hello Colorado . . . not so fast

It's that time of year again!  We skipped the snow last year for the sunshine of Arizona but today we are headed back to the slopes.  The past three ski trips have been to Breckenridge which we love . . . just a great place for the kids to ski and adults to snow shoe but this year decided to switch things up a bit and are headed to Keystone.  Just the other day on the morning drive to school, Colin proclaimed that he just loved Colorado!  I couldn't agree more.  Our ski/sea friends arrived super early in the day (8am), and we will all link up at the condo in Keystone around midnight due to our late flight.  Well, at least that was the plan until I got this little gem of a text . . .

I had been watching the weather and knew the weather in Denver was not good; in fact all flights from DFW to Denver had been cancelled . . . our friends were stuck at a hotel not far from the airport and said it was crazy blizzard conditions.  Well, great!  So then this happened . . .

I knew it was going to be less than easy to get a flight out the next day since over ten American Airlines flights had been cancelled so there were a lot of people trying to fly stand-by or rebook the next available flight.  I tried to book a flight on another airline and there were NO flights to Denver out of any Texas airport for two days.  Wow, this is a mess!  Of course Colin was clueless since he was playing his iPad.  I was stressed.  We headed to the Admirals Club where I would try to figure out what we were going to do.  I called AA twice and chatted in person with an agent who all told me basically that I couldn't be rebooked until late Friday. Well this was a no go since we were flying back home on Sunday.  For almost two hours we sat there, and I tried to decide what to do. At this point, I was about 96% ready to cancel and get a refund.  I chatted and texted non stop with our friends who were able to arrive but stuck at the  hotel just hanging out with a lot of other stranded travelers.  I decided to go ask one more time a different agent . . . if we couldn't get out by noon tomorrow then I would cancel and get a refund.  This was when I met Suzi!  She was willing to do whatever to help me.  We came up with crazy options of flying to Phoenix, spend the night, fly next day to Colorado.  I was willing.  Why?  Before my last ditch effort, I talked to Colin and told him that it wasn't looking good.  The sadness in his eye crushed my heart.  He said, "first I couldn't go surfing because of the weather and now this!"  I knew I had to state my case or maybe be a tad overly dramatic.  So back to Suzi . . . she thought we had the best chance to fly stand by on the first flight which was 7am and if we didn't make that one then stand by at 12:45pm would be our next best option because we would be 1 and 2 on the stand-by list.  I was hesitant but trusted her.  Colin agreed if we were not on the 12:45pm flight we would cancel and go back home.  I know flying stand-by is not fun but it was our only option at this point.  As I left the Admirals Club, Suzi told me she was going to keep working on getting us a confirmed seat and took my cell number.  I thought yeah right and figured would never hear from her again.  Our next task was to retrieve our checked bag with my snowshoes and poles.  It was total chaos with a less than accommodating agent.  Just imagine 10 cancelled flights and all the bags.  We finally found an AA agent who was helpful and requested our bag be sent to baggage claim, and we would just wait for it to arrive.  We waited, and waited, and then an excited Suzi called to tell us she had us confirmed seats on the 8am flight.  

No way! She said, "I told you this would happen."  Colin's eyes lit up and I knew it was so worth it!  I sent a quick text to our friends with the good news!  Everyone was happy.  We continued to wait and Suzi called back telling me there were 18 first class seats available so go put our name on the upgrade list.  At this point we just wanted any seat!  I secured a less than desirable hotel but it did have hot water and a comfortable bed so It was off to a hotel to try and sleep. I've never been so tired from doing nothing!  And I was worried that going skiing so late in the season the snow would be not so good who knew there would be a blizzard that would shut down Denver airport for the first time in ten years!