Feb 12-13, 2010
South Dakota (weather cancelled)

We have a routine flight to Chicago, which pulls into gate F11. Our flight to South Dakota is also due to leave from F11. But 5 minutes before they are to call the flight, they announced a gate change to F1, which is a decent walk away. When we arrive at the gate, they have given last call and are calling us by name. Boarding the plane, it is just about full. The stewardess then announced that they took on extra fuel and had informed the gate to only let 48 of the 50 passengers on board. The gate agent is coming to remove 2 people, volunteers first, then those who boarded last. However, when the gate agent arrives, she announces the flight has been canceled, as conditions in Sioux Falls are too dangerous to land. We get in line to rebook and the line is huge. It takes 2 hours to get to the front. In talking to the local folks, we discover that Sunday might not be a good day to get out of South Dakota and might not be a good day to get into Minneapolis. The earliest they can rebook us is 1250, which doesn’t get us to Sioux Falls until about 1430 – too late for any real event. So we decide to cancel this flight and try to swap our Delta flight out of South Dakota to be from Chicago to Minneapolis. I get the United flight canceled and a refund of about $529 for the unused part. The agent told me we had to go to baggage claim to figure out our luggage situation. Larry had been trying to reach Delta, but they don’t answer their phone. He was on hold for about 1 ½ hours, until his battery dies.

At baggage claim, the real fun began. The lady told us our luggage would be on the 0840 flight to Sioux Falls even though we weren’t scheduled to go until 1250. I asked if we could not terminate in Chicago and have the bags pulled, and she said they couldn’t do that. She also told us that, as we had no more flights on United, we would have to go to Sioux Falls if we ever wanted to see our luggage again. I asked if she could send them a message on the computer to pull our bags, and she said she could, but when they get here in the morning they throw away any messages from the night and start over. I said that was incredible: they don’t read them to see if there’s action required that hasn’t been completed yet. She told us we could try at the ticket counter, but would have to be there at least an hour before the 0840 flight to give them time to process it. As it was already about 0100, we slept for the 2nd night in a row at the airport.

Saturday morning, we got up at about 0415 as United workers were setting up the lines. We have now decided we need a United ticket to have a chance to see our luggage. This means we are actually glad Delta never answered the phone, and we wish we hadn’t cancelled the United flight, just rearranged it to this morning. The agent tells us we can’t use the credit as it has gone to the payee which isn’t us, so we have to pay for the tickets, but they eventually book us to Minneapolis and send a message to divert our luggage from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis. The first flight is at 0640, which is fine with us as long as we get luggage. We are still not able to get Delta to answer the phone. This agent says she can’t believe the agent last night told us all that she did, as there is no reason to throw messages away until they have been completed. Once we booked the flight, South Dakota was officially canceled. I don’t know if there is enough time or events to try to book them later or not, but this is the first department we’ve missed, and it’s all due to weather.

Feb. 11-13
Lincoln Pilgrimage, Springfield, Ill.

Celebrating Lincoln’s Birthday by attending the Pilgrimage to his Tomb has been one of the events I have been looking forward to for a long time. However, this became the worst travel experience we have had to date, which carried over to the South Dakota trip. It started before midnight on the 10th when we got an alert saying the 0630 American flight to Dallas had been cancelled. We were rebooked for the same route starting at 1030, which would now get us to Springfield at about 2000, too late for the open house at Springfield 32, the host for all the events. They have total control, and this is the 76th Pilgrimage they have coordinated. We would still be able to stop by for the dance which would last until 0100. Department Commander Leo dropped us off at the airport and we left on time to Dallas.

Then the fun began. Our 1300 flight to Chicago had already been cancelled before we arrived. It had been snowing hard, big heavy wet flakes, since 0400, and Dallas would eventually set a record for snowfall with over a foot. We were number 3 and 4 on the standby list for the 1445 flight, and got on the plane. This flight would arrive in Chicago at 1700, in plenty of time to make our 1900 flight to Springfield. However, we sat at the gate for 2 ½ hours, with the pilot telling us we were in the que for de-icing. Then they ran out of fluid. We then left the gate and took another 1½ hours to get to the head of the de-icing line. Took about 20 minutes to de-ice the plane, so it was about 1930 when we left Dallas. We arrived in Chicago at about 2130, 15 minutes after the last flight to Springfield left. They told us we were re-booked for a 0824 flight Friday morning out of Terminal 1.

We went to Terminal 1 and spent some time online. At 0100, they posted the flights for the 12th, and we were actually out of F-11 in terminal 2. So we walked all the way over there and slept for about three hours at the gate. We were awakened at 0500 by the many people who would be taking flights starting at 0600. There are four gates here – A, B, C and D – and it seems there are flights from each of them about every half hour. I put my suit on to travel, and we arrived in Springfield at about 0910, having missed the breakfast at the Hilton. NEC Gene Thompson and ANEC Luis Gonzalez picked us up at the airport. Our luggage didn’t arrive, but when we checked, it had beaten us here and was in storage, so we checked in for our evening flight and checked our bags.

From the terminal, we went straight to Lincoln’s Tomb to meet the rest of the party there. Standing guard and providing honors were re-enactors for the 114th Infantry Regiment, III Volunteers. Music throughout was provided by the Sound Celebration Chorus. The wreath laying was led off by MG William Enyary, Congressman John Shimkus (a Legionnaire) and Congressman Aaron Schock laying the wreath for the President. I was next, followed by National President Rita. Among the 20 or more wreaths, National SAL Commander Mark, Illinois Department Commander Flanagan/Department President Moore, LeChapeau National of the 8 & 40 Christiansen and many more laid wreaths. My remarks lasted about five minutes. At the conclusion, I was interviewed by Emily Ford of the Illinois Radio Network, and Kevin Wallace of WANDTV (NBC).

The Lincoln Commemorative Luncheon was held at the Hilton. There were four PNCs in attendance: PNC Geiger, PNC Conatser, PNC Cadmus and PNC Frank; and six Department Commanders: Bill Flanagan-Illinois, Terry Rice-Kentucky, Dave Thomas-Kansas, Leo Endres-Wisconsin, Carnie Jackson-Michigan and Bob Newman-Indiana. My remarks lasted about 11 minutes. Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of VA Dan Grant presented a certificate of accomplishments, and Assistant to the Secretary of State Gregory Curran presented a framed license plate to me. Department Commander Flanagen gave me a jacket, and the committee had a brick from the tomb for each of us. There were about 250 people at the luncheon, and some 12 states were represented.

NEC Gene Thompson took us back to the airport for our 1815 United flight to Sioux Falls via Chicago.