Adversity Strikes Again…And Loses

I flew into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport last week en route to Biloxy, Mississippi. It was a stop-over flight - staying on the same plane with a little break in Georgia. Upon pulling into our gate at Concourse A we were told that there was a change of “equipment” and we’d have to head to a new plane at Concourse B. Sure, I was sitting in the very last row, but certainly they’d give me time to get there…

By the time I got off the plane I still had 20 minutes before take off and didn’t exactly kill myself getting from A to B. I walked up to a gate full of people with some relief. The gate attendant stood behind the podium with a distressed look on her face as she put down the P.A. - the flight’s gonna be late.

A few minutes later I sat next to a nice lady and we talked about going to and coming from. I asked her if the Gulf Coast was her home.

“The golf course?” with puzzled brow. “We live in Cincinnati.”

It didn’t take long to figure out that all these people were also headed to Cincinatti and that the agent who’d left the podium a couple minutes ago wasn’t going to find out what time my flight would be leaving; she probably went home. My flight, which just happened to be out of sight of the windows to my right, had begun pulling onto the tarmac.

“Aw, man….”

Pleads were made to official looking Delta representatives to no avail. It took 20 minutes to discover that the next two flights to Gulf Port Airport were fully booked; standby only.  Well, I was scheduled to be on the stage to present to the Louisiana/Mississippi Societies of Association Executives at 8am the next day. The only sure option: rent a really nice car and drive five and a half hours to Biloxy. Radio went to 11.

I gained an hour crossing into Central Standard Time and head found pillow before midnight. And as a speaker focused on attitude, this was perfect ammo for the next morning’s delivery.

Thank you. Thank you very much.