Ready to fly . . . or not!

June 27, 2013

Salt Lake International Airport

The American Airlines flight we were scheduled to take was to leave Salt Lake City at 11:10 am.  We were scheduled to fly to Chicago where we just had time to change flights before leaving for London.

The flight from Salt Lake City was delayed and didn't leave until 12:30 pm.  Michael and I said a quiet prayer that everything would work out and we would be able to make our connections and arrive in Rome in time to assume responsibility for the Italy Rome Mission.  The plane didn't actually depart until 12:45 pm.  We were very nervous about our connecting flight to London, England.

There were several couples on our same flight who were all heading to London and then going in different directions to serve their missions.  We spoke to the steward on the flight to Chicago and he arranged to have our plane land at a gate that had a shuttle right outside the door to take us to the terminal where our next flight would depart.  We were all praying for a miracle and that we would make our connection to London and then on Rome.  We touched down in Chicago a little panicky about the time, but knew a shuttle was waiting for us and the pilot was holding the plane.  We taxied almost to the gate where we were to deplane and the plane just in front of us had mechanical problems and couldn't move until someone came with equipment to push it out of the way.  It really was a comedy of errors.

Eventually the path was cleared and we were able to get off the plane.  With the assistance of the shuttle, we made it onto the next plane and finally got settled into our seats only to find out that somebody else was stuck in customs and the pilot was waiting for them.  Those people finally made it on board and they closed the doors ready for takeoff only to have a violent rainstorm descend on us and the airport controllers halted all take offs.  We continued to sit on the tarmac in Chicago.  Eventually the weather cleared up and we were able to take off, but by this time our flight had been delayed for over an hour.  Now our concern was making our connection from Heathrow Airport to Fumicino Airport in Rome.  We had even less time to make our connection there.

Our concerns were justified.  When we got to London, the line at customs was huge.  We finally made it through only to find an even longer line at the next security checkpoint we had to go through.  President Dibb, who was going to Milan, Italy, let us go ahead of him because he had more time.  We would have made it just in the nick of time if Michael's bag hadn't been randomly chosen for inspection.  Security looks in every fifth bag and since they were short on checkers that day, the bags were lining up.

I went ahead to the boarding gate so they would know we were in the airport and coming.  The attendant already knew that our plane had been delayed and that we were enroute.  That didn't seem to matter.  I was told I could board and leave my husband or I could stay with him and wait for a later flight.  The gates closed and there I stood waiting for Michael who was still another five minutes behind me.  The attendant assured me we would be on the next flight that was leaving in two hours.  When we got to the reservations desk to change flight schedules, he said there was no way we would make another flight for at least ten hours because everything going to Rome was completely booked.  He even tried to get us on another airline.

By this time we hadn't been to sleep for 36 hours.  Needless to say we were exhausted.  We sat around in the London Airport for ten hours until we were able to board a flight headed for Rome, and that flight was delayed, too.

You'd think that would be the end of our problems, but they were really only beginning.  When we finally landed in Rome, we didn't have any luggage.  We weren't allowed to go outside to tell Kelly's that we were having problems.  The line for lost luggage was huge and there was only one person there.  We stood in that line for hours.  I finally walked down to the exit an as the sliding door opened for someone else, I was able to see Sis. Kelly and tell her we were doing the best we could.

The plan was that we would land in Rome at noon and have all that day to spend with President and Sister Kelly so they could tell us about the mission home and the temporal things we needed to know.  We were not to talk about any of the missionaries so no biases were passed on.  By the time we finally made a request for our luggage and got outside the terminal it was after 1:00 am.  It's an hour drive back to the villa in Rome.

We only had about an hour with Kellys who were trying to fill us in on things as quickly as possible and we were so tired none of it sunk in.

We crawled in bed at 4:00 am and were up again at 6:00 am to take Kellys to the airport for their return home.

Luckily we had put a change of clothes in our carry on luggage in case of an emergency.  We were told our luggage would arrive at noon the next day.  We called the airport to be certain it was there.  We were told it was and to bring our passports to claim it.  The assistant drove us the hour to the airport, only to find out that we needed some documentation along with our passports to retrieve the luggage.  Needless to say, we had to drive for an hour back to Rome, retrieve the documentation and then return to the airport.  When we went to the baggage claim office, it was another huge line.  When Michael finally got to be waited on, they didn't have the luggage.  They finally sent him to another area of the airport where they were collecting lost luggage.  They had so much luggage it wouldn't even fit in the room and they had a huge section roped off for additional luggage.  That's where we found our luggage.  After a trip back to the baggage claim office, we were finally able to drive back to Rome.  We didn't get to bed until 2:00 am that morning.

If it sounds like I was tired, it's because I was.  The good thing is that we finally got our luggage and life is looking up.  Many of the missionaries go through this same thing so I suppose we were learning to be compassionate.

Seated on the plane