How Being an Optimist Got Me Out of Philly

I'm back and have been for hours. The plane I was supposed to take has just left Philadelphia. How did I time warp ahead several hours?

It rained in Philadelphia so much that the airport stopped all flights today for a short while. [I was drenched in that downpour whilst returning my rental car. I looked silly, but it was cooling.] Weather affects all flights. I did my routine...checked in, checked my bag, went through the obligatory TSA indignity and straight to the kiosk. All flights to Greensboro were posted. Mine was delayed, but the 11:30 flight was loading.

So I thought, "Why not?"

I went to that flight's gate and waited for the harried agent. I smiled. I told her I just checked in for the next flight. Any chance I could get on this one? She told me the change fee would be $25 and that I would have to make arrangements to pick up my own bag, once it arrived on the flight after me. I saw the plane at the end of the jetway. Hmmm. Bird-in-the-hand. I agreed to her terms and she placed me on the flight [which was half-way through seating. Er, I mean the plane was half-full] and I even scored a window seat in the exit row! [She never did take my credit card and swipe it for the change fee. So that was a $25 gut check question. And the question was, "Is it worth $25 for you to leave this city two hours early?" A bargain at twice the price!] It took quite a while to get aloft as planes were backed up everywhere.

Now....if I could only get my bag. Dave already made one round-trip to arrive empty-handed. We checked online for a departure. Oh, it departed all right, but was called back. Too bad I didn't call him back en route. That plane won't be in until 11:00 p.m. as of this post. Whew! I'm glad I'm home, but want to be reunited with my possessions.

Fortunately, I have redundancies in my toiletry selection.

UPDATE: According to the airline's official website, it arrived at 11:54 p.m. About 8 hours late.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I have said luggage.