December 2, 2012

Where do my ideas come from, you ask?  Try real life...

My mom, who came up to Wisconsin a few weeks before our family reunion over Thanksgiving weekend and stayed a week after it ended, flew home to Florida yesterday.  I'm happy to say that she, plus all the other family members who came, arrived home safely.

But the details of Mom's return flight were hardly routine.  When we arrived at Milwaukee's Bradley Airport, the Departures board showed that her flight had been delayed by 65 minutes.  This was concerning because she had to make a connecting flight.  A chat with the ticket agent revealed that flights from her connecting city had also been delayed for the same reason, so there would be no problem with her possibly missing her connection.

But here's where it gets interesting:  When we arrived at the gate (I normally turn her over to an airport employee with a wheelchair, but this time I went with her to make sure she got on the plane without additional delay) I noticed that the sign behind the gate agents said "On Time."  I inquired about this and was initially told that it had been delayed, and when I asked why this wasn't reflected on the sign behind them, another agent informed me the delay had been lifted and the flight would take off on time after all.

This was fine for Mom, but my "what if" writer's mind started working overtime.  What would happen if a passenger checked, found out that their flight would take off an hour past the scheduled time, and did some things before going to the airport, only to find that the delay had been lifted and the plane had taken off on time? 

I'm already jotting down notes for a story...