A Lucky Day of Flying!

We certainly prefer our form of travel in a motor home, where we never have to pack a suitcase to visit scenic places. But occasionally we need to fly someplace. Our trip to Kansas City to babysit was our first flight since the pandemic began. We can report that the airports are busy, and the flights are full. Masks are required in all airports and on all airplanes. So there's no break from that mask from the time you arrive an hour before your departure until you leave your final airport. That's a long eight hours for us today! It gave us an opportunity to appreciate all those people that have to wear masks every day all day for their jobs. While planes are supposed to be sanitized between flights, each passenger is handed a pre-packaged sanitized wipe to scrub down their space. Only sealed beverages were available on our flights, and we didn't even get those little bags of peanuts.

We got a text message that our second flight today was over-booked, so we weren't surprised when they asked for three volunteers to give up their seats. Because our schedule is flexible, we were first to the counter to accept the $500 flight vouchers in exchange for our seats. They booked us for the next flight and we were very happy for that deal. What a lucky day of flying!

The gate clerk couldn't get the third volunteer, so they upped the ante. No one volunteered for $700, and the clerk assured us that our vouchers would go up to the same amount it took to get that third seat. So we were delighted when the last seat wasn't cleared until the offer went up to $1,000! 

We had to wait to be sure that everyone showed up to fill all the seats, and then they completed the paper-work for our free United Airlines credit. What a lucky flight day! We sat in the airport for an extra hour and a half until the next United flight to McAllen, and now we have $2,000 in free flights over the next couple years! As an added bonus, we also got seated in an emergency exit row with all that extra leg room!

So we still prefer traveling in our motor home and not having to pack suitcases. But over the next year, we will be flying the friendly skies of United for at least $2,000 worth of flights. What a lucky day of flying!