Truths: Assumed Guilty

Wednesday, my daughter, Abby flew home from FL by herself. It was a very stressful and traumatic experience for her. She started crying two days before the flight!

(The only reason that it was done this way was because plans changed at the last minute due to unfortunate circumstances and it was the only was she could go to FL for spring break.)

On the airlines she flew, Spirit, it cost an extra $100.00 to have an unaccompanied minor travel. With this they get a free snack and a beverage. What a deal, huh?

So, my parents were able to walk her to the gate and stay with her til the plane came… Which happened to be 3 ½ hours late. Now, instead of getting home at 8:30 – she would be lucky to arrive before midnight!

I had given her my phone and she was texting me every minute… Mom, where are you. Mom, our plane is late. Mom, I am never doing this again! This went on for hours.

After knowing that the plane finally took off at 9pm, I decided I would leave around 10pm to get to the airport.

I got to O’Hare Airport at 11pm. I parked the car and went into the terminal to the Spirit desk. The whole place was empty, but there was an agent at the desk.

I approached the desk with my ID, my paperwork and confidently said, “I need a gate pass to get my daughter.”

Expecting a response like, “Okay, what is your name and the flight number?”

But, instead, I got, “I am sorry but all of the security is closed down. I can’t get you to the other side.”

WHAT?

Immediately panicked and freaked out – I went from calm to complete maniac!

“Are you kidding me? We paid so that we could meet my daughter at the gate.”

“I am sorry but that can’t happen – we will have someone bring her to the luggage carousel.”

“No! That is not how it is going to work! She will freak out if I am not there to get her.”

“I am sorry, mam, but that is the best I can do since the security is gone.”

“So, you are telling me that if a terrorist came into this airport right now with a bomb, there would be no one here to deal with it?”

Blank stare.

I shouted some more and left the desk on a mission to find someone in security.

I walked, ran across the entire terminal - until I was pointed to the security manager, Dale.

I was a maniac by this point - screaming and flustered.

Dale told me that no one from Spirit had even contacted him about the situation… so he calmly told me to go back to Spirit with his business card and tell them to call him.

I ran, again, across the terminal to the jack ass who wouldn’t help me – never even took my name and gave him Dale’s card and said, “You need to call him – you never even contacted security in the first place.”

He was on the phone with his supervisor when I was there and he told her what I just said. So, she said she would call. 5 minutes of waiting and he starts this whole saga,
“I just want you to know that my supervisor is not happy about this situation. We are going to let you do this but it is completely against policy. We would never do this for anyone else. This is a huge exception.”

I said, “I certainly hope you don’t think I am going to be overly grateful… This is what you were supposed to do in the first place. I paid for this service.”

Angry, frustrated, I ran back to the other side to Dale with my gate pass.

He said, “So, what did they give you?” (he was smiling)

I handed him the gate pass and he said come with me.

He took me to the behind the scenes security and like all the other times at the airport, I had to take off my shoes and send my purse through the x-ray machine. Even after that they hand checked my shoes and purse and finally let me go to the gate – which, of course, was the last flipping gate in the terminal.

I run to the gate – only to find that the plane is late and won’t be here for another 30 minutes!

I am drenched in sweat and my heart is beating faster than a car at Nascar! But, I made it.

All I could think about is how if I had been a terrorist – the better attention I would have received. It wouldn’t have mattered that security was closed – they would have found an immediate way to deal with me.

But, as a frantic, innocent mom – the airlines didn’t give a crap.

9/11 changed everything forever… Now, instead of being assumed innocent – we are all guilty until we make it through security.

Airlines continue to treat people like crap. I swear it is the only industry who has no responsibility for treating customers with care. They can bump you from flights, make you miss your connection, leave you stranded for hours, even days – and you cannot do one damn thing about it!

I can understand the whole weather issue – but I absolutely cannot understand how they can keep a mother from her child. They really crossed the line there.

I owe my success that night to Dale. The security manager who made things happen. Who regardless of my screaming – helped me.

I don’t owe a damn thing to the airline: Spirit. Who didn’t give a crap about me or my minor child. All I own them is bad PR…and boy are the going to get it!