Travel Delay!

We were scheduled to go Wichita > Chicago > Istanbul yesterday.  We made it to Chicago after 12 hours.  We got a call at 1:00 that our 5:15 flight was delayed.  We called to get on the earlier 3:00 flight and dashed to get to the airport.  When we arrived, the 3:00 flight was cancelled and our 5:15 flight was even more delayed.  With a 3 1/2 hour layover in Chicago, we were worried, but not too much.  The delay got longer and longer and we finally took off from Wichita at 7:30 pm.  We landed in Chicago at 9:45 (our Turkish flight was scheduled for a 10:15 departure).  At 10:10 it taxied past us, still parked on the runway waiting for our gate to be available.  Cruel moment!

We had been told a gate agent would be waiting to help rebook us.  Wrong.  We called an 800 number with a message that said the average hold time was currently 25 mins.  After 1 hour and 8 mins I got an agent on the line.  She spent the next 15 mins trying to find some way to get us out of Chicago and on to Istanbul.  The result:  Toronto > Heatherow > Istanbul.  We will get in near midnight tomorrow.  Sigh.  Meanwhile, our tour group is seeing the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque today.  We are making contingency plans to scuttle some other group activities and get ourselves back there the next day!

After getting the flight arranged, we went to find our baggage:  Locked up for the night, sorry.  So we went to get a shuttle to the hotel:  not available after 11:00 pm (current time was 12:15 am).  Taxi cab for $50 and a hotel room with no luggage.  It was easy to get myself ready for bed.

Hoping for smooth travels tomorrow!