NYC to BA ,Take 2: The Huelga

I was very happy to have been able to rescheduled my ill-fated trip to Buenos Aires for Spring Break. Over the last month, once every couple of days, someone stops me in the hallway and says, "Oh, how was your trip?" and I recount the torturous event. "I'm going spring break," I say.

Recently, people have been asking, "are you excited? You must be excited." After all, I have waited a long, long time.

I'm not too pessimistic, but I'm pretty superstitious. Especially about flying. Flying scares the bejeezus out of me. I haven't been too excited about this trip. It's like I used up my excitement in February. So I reply, "Yeah, if I go this time." This response generally inspired reactions of sympathy or exaggerated eye-rolling.

I decide to get to the airport 2 hours ahead of time, rather than three. Good move, even though it's a big holiday week with easter and passover coming. There's hardly anyone there. I am about 4 people from check in, and one of the flight attendants whisper "Latin America is on strike, flights to Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires are canceled."

My mouth drops open and I LAUGH.

Unbelievable.

It turns out that it's actually Sao Paulo Airport where the air traffic controllers are striking, but because it's so closer to BA, flights are being diverted there and AA (seemingly the only company) doesn't want to go.

Luckily, I am near the front of the line, and the flight attendant re-books me for Sunday. I decided to book it, even though I'm losing two days. That is, if AA decides to fly on Sunday.

One person ahead of me is a girl named Maria, whose parents are flying Avianca from Bogota to BA to meet her. Their flight is still a go. She is pissed. Turns out, she lives exactly three blocks from me. We cab it back home, and make plans to do the same on Sunday night. Maybe.

Hell, at least this time, I had my bags, was able to re-book, and could GO HOME. I call it a win. Except I'm getting tired of visiting JFK as my vacation. And who's going to pay the thus far $75 in cab fees from needing to take an unplanned taxi ride?

To be continued...