While I work on another post, I’ll share an article I had published on Barbara Ehrenreich’s United Professionals blog, called, “100 best companies for working mothers … are they really the best?” The next brochure issue comes out in October. I can’t wait.
I dropped my mother at the airport at noon today, almost a whole day early. We discovered this morning while doing her online check-in that one of her flights was canceled, which would have left her stranded in Detroit. Then I saw they put her on a direct flight to Minneapolis, which would have gotten her almost home. Yay. Then I noticed it was for today. Boo. Then I saw the rest of her itinerary. WTF?
It included a flight from Detroit to Chicago, Chicago to Minneapolis and the flight out of Minneapolis that would get her home at 10 p.m. tomorrow. Why the first two flights were listed, I have no idea. I called to see if that last leg was available today, but I kept getting disconnected after hearing a message about high call volume and the inability to handle my call. Yeah, I bet. If they cancel flights without warning as an “operating strategy,” it’s no surprise that they have a high call volume.
After Mom checked her luggage, got through security and arrived at her gate, the agent there kept asking her, “You’re going to Chicago, right?” It’s as if he’d never heard of Minneapolis. You know, the one in Minnesota. That was disconcerting (but, hey, at least he didn’t just walk off, and I wondered all afternoon where she would end up until she called me from Minneapolis. At least someone was there to pick her up at the airport and drive her home.
