Finally made it
I got a call on Sunday morning from United Airlines to tell me my flight to SF for Apple's developer conference had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. The rep I spoke with offered to book me on a flight connecting through Chicago later that afternoon. I'd get into SF at about 10:30; I figured that was ok -- I'd be checked in to the hotel and asleep by midnight with any luck.
My new flight was expected to leave at 5:11, so I got to the airport at about 3:00. Plenty of time, I thought.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. I checked my luggage in curbside only to find a line of a couple hundred people wrapping part-way around United's ticket counter. Turns out severe weather in Chicago had delayed and cancelled flights, so many of the passengers booked for that same flight I was on were left stranded without any way to get to San Francisco. Unfortunately, with most airlines flying at or near capacity on all flights, there were precious few extra seats for United to book us on.
While I was in line I gave our own corporate travel agency's emergency number a call, and after explaining my situation the agent told me that I was, indeed, stuck in Boston for the night, but suggested that she could put me on an American Airlines flight early the next day. All I'd need, she said, was for United to endorse the ticket.
So I waited an hour and a half in line as each and every person in front of me pled their case as to why they absolutely, positively had to be in San Francisco that evening. To no avail, of course. Some folks apparently thought that the more strident and shrill they got, the better chances they'd have of a) breaking the laws of physics, b) revamping the American airline industry and c) changing the weather.
By the time I got up to the counter the agents were pretty shell-shocked, so I told the woman straightaway that all I needed was for her to endorse the AA ticket and give me a hotel voucher -- she was relieved to do it. Alas, my luggage did, indeed, make it onto the plane without me, so I was stuck in Boston without my clothes or toiletries.
The AA flight did get off the ground -- almost an hour later than expected -- and I was stuck in the middle row the entire way. It was a bumpy ride, too, with storms still going on across the midwest, so it wasn't the best cross-country flight experience.
Unfortunately, today was the keynote day for WWDC, so I was of absolutely no help to Macworld in covering the event. But I've meetings lined up with vendors for the next few days and with any luck will be able to attend a few of the conference sessions myself, so I'm still glad to be out here.