I learned a valuable lesson and picked up a new travel tip to share with you in the process…
As often as I travel, I am still one of those worriers who likes to get to the airport ahead of time. I am that woman casually strolling, with time to window shop or buy an expensive coffee or cocktail before the flight, because there is nothing I hate more than the stress of rushing through the airport cooridoor in an attempt to get to the gate before they close the door. It defeats the entire purpose of a vacation. For me, the vacation begins the minute I start planning a trip and packing my bags, and the airport experience is all part of the fun.
I allow plenty of time to pass through security, and even look forward to a little human interaction if they should ever select me for one of those more thorough sort of inspections that is all the buzz lately. Alas, I must look quite harmless…no extra security measure have ever been taken with me.
It is after all, the journey and not just about the destination as they say. In this particular case, the destination was home to be with family for Thanksgiving. As it turned out, I had booked the last flight out of town, and at that hour, it was quite likely with the bad weather coming in and the delays of the day accumulating, that my flight would again be quite late. It was already displaying a 15 minute delay on the departures board. So after passing through security I had time to walk to the opposite side of the airport to enquire as to weather I might be allowed to go “Stand-by” and to ask what the cost and procedure was? I always try to be as polite and patient as I can be in these situations, so I began by saying; “ Pardon me, I know this is the busiest day of the year, but is there any way that you might be able to get me on this flight?” The smartly uniformed ticket agent said…”That depends…” and then he asked me the key question; “Have you been inconvenienced?” How do you mean I asked? “Well, he said, if your flight happens to be late for example, I can give you a seat on this flight if one is available for no additional charge.”
And that was the aha! Moment. I realized the advantage in not only booking well in advance and via the "internet special" for the lowest fair, but, if I go to the airport in advance and my plane is running behind I may be able to switch flights to an earlier one without paying an up-charge and the difference in the cost of the flight! This was HUGE because in this particular case I had originally booked a much less convenient flight to save money, I had a trip that would have had one lay over in another city that could have also risked delays…Had I stayed with my original flight plan that was supposed to arrive at 11:00pm because of all the delays I would have arrived home the next day at 3:00 in the morning. As it turned out I was switched to a direct flight that was sold out when I ordered my ticket on line, but because a family of eight had changed their plans at the last minute, Southwest airlines got me home at 10:00pm the same evening (an hour earlier than my original plan) and I was credited $10. as the difference between the cost of the flights.
I know that there are similar policies with other airlines, but I must say that Southwest airlines, with it’s many innovations such as bags flying free and first-come first-seated advance boarding pass policy – is once again Betty’s favorite airline for domestic flights.
So save yourself some stress and maybe even some time...go early and go more often.
