Hallelujah!!!!!!!
Fizz is in Florida.
That may not sound like such a big deal but trust me, it's been a difficult week.
When Fizz's new mom Maria got back into the country after being gone for the holidays, we started making arrangements for her to come pick him up. The original plan was that she'd fly in, pick him up and take him back in the cabin, just the way Echo and Nina got to Texas. But at 12 weeks of age he was over the in-cabin weight limit of 15 pounds.
So we figured Maria could fly in and take him back in cargo as an "accompanied pet". But as it turns out that was a very expensive plan. If he had to fly as cargo anyway, it would be several hundred dollars less for him to fly by himself. So we began researching flights.
*Nothing* flies from Colorado to Jacksonville non-stop. And I've never known anyone who has been able to fly a dog out of Colorado Springs. So we tentatively planned on a flight from Denver to Atlanta, change planes, then Atlanta to Jacksonville. He was going to go tomorrow.
Then on a whim I checked the Delta flight schedules and discovered that Delta actually flies out of Colorado Springs to Atlanta! Yeah! No two our trip to the Denver airport! No $30 in tolls! And he could leave sooner (today) and actually get there with a shorter flight. Reservations were made for a 7 am flight.
What I did not take into consideration was the weather. It has to be at least 20 degrees for a dog to board a plane. And when the Delta people helped me make the reservation I don't think they realized that our weather here in Colorado can easily have a 30+ degree difference in temperature during the day. Just because it's was supposed to be close to 40 degrees during the day does NOT mean it would be more than 20 degrees at 7 am when the flight was scheduled to take off. It was in fact 14 degrees at 7 am. In fact, I don't think we've had a single day inthe last month when it was over 20 degrees at 7 am.
So that flight was canceled and reservations were made for a flight leaving at 2:37. Only the plane didn't get in until 2:45 and didn't take off until 3:08. Meaning the 50 minutes that Fizz had to change planes in Cincinnati (instead of Atlanta) was now only 20 minutes. YIKES!!!
I shouldn't have been worried. Poor Fizz (and everyone else going from Cincinnati to Jacksonville on flight 4564) sat on the runway for 2 HOURS AND 8 MINUTES while they waited for a flight attendent to show up. Care to guess how many calls I made to Cincinnati during those 2 hours and 8 minutes?
Poor Maria had already left for the airport before the flight was delayed so she got to spend two hours waiting anxiously ... she was at the airport before Fizz even left Cincinnati!
So hear we are with Fizz scheduled to arrive at 11:45. Jacksonville Air Cargo closes at midnight. Care to guess how may more phone calls I made????
Finally, FINALLY the plane lands. At this point things go lightning fast. Maria had Fizz in her hands less than 15 minutes after the flight landed. Sometimes it can take as long as an hour. I guess all those phone calls paid off :)
Maria thinks Fizz was worth the wait :)
That may not sound like such a big deal but trust me, it's been a difficult week.
When Fizz's new mom Maria got back into the country after being gone for the holidays, we started making arrangements for her to come pick him up. The original plan was that she'd fly in, pick him up and take him back in the cabin, just the way Echo and Nina got to Texas. But at 12 weeks of age he was over the in-cabin weight limit of 15 pounds.
So we figured Maria could fly in and take him back in cargo as an "accompanied pet". But as it turns out that was a very expensive plan. If he had to fly as cargo anyway, it would be several hundred dollars less for him to fly by himself. So we began researching flights.
*Nothing* flies from Colorado to Jacksonville non-stop. And I've never known anyone who has been able to fly a dog out of Colorado Springs. So we tentatively planned on a flight from Denver to Atlanta, change planes, then Atlanta to Jacksonville. He was going to go tomorrow.
Then on a whim I checked the Delta flight schedules and discovered that Delta actually flies out of Colorado Springs to Atlanta! Yeah! No two our trip to the Denver airport! No $30 in tolls! And he could leave sooner (today) and actually get there with a shorter flight. Reservations were made for a 7 am flight.
What I did not take into consideration was the weather. It has to be at least 20 degrees for a dog to board a plane. And when the Delta people helped me make the reservation I don't think they realized that our weather here in Colorado can easily have a 30+ degree difference in temperature during the day. Just because it's was supposed to be close to 40 degrees during the day does NOT mean it would be more than 20 degrees at 7 am when the flight was scheduled to take off. It was in fact 14 degrees at 7 am. In fact, I don't think we've had a single day inthe last month when it was over 20 degrees at 7 am.
So that flight was canceled and reservations were made for a flight leaving at 2:37. Only the plane didn't get in until 2:45 and didn't take off until 3:08. Meaning the 50 minutes that Fizz had to change planes in Cincinnati (instead of Atlanta) was now only 20 minutes. YIKES!!!
I shouldn't have been worried. Poor Fizz (and everyone else going from Cincinnati to Jacksonville on flight 4564) sat on the runway for 2 HOURS AND 8 MINUTES while they waited for a flight attendent to show up. Care to guess how many calls I made to Cincinnati during those 2 hours and 8 minutes?
Poor Maria had already left for the airport before the flight was delayed so she got to spend two hours waiting anxiously ... she was at the airport before Fizz even left Cincinnati!
So hear we are with Fizz scheduled to arrive at 11:45. Jacksonville Air Cargo closes at midnight. Care to guess how may more phone calls I made????
Finally, FINALLY the plane lands. At this point things go lightning fast. Maria had Fizz in her hands less than 15 minutes after the flight landed. Sometimes it can take as long as an hour. I guess all those phone calls paid off :)
Maria thinks Fizz was worth the wait :)
posted by Anne at 10:21 PM
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