"Look for the helpers"

 Before beginning, let me say I am acutely aware that what follows is a first world problem.

On Monday, October 18, we arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport at 3:30 a.m. for a trip to St. Maarten with the first of our helpers, our dear friends Jeff and Jackie, who invited us to share in their vacation.  An indication that perhaps this adventure might be going awry was that as we pulled up to the curb, we noticed that the Delta section of the terminal--and only the Delta section--was semi-illuminated in emergency lighting.  A power outage had not only dimmed the lights but was preventing Delta from checking in and boarding the milling passengers.

So far we're not too worried.  There's an hour between our scheduled arrival into Atlanta and the connecting flight to St. Maarten.

Tick...tick...tick...

No power.  No computers booting up.  Delta agents huddling, doing their best to problem solve the situation.

Sometime after 5 am, an agent announces we are moving to a different area of the airport that has power and Delta will be able to check us in.  The unsocially distanced scrum of people races downstairs.  While in line, Delta is pinging us with text messages.  Our plane is now delayed until 6:30 am and the plane to St. Maarten's departure time is moved up by 5 minutes.  Doesn't portend well for making the connection.

Upon landing in Atlanta, more texts from Delta.  Yes, we missed the connection.  No, there aren't any more flights today to St. Maarten.  Or tomorrow for that matter.  We've been rebooked to San Juan with a connecting flight Tuesday morning to St. Maarten.  Could be worse.

Second helper: the Delta customer service agent in Atlanta.  She assures us our checked bag containing just about everything will follow us to San Juan.  We will receive a voucher for our unexpected hotel stay in San Juan.  The agent is careful to say that since the "interrupted service" was not Delta's fault (i.e. the power outage), don't be surprised if the voucher doesn't cover the entire cost of a hotel room.  Could be worse.

We've got some time to kill before the departure to San Juan, so we head for the bar/breakfast.  There we begin contemplating the ramifications of the delay on our trip.  We need to contact the resort where we'll be staying.  The rental car company.  And, oops!  We will not be in compliance with St. Maarten's requirement that we present proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of boarding the plane to St. Maarten. The bulk of breakfast is spent with 4 phones Googling to find appropriate phone numbers, make calls, make subsequent calls because the number dialed or person reached was not correct, etc., etc.

The final call is to the Department of Health in St. Maarten.  Will we really need another COVID test because, after all, this delay is not of our making and we did comply with all requirements had we not missed the plane to St. Maarten, which, after all, was not our fault and neither is it our fault there are no more planes to St. Maarten today from Atlanta?  

The nice man I speak with (after being transferred a few times, which has become the norm) is considerate, empathetic, understanding, and firm.  Yes.  You need another test.

Had this been the first call we made, perhaps we would have trotted past the airport bar to the airport COVID testing site where perhaps we could have taken a rapid PCR test.  Tick..tick...tick... The plane is boarding.  It's too late.  We'll have to procure a rapid antigen test when we arrive in San Juan.

As we're walking to the gate, Jackie says, "You do think there's a rapid testing site at the airport in San Juan, don't you?"

Sure.  Of course!  We have nothing to confirm this optimism but choose to believe this will be the case and all will be well.

On the plane, I watch several episodes of the classic television show, "Friday Night Lights."  Love me some Coach and Tammy Taylor.  Tim Riggins, too--not the original bad boy but high on the list.

Upon disembarking, the San Juan gate agent gives us a full price voucher to the airport hotel.  Third helper.

We follow the signs to the COVID test site in the airport.  (Definitely getting in our 10,000 steps today.)  No rapid testing available.  However, our fourth helper, the technician at the site, calls the central lab where tests are processed and navigates us through to the promise of an antigen test with rapid results.  Be at the lab tomorrow morning at 6:30 am, we are advised.  We are promised the results by 9 am.  The flight for St. Maarten leaves at 10:15 am.  Tick...tick...tick...

Fifth helper: our checked bag did indeed follow us to San Juan and was being held in the Delta baggage office for our retrieval.

Checking in the hotel, the desk clerk suggests we should have been given a meal voucher.  He arranges for a cab to take us to the lab in the morning--sixth helper.  We drop our luggage in clean, contemporary, austere rooms and trot back to the terminal to get our meal voucher.  We figure it might offset the cost of a drink apiece.  We intend to return to a Margaritaville restaurant we saw in the terminal.  Seventh helper: the Delta agent gives us food vouchers, informs us the restaurants in the airport are closed, suggests the hotel restaurant.

And although the voucher cannot be used for alcohol, yes, it covers the cost of a drink apiece.

Our eighth helper, the cab driver, arrives promptly at 6:20 am.  He agrees to wait at the lab while we test.  We emphasize our need to have the test results by 9 am.  Ninth helper, the lab technician, assures us she will, as Jean-Luc Picard (of Star Trek fame) might say, make it so.

Quick breakfast at the hotel.  Head out to check in.  No results.  Tick...tick...tick...

This morning we're on Silver Airways.  Ninth helpers, the gate agents there.  They call their supervisor to determine if our previous results will suffice for admission to St. Maarten.  The answer is no.  This is the sole flight to St. Maarten today.  No results, no flight.

Tick...tick...tick...

I call the lab.  While on the phone, pacing the terminal, being transferred to the person who can eventually help me, Dan motions me back to the check in stand.  As promised, the results are in our email.  The gate agent reads them off our phone.  9:10.  We are good to go.

The baggage agent, Ariel, who told us everything would work out, accompanies us to the gate and confirms our bags are on the plane.

So many favors.  We had an opportunity to pay it forward with a young couple and their baby experiencing the same delays.  They were returning home to Martinique, flying from San Juan to St. Maarten to Martinique.  There evidently was a funding problem with the re-issuing of their tickets.  We offered to help, but they believed they had figured it out and turned us down.  Sadly they were not on our flight to St. Maarten.

And on our arrival in St. Maarten, where all the paperwork was checked yet again, one agent told Dan that his original COVID-19 test was fine since the original flight was delayed.  The agent examining my paperwork did not tell me the same thing.

Mr. Rogers was right.  Look for the helpers.  This blog is a tribute to all the customer service agents we encountered who truly went the extra miles and then some.  I do feel guilty for consuming their time and positive energy just so we can go on vacation.  

As Coach Taylor always says, they executed with Clear Eyes.  Full Heart.  Can't Lose.

Cheers to you and our heartfelt thanks.