The Airline was Not my friend

I guess I need to fill everyone in on the reason I made it home a day late. My twelve hours of travel time turned into almost three days... what an adventure that was!

here is a run-down of my trip home...

I purchased my tickets in May so over the summer I continued to receive email confirmations of my flights for August 1st and October 4th... 

found out that I was supposed to leave Friday night not Saturday night so...

6:00 pm Friday Night October 3rd ... Victor and I head for Santo Domingo

8:00 pm We enter the airport and are told to wait for an hour

9:00 pm Victor said goodbye & I tried checking the bags, but was told wait for two more hours

11:00 pm I get anxious & want to know Why they won't let me check my bags. I'm informed at this point that there are No Jetblue flights that night or the next day.No one could tell me Why.

11:30 pm after calling Victor he comes to my rescue, drives back to the airport and we go together to get some answers... we are told they still don't know why. At this point Victor demands to see someone from Jetblue or he's calling a lawyer... that made attitudes change Really quick as we were immediately shown to the Jetblue office. 

12:00 am I'm learning that Jetblue cancelled all midnight and early morning flights in JULY

I explain that I purchased the tickets in MAY and that it was in JULY that I got a 2nd confirmation email, No notice of cancellations

Jetblue ignored the fact that my primary contact was email and instead called AUGUST 

22nd to tell me of the cancellation... (at this point I'd been in the country for a month with a suspended cell phone as it doesn't work in La Romana). 

5 people begin working on another flight for me, I'm handed the phone where I'm   apologized to by a supervisor who said it was their mistake, I was overlooked and no email was ever sent. 

1:00 am I'm calling my parents telling them I'm stuck in the Dominican Republic for at least another night, possibly for the entire weekend...

I speak to yet another supervisor and I explain that my dad was waiting for me and that I Had to be on the earliest flight possible. They put me on a flight from Santo Domingo to NY at 12:30 pm Saturday, problem was... No connecting flight to NC

2:00 am I'm calling my parents again and we're discussing the fact that I don't feel comfortable staying in NY for a day and night by myself. Jetblue promises that a Jetblue Rep will meet me just outside of Customs to take me to a driver who would then take me to the hotel... this sounds good to me so I agree.

Saturday Oct 4th 08 

4:30 pm I land in NY

5:45 pm I'm still walking around looking for the Jetblue rep ... after being sent to Information and Hotel reservations I'm told there is no reservation for me, take two air-trains to Terminal 6 where Jetblue reps are. 

6:00 pm I'm Lost... big surprise... a flight attendant meets me in the elevator and asked me if I was okay and after hearing my pathetic story she takes me to the jetblue people in terminal 6 where she had to interrupt the guy who was upsetting me telling me he had no notes about anything I was saying and that I should've had a phone on as they tried to call me back in August. At this point I yell to keep from crying and I start From the beginning and tell this man and his manager the whole story and what I was promised by the Jetblue Supervisor... after listening, they send me to an office to speak with someone higher up.

6:30 pm I enter the office and the flight attendant explains what's going on, I'm directed to a chair where a nice lady named Phyllis asks me "honey what's wrong, are you okay?" to which I replied by bursting into tears. After 48 hours without sleep and 24 hours without food I was exhausted, and my patience was completely worn down. I said through all the tears, "I just wanna see my dad! I want to be in Virginia NOW"

These nice women had to call 5 different hotels but finally they found a room for me and by 7:00 pm I was finally in a hotel room and what a relief it was to finally lay down!

By 9:30 am Sunday Oct 5th I was being tackled by my little sister Leah in Charlotte's airport and I had never been so happy to see my family in all my life.

God is so good, keeping me safe and allowing people like the flight attendant and Phyllis to cross my path as without either of them I would probably still be in NY upset and ready to come home. My amazing trip to the DR had ended with a very stressful couple of days, but through it all I've learned many lessons. No matter how much I plan or think things are under control, I Have to trust God every single step of the way, I am never in control of anything and the devil likes to throw the unexpected at me just to see if I'll trip and fall. I have a Wonderful God who loves me and will catch me if I do happen to fall and He has blessed me with a great family who have learned as much as I have during this experience. I praise God that I can now share openly with my family the desires God has placed on my heart, and although some don't understand why I want to go live in a 3rd-world country, I am very blessed by the guidance and advice everyone has given me. 

I look forward to the next trip and the next adventure... and as I've promised Victor and my dad... it will NOT be on a Jetblue flight, lol.