The CRAZY Trip Home

 

Okay, now on to the chaos……it is a little long, more like a short story, but without the little details, then you would not get the true feel of the first 24hrs or so that Teddy and I had.

Since I had travelled over 1500 miles to get Teddy, I got a hotel to stay at. Once I had spent a few hours with Dana, Lacey, and all the pups and dogs and finally decided on little Teddy, I took him back to the hotel with me. That's when things started to spiral out of control. First things first, I went to check in online and print my boarding passes – Horizon Air was not an issue, but American Airlines wouldn’t allow it. I had originally placed reservations for a pet in the hold (since I didn’t know if I was bringing a puppy or a 6 month old with me) and I was told it’s easier to go from in the hold to in the cabin than vice versa, so I changed my reservations to in the cabin with each of the airlines. No problem. However, something that was said when I called Horizon prompted me to call back American. I was concerned that I would have to go outside the secure area on my first stop to pay the $100 pet cabin fee and did not want to do so since I had only an hour layover. The gentleman at American told me that Horizon could take the fee for American in the morning at my departure city, print out all my boarding passes and I would be set to go. No fuss, no muss. But I thought – let’s make sure. So I called Horizon back to check. No, they can’t take American’s money because they have no way to get it to them. However, American’s gate agents should be able to take the money and print out boarding passes so I won’t have to leave the secure area. Great. Back on the phone to American.

This time I get a lady who says that I must go outside security because the gate agents can’t process money transactions, only ticketing agents. So it’s now 9:30 pm. I’m tired, been on the phone for hours and had a long day of travel ahead, so I asked for a supervisor. I got the (put appropriate and descriptive expletive noun here) from hell. He said that it was my fault for booking an hour layover, for not asking specific questions, for not paying the pet fee in Dallas before I left and that maybe I should be more organized the next time. When I said that I booked the space for the pet on the 26th of Sept, and asked American what their rules were governing pet travel, but that none of this was mentioned to me, he noted that unless I ask specific questions, they do not have to give me specific answers. When I tried to say, “how can I ask specific questions when I don’t know what to ask about”, it was my “issue.” When I tried to go through my day of phone calls again, he replied with, “I got that the first time.” When I said I’d think twice about flying American again, he suggested that the next time I did, I should be better organized. Needless to say, I requested another supervisor, got the pet fee taken care of over the phone (or so I thought), hung up, and promptly called my husband and cried. That jerk was so unbelievably rude and it made me so upset. It was now 11 pm and I was ready for bed. Teddy slept from 10pm to 4am (such a good boy) and I got up and thought I should call my husband and see if the credit card company had called the house last night for the pet fee authorization. They hadn’t. So I called American again at 5 am (on our travel day), and I asked if the prepay pet fee had gone through. It hadn’t. “Somehow” the credit card information had gotten deleted. The very nice lady helped me get it all sorted out, bypassed the authorization, spoke to the ticketing office and so finally at around 6am I went back to bed for much needed sleep.

Now I must also interject here that after the phone conversation with the rude jerk on the phone, I was physically ill. Shaky, nauseous, cold sweats etc. I’m sure the stress didn’t help (and might have been the cause), but I spent the next several hours vomiting and just laying on the floor, trying to entertain Teddy and trying not to cry. I didn’t sleep well with what little sleep I got because I was imaging all sorts of bad scenarios for the next day’s travel.

On to our travel morning...Having no dinner left from last night and still feeling poorly, I had only a glass of apple juice for breakfast (which I sipped on for over an hour). On to the airport – Got there in time, got Horizon’s fee paid, got my boarding passes, went up to my gate and……our first flight's delayed 45 mins, which means missing the connecting flight, which means not getting home until 10pm. I try for deep breaths but my pessimistic/realist side is taking over and at this point, I was just defeated. I went to Horizon’s gate agent, mentioned missing my connecting flight and they said, oh yeah, we’ve rerouted you, your now flying to a different city (further away mind you), and then getting on Alaskan Air to fly to DFW. Layover for our first stop is now 40 mins. Great. Even shorter than my original itinerary, but the flight arrives DFW at approximately the same time. It was a good thing I got to the gate when I did cause the our new flight left a full 20 mins earlier than our original flight.

Teddy was great on the flight although I knew he was stressed because he was panting and wouldn’t drink any water. Now I have thoughts of him overheating or dehydrating because with little ones, things can change so rapidly. We arrive in our layover city 20 mins late. I have to go from C concourse to D, hoofing it all the way. Just as I come up to the gate, I hear “final boarding call for DFW.” Out of breath I hand the guy my boarding pass and get on the plane.

Now poor Teddy at this point had not been potty since 9:30 am and I obviously didn’t have time to take him before getting on the DFW flight. He’s still panting, won’t drink water and wants out of the kennel (he obviously did not understand when I mentioned there were two flights to take). Finally, while in the air, I fold the sherpa’s front side half down, he sticks his head and one paw out and sleeps……I let out a little sigh of relief, and so does he. Pilot informs us of a good tail wind and 30 mins reduction in flight time. I sigh again, home earlier. I doze with Teddy and we finally land in Dallas, safe and sound.

We head for the nearest grass. Teddy is grateful and he finally drinks some water. My hubby drives us home and Teddy falls asleep in my arms (I didn’t have the heart to put him in the sherpa again for the ride home). All goes fairly well – I greet Cora and Logan with Teddy’s smell all over me. We take them on a short walk to meet Teddy on neutral ground (Cora’s more excited about the walk) and then we all head home. Bedtime comes and Teddy again sleeps from 10pm thru to 4am, goes out, pees and with a few whimpers of protest, settles down in his kennel again until 6am when the household gets up.

And in true Paul Harvey form - now you know, the rest of the story! Teddy is home and I wouldn't change that for anything, but now you know why it will be a LONG time before I ever travel with a pet again!