Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa Day #1 “Do I Get A Reward For Being Wonderful?” May 22, 2019.

Tonight we were scheduled to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa via London for our three week trip to Africa. If you know me, I’m not much of an animal guy. I am much more of a people person. Seeing wild animals doesn’t really interest me very much. I think I’d rather struggle with my Spanish talking to Juan Carlos or Don Jose while drinking cafe con leche in Madrid than I would seeing an elephant. But hearing, Don, Gary, Dom, Peter, Kevin and Candy (oops, Patrice reads this. No one named Candy should ever appear in my blog) rave about their trips to Africa I just had to go. Yes, I have given in to peer pressure and we are off to Africa.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:15 pm and arrive in London 10+ hours later and two hours before our 10+ hour trip to Johannesburg. Twenty-one hours on a plane and 23 hours of travel time (not counting getting to the airport 3 hours early for an international flight) seemed like too much to ask of my wife (and me) so I reluctantly decided to get Business class tickets. I was hopeful we could sleep during the flights. Also the late departure time allowed Patrice and me to get some chores completed during the day.

In addition to completing some routine things that I had been putting off, I was invited to a luncheon downtown that I very much wanted to attend. The late departure allowed me to do so, so I braved the traffic to head to the civic center. After my one hour trip downtown I received a call from Patrice just as I was entering the parking lot. “I thought you said our flight leaves at 9:15? According to the American Airlines website our flight leaves at 5:15”. I checked my phone and confirmed, our 9:15 flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on economy! They had my cell phone number and email address, why do they take that information if they are not going to use it? I panicked. I called the airline but they were of no assistance so I immediately headed home.

While waiting for our taxi ride to the airport I decided to confirm that there weren’t any business seats available. I found a flight that had one Business seat that was unoccupied. My wife is an incredible woman with all sorts of talents but operating without sleep is not one of them. My baby needs her sleep. So we headed to the airport and I called American Airlines planning to get Patrice that Business class seat. I was told that since my trip was booked through British Airways they would have to make the changes. The American agent transferred me to British Airways who told me that American had taken control of the ticket so I’d have to deal with them. At this point I wanted to strangle someone but since they were hiding in my phone I just had to pray for the best. After several waits on hold the BA agent said she could take care of us. Just as we pulled up to the terminal the agent said everything was complete. Patrice was booked into Business class and I remained in economy. I was a hero!

Inside the terminal we headed to the British Airways counter. After a brief explanation the agent started typing away. She had a puzzled look and finally said “You’re not in the system”. She took our passports and disappeared into a back room. So we waited. And we waited. And we waited. I started to get a bit anxious. Okay, okay, yes I was very anxious. I couldn’t just stand there and wait. I checked online and found flights that traveled through Boston or New York then on to London. This would give us an extra stop but we would be in Business class and able to get some sleep. But there was no sign of our agent. She finally came out to tell us she was working with a ticketing agent to solve our problem. I told her about the options I found. She said the itinerary I found said we would arrive in Johannesburg at 9:00 AM on May 23rd. “That’s 9 hours from now Mr. Reiss. Let me keep looking.” Into the back she disappeared once more.

The minutes continued to tick away and our 5:15 flight crept closer and closer. The agent came out and asked if we could arrive a day later, “NO OUR TOUR WILL LEAVE WITHOUT US!” More waiting followed by text messages from American Airlines telling us that boarding will begin in a little over an hour. We were in the Bradley Terminal and our flight left from Terminal 4. We still didn’t have our boarding passes and had not cleared security. Panicked is putting it mildly.

I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to leave the counter but when a 69 year old prostate gives you the command you better obey or be prepared to deal with the consequences. When I returned to the counter I could see our agent with another white haired lady talking to Patrice. Everyone was smiling (a very good sign). I was informed that they found us two business class seats on Virgin Atlantic to London and we could keep the same London to Johannesburg flight.

I was very pleased of course, but I wondered why in the F_ _ _ couldn’t British Airways or American Airlines have done that at 7 in the morning when my flight got cancelled? Although it was a horrible experience there is a silver lining. I was very gallant and didn’t have to make the sacrifice after all. I asked Patrice, “Do I get a reward for being wonderful?” She said she would reward me in bed tonight. I got very excited and wanted to know what she had in mind. She said “You know those little chocolates they put on the pillows at night?” “Yes, what about them?”, I panted. “You can have both of them.”

I hope this is not a sign of things to come.