Well I am finally getting around to writing about my November adventure.  Ever since Aloha Airlines shut down, flying from Reno to San Diego has become a hassle.  Yes, Southwest added Reno-San Diego service again last year (they had stopped in 2004 shortly after I moved to Reno).  At first it was 6:30 flight that got there that got there at 8.  Then the return flight was around 7 so I got a decent amount of time at the office.  Then they started shifting the flights so they were 20 min later in the morning but moving the evening flight 20 min earlier.  Well we had tried alternate routes thru Orange on Aloha so we checked that out too.  Not great luck with that as their a.m. flight was better but the p.m. flight would leave us fighting traffic to the airport for only 30-min difference in flight times.  So I gave in and scheduled the trip there and back on flights with 1 stop.  The morning one went thru Vegas, had about 45 minutes there.  This meant that instead of 1 hour early at airport, 1 hr, 20 min flight and 45 min drive to the office, that my flying time was extended by 2 or 2 1/2 hours.  Bummer !

So the return flight was San Diego to San Jose.  It was a late flight and the office usually drops me off about 2 hours early.  So then the flight is delayed and I sit at the gate waiting to see the plane.  I ask the gate agent about the delay and if it wll affect my connecting flight, he assures me I will have plenty of time.    Then I notice them putting up flight # and it isn't my flight.  My flight is 3 gates away and is already boarding and the C group is getting on.  I was supposed to board with the A group.  The flight is full and I get a seat in the next to last row of the plane.  I think you can see where this is going.  I usually take advantage of flight times to nap or do puzzles, read, but mostly sleep.   Which is what I do on this flight.  This was a completely fu flight where if the baby doesn't have a ticket, they have to sit on your lap fullness.  So I nap with my shoes off.  They say it is 9:10 when we land, I already have shoes off and boarding pass in hand.  So when I exit, I look for the gate I nee and I run.  It is 7 gates away with 2 hallways to get thru.  I arrive at 9:35 when the flight is scheduled to leave and they are already closed, locked and I can't get on.  They tell me that they paged me and I explain that I was running and was at the back of the plane.  So they go look and see that it was a completely full plane.  She tried to say well they had 1 other person from that flight who made it but admits they didn't check to see that flight was full.  Well duh they should've and should've also seen I was on it.  She says she can get me on the next flight but it won't be until the morning.  I am mad, tears are running down my face, getting home tomorrow won't cut it.  My cellphone is dead and I didn't bring my charger so I have to use payphone to let hubby know what is going on.  He chuckles but says there is nothing he can do.  Men just don't get that we don't need them to solve stuff, but just to listen sometimes.  So it takes about an hour for the gate agent to do her thing which is basically just apologize, blame the San Diego agent for not notfying them I was on a delayed full flight, give me a full refund and a $50 voucher.  Cuz it turns out that the flight the next day wasn't an early flight but would leave at 8:35 an arrive at 9:35 -- heh I'm due at my desk at 8:30 so that doesn't work any way, any how.

So I am wandering San Jose Airport in my stocking feet all puffy-eyed I'm sure.  I find my way to the car rental shuttle and get out at the first one.  It is Avis and Hertz.  Had a bad time with Hertz in 1999, arrived in Vegas with reservation but they refused to give us car because hubby had mailed in his license extension but didn't have new license yet.  He was paying for car but they wouldn't rent car to me and let him pay.  That was the year we discovered Thrifty Car Rental and developed a bad taste for Hertz.  I swallowed my pride and approached Hertz about if they had a car that could go 1-way to Reno.  She said she didn't think so but she would check.  She said she had 1 that could go and it was $85 for a Ford Escape.  So I took it, asked directions to freeway from lot attendant but from there wasn't sure where to go.  I had driven dozens of times between Sacramento and San Diego over I-5 and Highway 99 but not really the Bay Area.  When I was first in Sacramento, they had the I-80 freeway that lead to Reno or south thru Sacramento and the 880 that connected Sacramento to San Francisco but sometime in the mid-1980s, they took away the 880 designation and just called both freeways "80".  Quite confusing and I was on the 880 heading from San Jose to San Francisco.  So how far did I stay on there, where did I veer off, I just followed my nose.  I might have been able to take a shorter route but knew that if I went thru Modesto/Stockton, I'd get to Sacramento and I could get home from there.  Luckily the Escape had Sirius radio and I explored its 200 stations and sang my way home.  Normally I have trouble staying awake on long drives, even the 2.5 hours from Sac to Reno can drain me.  But I took this 5.5 hour drive and arrived home at 3:30 a.m.  Needless to say, I just hung onto the rental and left my van at the airport and then exchanged them in the afternoon.  The boss took pity on me and let me leave early to do that.

Hubby never said so but I heard from the kids later that he was going to drive to San Jose and rescue me  But with the dead cell phone, no way to reconnect and I never called to say I was on my way.  I had already hinted that I would get a car and come back but he thought I was joking, that I'd go get a hotel room and stay overnight.  Like what was I supposed to do alone in San Jose from 9:30 to 8:30 a.m.?  Especially knowing a little someone doesn't sleep unless I am there and she was up at 3:30 when I arrived, too!  So I knew I had done the right thing in making my way home any way possible.

And to top it off, Southwest has now added 2 additional nonstops between Reno and San Diego but completely revamped the schedule.  So that means the nonstop morning one leaves at 11-something and the return nonstop in evening is at 6-something.  Add driving time between San Diego and Carlsbad and early flight arrival time and it isn't worth it.  Staying overnight in San Diego doesn't appeal either.  Looks like I might be doing it thru Sacramento again or have to give in and select flight with 1 stop again.