Tuesday
Maybe it’s the release that comes with the start of an extended vacation.
Maybe it’s the Xanax.
Probably both…leaning a little to the latter…but here we are at CLE, sitting in primo seats (there’s a built-in electrical power outlet between the two of us!) killing a couple of hours before we board for our NY-JFK flight.
It has not been a walk in the park getting here.
I won’t go into all the details/drama of each high and low that was the roller coaster ride it took to securing actual airline tickets. In short: after learning that three (3) of our supposed ‘’confirmed’’ reservations (with seats selected) had been cancelled, Grand Circle Travel (henceforth known as GCT) switched us from Air Canada to Air France. At least we seemed to have confirmed reservations….finally.
But we had no seat assignments. And multiple attempts were only able to fix 75% of that problem: we had no Premium Economy seats from JFK to Paris—which was the whole reason GCT switched us to Air France in the first place! (Air Canada had changed aircraft and had eliminated the Premium Economy class in the switch.)
I began the quest to get aisle seats for the both of us, hitting brick walls at every turn.
“You can do it at check-in.” everyone assured me.
But at check in, the seats had been released to the Gate (in JFK, mind you.) and no one away from that specific location could make an assignment.
And, to add a little twist to it, when I completed the check in process online, Rob was automatically assigned a not-on-the-aisle seat—while I was left standing ‘’at the gate.”
So…here we are..beginning our journey. The anxiety that would normally accompany all this uncertainty is currently held at bay by Big Pharma–plus the hope that Fate will feel a little pity and do right by me.
[PASSAGE OF TIME]
Fast Forward…and…OVER THE ATLANTIC
Well, two hours (and dinner and a movie) into the flight, I am elated to report that the travel gods were with us. After arriving at JFK and negotiating our way to Terminal 1, I approached the Air France ticket counter to discover my fate.
First came the shock: ”There is no reservation with that name” she said.
She rescanned my passport.
‘’You have a seat assignment.’’ she remarked. Relief washed over me.
“It’s a window seat” she remarked casually.
Relief turned to grief.
Reading my less-than-poker face, she made the offer of a business class upgrade for a mere €369.
I hesitated.
I considered.
But, the Gibb-instilled penny-pincher gene kicked in and won out.
I declined.
However, she dangled one more morsel of hope before my desperate eyes and said that the gate agent may yet me able to assign an aisle seat if there has been a last minute change. Thankfully, there was.
I secured the aisle seat adjacent to my assigned window seat. In a delightful twist, Rob requested and obtained the seat I had just vacated. For the first time in many, many years, we found ourselves travelling side-by-side as we headed to Europe.
En France!
BTW, the movie I watched was Crazy Rich Asians. What a great film! I highly recommend it. Unlike most films watched and forgotten mid-air, I think I will remember this one.
France: Normandy to Paris 