Raising support feels a bit like flying standby.
Have you ever flown standby? Financially it is a massive
blessing, but…it’s not for everyone. You have to be willing to be extremely
flexible, a bit creative, and a splash of patience doesn’t hurt. I booked
standby on 2 flights that had plenty of empty seats just 2 weeks before. The night
before the flight, they were booked full. Oh shoot. I arrive at my first gate
early, refreshing the tracking web page as paying passengers checked in, praying
and being prayed for by family. 2 seats left…1seat…gone. I’m frantically
searching for the best “plan B” as they make the final boarding call: “so and
so, flight ### to Charlotte ,
last call…guess they’re not coming. Eleanor? You’re on”. Such beautiful words.
Thank you, God! (Is it horrible to praise when someone else misses a flight,
and the other person waiting for standby doesn’t get on?)
Phew. The hard one is over and I can relax – my next flight
still has 12 empty seats. 2 hours later I dash to make my quick connecting
flight. I make it on time, and just out of curiosity check how many seats are
still open. 3. And 2 people are in front of me in the standby line. I’ll make
it.
Up walks a captain – I’m outranked and bumped down and out.
Noooo! Remember the frantic searching I mentioned earlier? Yep, that again. I
hang around the gate as I search, and 10 minutes to take-off “Party of 4, last
call…so-and-so
party of 4…OK! They’re not coming. You’re all on.”
