"There's worse places to be stuck than Aspen"

When my husband told me early this past Fall that he booked us flights to Aspen for this year’s Winter X Games, I wasn’t super excited. The X Games are at the end of January- right in the middle of our busy winter season, I haven’t skied in ages, and the thought of standing out in the cold to watch the events wasn’t nearly as inviting as my warm and cozy living room sofa. He assured me that because his best friend works for ESPN and would also be out there, that we would have special passes to get around. Of course I knew that his main motivation was the phenomenal skiing that he would experience. I was just banking on a nice spa, some fabulous shopping, and a little relaxation.

I should have sensed that my trip was doomed from the start when we arrived on Friday to our hotel and our room was “small”. It was the smallest hotel room I had ever seen- and I’ve been to Europe. I’m not typically a picky or “high maintenance” person (ok, well maybe I’m a little “high maintenance”) but I just thought it was ridiculously expensive for what we were getting. Aspen is expensive. Period. I was in Aspen for 4 nights (or so I thought- read on) and I dreaded the thought of staying in that cubicle of a room.

Overall the weekend was fun. We eventually got our room changed, I went on an amazingly scenic run on Saturday, and we did have an excellent viewing area for the half pipe! (heated, open bar, need I say more?).

I was scheduled to leave Tuesday morning, my husband was going to stay until Friday with his best friend and another friend in their condo. All day Monday and into the evening Aspen was pummeled with snow- there were near blizzard conditions at night. Everyone was ecstatic- except me- I was worried about my flight. I went online that night only to learn that my flight was already canceled. I immediately dialed United and spoke with one of the wonderfully-outsourced-overseas customer service reps. Of course with all the “ESPN people” making a mass exidous back to Hartford now that the Games were over, there were no other flights on Tuesday, so I reluctantly booked one for Wednesday at 12:55pm. There’s worse places to be stuck, right? (I would soon want to slap anyone that said that to me).

On Tuesday morning we woke up to blue bird skies and when we went to the front desk to see about extending our stay (I wasn't quite ready to stay with the boys in the condo and my husband hadn't moved over there yet, sensing this would be the case), I noticed that they had the “Airport Channel” on (the channel devoted to displaying the arrivals and departures for the Aspen Airport). I about fainted when I saw that the flight I had been originally scheduled on had actually departed- apparently they “un canceled” it. I got back on the phone to United and they said I could try to fly standby on the remaining two Tuesday flights to Chicago (which was my connecting city to get me to Hartford). So I rounded up the hotel shuttle driver and swung on over to the Airport. No sooner did I walk in the door when I noticed signs everywhere that said “no standby today”. That was trip # 1 to the Aspen Airport.

So I did in fact have to wait until my Wednesday 12:55pm flight. I woke up Wednesday morning to snow flurries- great. By now the hotel shuttle driver (Chad) and I were buddies and when I arrived at the airport, I waved goodbye to him and said, “no offense, but I hope I don’t see you again”. At the check in counter, the United agent did not seem very optimistic about my flight actually departing. Nonetheless, I checked by bag, went through security and sat with all the other passengers in the small gate area. Looking outside, there were no planes on the ground and the snow had intensified. For those of you not familiar with the Aspen Airport (I, on the other hand am an expert now), it sits in between mountain ranges and a pilot needs 3 miles of visibility to land a plane due to the placement of the runway and the mountains. (what that cockpit of instruments is for is beyond me). On Wednesday there was ¼ mile of visibility. So my second flight out of Aspen had been canceled (this time for real). I wanted to cry. I went to the ticket agent and was as nice as could be under the circumstances in hopes that they could manufacture another flight for me. The best they could do was Thursday at 4:30pm. I couldn’t believe it. When I walked outside towing my enormous bag, Chad passed me, rolled down his window and said in his usually upbeat tone, “Flight canceled? Do you want me swing around and get you?”. I thanked him and said, no, I was staying somewhere else tonight. That was nice of him to stop, I thought, he could have just driven right by. That was trip #2 to the Aspen Airport.

Not wanting to pay for another night in our ridiculously over priced hotel room, I had already called my husband, who was settled in at his buddy’s condo. “You can stay here with us”, he said. So it was 3 guys and me in a studio condo; and I was stuck in Aspen another day. All I wanted to do was go home- I had tons of work and my dog waiting for me.

So while it snowed in Aspen on Wednesday, it was clear skis in Chicago. Thursday morning I woke up to clear skis in Aspen and a storm in Chicago. Could my luck get any worse? I looked on the airport channel and learned that the 12:55pm flight to Chicago was canceled. I did cry at that point, just thinking about what would happen to my 4:30pm flight. I arrive at the airport only to learn upon entering that the flight is already “delayed” until 6pm (at this point in my experience I know that is just their polite way of saying, “there’s no chance in hell this plane is taking off for Chicago). I make my way to the counter and am again super nice to the agent, and I sense she can tell that I’m about to cry. I tell her my whole story, she is very nice to me and she gives me my options- which is basically to wait. She says it may take off and I should go to the gate.

I get to the gate, and after waiting, talking to the ticket agents, telling them my story, etc, they tell me my best bet is to go to Denver, stay there overnight and fly on Friday through Dulles to Hartford. They were so nice to me- I think they sensed my exhaustion with the process, and it didn’t hurt that I wasn’t screaming at them, like many of the people around me. At that same moment, the ticket agent from the check-in area came through the door. She sees me, and says, “oh good, I came over here to find you and tell you that you should go to Denver…” Really? That was so nice of her, I thanked her and we chatted for a bit. At the same time, the ticket agent who re routed me to Denver came up to me and asked for my baggage ticket- she was going to go find my bag and re tag it so it went to Denver. Wow, that was nice.

So I felt at least somewhat better that I was getting out of Hotel California- I mean- Aspen. At least there was no weather in Denver, and I didn’t even have to deal with Chicago the next day. I called my husband to tell him what my plan was and he said that Frontier Airlines (never heard of them) sometimes has a direct flight right to Hartford. Interesting. So I got on the internet from my iphone and pulled up their website, checked flights, and yes, they had an 11:55pm red eye to Hartford. It was $326. Plenty of seats left. For some reason, I waited until I got to Denver to book it. Once there, I collected my 47 lb bag and huffed it over to the Frontier counter, “Hi”, I huffed, “I understand you have a flight going to Hartford, tonight”. The ticket agent clearly saw before her someone who had been through the ringer. She said, “I take it you're coming from another airline?”. Oh yeah. I tell her my whole story, and she tells me the price (which I knew), but then she nicely tells me to go to the United counter and have them print my tickets and bring it back and I won’t have to pay anything (which I didn’t know). I did as I was told (even though the United counter was on the opposite end and my bag now felt like it weighed 247 lbs). Again, at the United counter I was as nice as can be, and for some reason, the ticket agent was even nicer to me, and even made an exception because my original United ticket had been an Award ticket. Wow. Back at Frontier, I found the same woman who had originally helped me, and before I knew it, I was on the red eye to Hartford. Home at last. On Friday, instead of Tuesday.

Now, I know I’m not the only person who has ever been stranded at an airport, had canceled flights, or has had to deal with bad weather while flying. The point is, to coin a phrase from our favorite Property Manager, you get a lot more with honey, than with vinegar. My Dad once told me, after hearing me interact with a few customer service issues in my earlier days, that my four years of boarding school had left me with a “boarding school accent” and an inability to deal with what he called “little people”. Whatever, I’ve obviously changed my tune. I’m sure the ticket agents would have still helped me, and I still would have eventually gotten home. But if I had been irate, sarcastic, or busted out that “tone” my Dad pegged me with, I don’t think I would have gotten the service and extra help that I did get (and I’m sure that Frontier agent would have been happy to charge me the $326 too). Instead, I was re routed in the best possible way, got special attention from the ticket agents in Aspen, my bag made it, and I didn’t have to pay for the Frontier flight. (I also received a $150 voucher from the United agent in Denver without even asking).

Of course this brings us to the Wise staff [1]. On several occasions during my saga, I asked myself, is the Wise staff this nice and accommodating to all of our guests? Do we have reservationists like the ticket agents I dealt with? Do we have Property Managers like my faithful and overly helpful hotel shuttle driver? Yes, yes, and yes were the answers I continuously came up with.