COVID Dystopia was an official selection at the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival. Festival sponsors helped with the hotel and plane flights. I decided to go for the last day of the festival to attend the awards ceremony. You never know.
There were no direct Delta flights to Pittsburgh. To fly out I had to fly to Atlanta first and catch a connecting flight to Pittsburgh. Getting up at 4am wasn’t good enough. When I got to the gate, I discovered I was the last person to board along with a couple in front of me. As I was getting my ticket scanned I heard my name echo out all through the airport. My seat was crammed between two other people, but knowing I was the last person to board, I went past that row and found my own row since the plane wasn’t very crowded.
In Atalanta I had to make my way to anther terminal for the connecting flight. It was a long walk. When I got to gate B33, Kevin the boarding agent was letting several people into the boardwalk. I sat down for a moment to hear what zone was being boarded. I was in zone 8, maybe I would have time to go to the bathroom before getting on board. The next time I looked up, Kevin was gone. I walked over and discovered the door to board the plane had been closed.
I rushed to another boarding area to ask what I should do. I was told I would have to walk to boarding zone B17 to get my ticket adjusted. When I was walking back, I saw Kevin had returned to his desk. Another woman had the same problem as me. As I waited, I saw my plane backing out of the terminal. Had I not sat down and relaxed for a second, I might have been on that flight. Kevin told me I could use my ticket to board another flight to Pittsburgh in another hour. No harm done, I just needed to be in Pittsburgh by 7pm for the awards ceremony.
Another flight had t board before the plane to Pittsburgh could roll in. That flight was experiencing delays. I asked Kevin how the delays might affect my plane to Pittsburgh, His abrupt response was, “I have no idea.” I don’t think Kevin likes his job. After I went back to sit down Kevin announced that my flight to Pittsburgh would leave from another gate.
I ultimately made it to my destination, but felt that the ticketing agents have no clue or don’t care what is going on. They are just going through the motions.