Most frequent travelers know always to check departure gate monitors upon arrival for a connecting flight, despite any information printed on the boarding pass, or passed on by a helpful flight attendant.
Some, perhaps more paranoid or from bitter experience, check it more frequently. Last Friday night in O’Hare with United Express #7930 was a night to validate the most paranoid amongst us.
My original flight arrived at a C gate, Terminal 1. I had been advised when I departed from San Francisco that the connection would be from gate F7 in the same terminal. But, here in Chicago, the airport monitors now showed gate F9 Terminal 2.
With 90 minutes between flights, that sounded like a good excuse for some exercise. So I set off for about a 20-minute walk, through the “colored tunnel of doom” to B gates, and then along the walkway to Terminal 2.
I checked the departure monitors again at the entrance to Terminal 2. Sure enough, the plane was still on time scheduled at F9. As it turned out, the gate was one of the most distant gates in the terminal, so I decided to locate it before I went to either the airline lounge or a bar to watch the baseball playoff game.
Upon arrival at the gate, I heard the gate agent muttering things that didn’t sound happy. So I asked, “Hope this isn’t anything with the Cincinnati flight.”
“Well, actually, it is,” he responded.
Apparently there was a plane at the gate with mechanical issues. Maintenance hadn’t towed it. Hence, my flight was being changed again, back to where I had started from — gate C4 Terminal 1.
The agent was as pleasant and apologetic as could be. In fact, he asked if I could carry some paperwork to the new agent for the flight and gave me a large bottle of water for my trouble. So, off I set, now with about an hour until the flight. So much for my computer or baseball time, but hey, things happen.
This feeling lasted until I got back to the connector between Terminals 1 and 2. Where a monitor showed UA #7930, now at gate F12. At this point I called United’s travel agent help line on my cellphone, asking, “So where exactly is this plane?”
The agent I got, who sounded pretty knowledgeable, said, “Quite frankly, I don’t know. We show no gate in our system.”
He checked with a supervisor, who discovered the same situation — no information in United’s computers. So I turned back towards gate F12. And sure believe it or not, at the next departure screen I checked, the departure monitor showed, once again, gate C4.
Getting more than a little worried, and not to mention beyond the “exercise is fun” mood, I went to the nearest gate where an agent assured me it was gate C4. For sure.
So back to gate C4 I walked again, checking now at every monitor. Lo and behold, at the gate there was a plane along with some very tired looking people in the waiting area. Most of whom had trudged much the same route I had.
I gave the agent the papers from the the first agent, saying, “Rough flight already.”
Her response, “You have no idea.”
After all this, the plane boarded on time. The flight attendant apologized to passengers, saying the plane had been “all over the airport,” though he knew the crew at least hadn’t had to walk.
There had been 11 standby passengers listed for a flight that was so overbooked that, originally, United was looking for volunteers. In the end, the plane ended up with four empty seats. Presumably, some scheduled passengers never did find the right gate.
And to add just a bit of insult to injury, there was a last-minute delay, because somehow the fueling trucks also somehow got wrong information. They managed to load the aircraft with enough fuel for a larger plane, and so the extra, over 3,000 pounds worth, had to be removed.
In the end, no major harm done, though I am not sure the same sentiments would be expressed by those passengers who probably ended up spending the night in Chicago.
The whole incident highlights one simple piece of advice. Even when you’ve reconfirmed, don’t assume a departure time or gate is final. And if you decide to stop for a meal, snack, drink or anything else, check or have someone in your party continue to check the monitor at least every 15 minutes or so.
Had I decided to just watch the game for even half an hour, for example, I probably would have missed the flight.
Photo: Shaans Daily Grind
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