Technology & Status

Being the seasoned traveler that I am, I was neither surprised nor pleased when I had to deboard the plane leaving MLI 30 minutes ago because the door wouldn't close properly. Since it is a small airport, they don't keep maintenance folks on site, so the guy had to be called in from Davenport. This meant any number of things could happen:

1. He'd get here and be able to fix the door in time for us to reboard, put the pedal to metal, and arrive in ATL in time for me to catch my original connecting flight to LGA. (Likelyhood? Not likely with an 80 minute layover).
2. Delta would put me on another airline and get me to NYC within an hour of when I was originally scheduled to arrive. (Likelyhood? GET REAL!)
3. He'd get here and be able to fix the door, but I'd miss my connection and have to take the next available flight putting me in NYC just before midnight...ugh! (Likelyhood? Given my experience during Sisters' w/e 2006 when I got stuck in ATL overnight...unfortunately likely).

Before I could fully awaken from my plane seat drowsiness and plop into my waiting room chair, I thought I should call my best friend to let her know I'd been delayed. I called her on her cell & let her know what was up. She quickly asked me to call her back on her office phone as she's used all her minutes for the month. I checked my pda and read the number I had for her office to her. She told me I had the wrong one and said she'd email it to me. I told her to text it to my phone from her computer using teleflip (cell number@teleflip.com...it's that easy!). I whipped out my laptop so I could start searching Delta's time table for the next flight to NYC so I'd know which flight to standby on in ATL.

I noted a missed call on my ID & called back the 800 number. A Delta receptionist answered and asked for my confirmation number which I rattled off after fishing it out of my Outlook appointment on my pocket pc. The receptionist noted my Medallion status and immediately transfered me to the special member services desk. I rattled off my confirmation number again while I booted up my laptop and powered up my wireless connection. The receptionist let me know that Delta had already booked me on the next flight out of ATL to NYC and automatically upgraded me to first class. She offered to book me on the next flight out of MLI and just in case put me on a back up flight out of ATL to NYC so that I get there tonight. All this while I checked my Skymiles balance which had already been updated with the miles from the flight segment to ATL that I haven't even taken yet...and all my new flight reservations are available for view in my online itinerary. I didn't even have to get off my @$$ while all those people waited in line. God bless technology & frequent flier status!