An Unexpected Adventure

“The plan is nothing; planning is everything.” (attributed to Dwight Eisenhower)

Our journey to Spain was scheduled to begin today with an early afternoon flight to LAX on Alaska. From there we’d fly British Airways to Madrid and then Iberia to Oviedo. 

Last night, Francine was just starting to cook dinner, and I was finishing up some last minute chores. We were looking forward to a relaxing evening at home watching the season finale of Star Trek Picard. 

What happened instead began with a text from Callie that said, “Omg 😱 our flight was canceled”.

I immediately got on the Alaska website to try to rebook, but all I got was a message saying that I couldn’t do so online – I had to call their 800 number. 

I got through, but the wait time on the 800 number was estimated at 10 hours.

We made the snap decision to change into our traveling clothes, grab our gear, and head to the airport immediately to try to straighten it out. Twenty minutes later, dinner discarded and bags packed, we were in the car with Callie and her husband Jon.

At the airport, we were helped by an Alaska agent named Rey who really went above and beyond to fix our situation. At one point, he had two additional agents working our issue. 

And that, my friends, is how we ended up leaving a day early on the redeye to Boston.

We’ve got a lengthy layover here before catching a completely different BA flight to Madrid, which will allow us to connect with our original flight to Oviedo. 

Already the Camino has taught us a lesson in flexibility and trust. 

Date: 06 May 2022

Place: Boston, Massachusetts, USA