Oh Good, the Flight is Delayed

With all the problems that airlines, JetBlue in particular, has had with recent weather, I wanted to share a story about how flight delays actually helped us get back home from New York. Our flight was scheduled to leave JFK at 8 pm. Before we left for the airport we checked the flight status and discovered that it was delayed by nearly an hour, and getting us in much later than we desired. But because we has a train to catch we had to get to the airport early anyway. I noticed that the 4:20 flight was also delayed. I had a fleeting thought that if it got delayed any more we may be able to get on it standby. I kept it in mind with the understanding that my plan was definately going to fail. We got to the airport at about 5:30 to find out that the earlier flight was further delayed until 6:10. Maybe it could work, I thought. But after standing in line for about 15 minutes to get on the standby list my hope faded again. And then there was the matter of checking a bag that had fluids in it. I asked if there is a chance that the bag would make it on the plane, and the clerk told me there was a chance. So against my better judgement, I decided to give it the old college try, very well knowing my poor luck with flying. After we actually got on the flight (it ended up taking off at around 6:30), I knew the checked bag would be on the later flight anyway and we'd have to wait for it. But when the moment of truth came the bag was swinging around on the carousel. That was truely a moment of triumph. I enjoyed the moment because I knew that this was probably the only time in my life that I was going to truely benefit from a delayed flight.