Turn a Negative....

I arrived at the airport plenty early to find that my flight was delayed 45 min. A little scary since my connecting flight was leaving in Dallas to Mimi 45 min after I landed. Waiting around in the airport they announced that the flight was delayed an additional 30 min. I checked with the gate agent and the next flight was at 6am and that I would have to pay for the hotel myself... Humph! "I think your connecting flight is delayed though so you will probably be fine...." We pushed back and additional 15 late and I didn't have much confidence. We landed at 7:45pm just as my Miami flight took off........... The gate agent said I would have to leave the security area to re-ticket. I thought to myself (With some previous info given by my good friend the Jet Blue Captain) I wonder if I can get on a Ft. Lauderdale flight.... Sure enough there was a 8:15 flight to Lauderdale that was delayed 30 min. I went and chatted with the gate agent giving my Peace Corps credentials and he offered me a seat as well as a free shuttle ride to the Miami airport. Sweet! So he printed my new ticket and then said because I was doing such a nice thing he was bumping me to first class! Extra extra bonus! So American Airlines went up a notch in my book and I flew in luxury to Ft. Lauderdale. I arrived and went down to collect my luggage and my shuttle pass to find something missing....... Luggage! Not there! So flash backs of the last time American lost my luggage (3 months gone!) and crossed my fingers that the lost luggage lady believed my stuff would be sent to the hotel tomorrow. So I jumped in the shuttle (A town car none the less!) solo and paid the driver an extra $20 to take me right to the hotel. Went to bed and had a great first day of training. The luggage actually arrived at 6pm, so I was a little smelly during the training but I got my stuff back and I am ready to go!