleared with plenty of room to spare.

We're hopeful it stays that way. And it's all because of an amazing woman named Sheri (or Shairee).

Back again when/if we make it to Frankfurt!