Lesson: Be Directionally Correct
Working for an airline is a cheat code for cheap travel.
You’re able to fly for next to nothing, as long as you’re OK being on standby until the last possible minute to get a seat.
And sometimes to get left behind.
In my 1st year of an airline job, I wanted to take cheap travel for all it was worth.
I planned to circumnavigate the world in 1 week & recruited 2 of my baggage handler buddies to do it with me.
They agreed.
We flew from Toronto, laid over in Vancouver & then made it to Tokyo to spend 1 night there & rest.
Instead of resting we wandered Roppongi all night, talking to nightclub wranglers & almost getting swindled.
Then we went to Bangkok to spend 3 nights there.
Circumnavigation doesn’t mean no fun.
Then we took a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Athens to spend 2 nights there.
This was post-Eurozone crisis, so the place had a sleep all day party all night vibe that we could get behind.
Finally, the plan was to fly from Athens to Toronto, with a short stop in Montreal.
There were 2 seats on the flight & 3 of us.
I was the most junior in seniority.
So I got stranded in Athens with work the next day.
There wasn’t another flight from Athens to Canada for 2 days & it was already showing booked full.
This was the end of August when all the vacationers scrambled to return to Canada before school break ended.
I had to think fast, and there was no silver bullet to get me home in 1 shot.
While my friend were still in the air, I got a partner ticket on British Airways to London Heathrow.
There were 13 flights a day from London to somewhere in Canada. If I could cross the Atlantic, road & train become an option.
When I got to London, I found an overpriced payphone and called my alternate at work. I told him I was stuck & to get my next 3 shifts covered.
He said say no more. Loved him for that.
It was late at night, so after standing by for the last evening flight, I didn’t have money for a London area hotel on a baggage handler’s salary.
The airport bench would have to do.
I spent the better part of the next day going gate to gate to standby for flights to Canada - Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancover, Halifax, St. Johns.
Anything looked nice.
I missed them all. Airline employees were arriving from all over Europe with the same idea. All of them were senior to me & all of them were travelling in families.
In between boarding lounges, I slept sitting up to catch up on rest I’d missed the night before due to announcements.
It was time to try the last flight of the night, to god-forsaken Edmonton.
I was thinking I had one more airport bench night in me before I would have to burn 3 shifts’ pay on a hotel bed.
We were approaching the end of boarding & they had 1 seat available.
They asked the 1st employee, who refused.
She was travelling as a family of 4 & couldn’t split up.
The next in line was a couple & couldn’t use 1 seat either.
On they went down the list, past a dozen names in the same situation.
Then they got to me & I said yes without hesitation.
Apparently I was the only loser travelling Europe alone.
As the plane pushed back, I cried tears of joy. My wallet needed this.
But my journey wasn’t done.
I got to Edmonton at 5 in the morning & the first flight home wasn’t until 9.
I spent in an airport once again.
Making it home was sweet.
I thought about how I didn’t sit still & incrementally made my way closer to home.
I probably avoided an additional week in Europe, or booking a full fare ticket.
Either of which I couldn’t afford.
It was time to spend a month working before I could bankroll my next harebrained itinerary.
Sometimes it’s more important to be directionally correct than endstate correct.