Angel Amidst the Chaos

“It’s a good thing you bought the ugliest bag in the world in Slovenia,” Summer whispers as our unseemly already broken-zippered souvenir holder tumbles down the belt,” At least nobody will ever try to steal it.”

That bag shouldn’t be tumbling down in Montreal in the first place and we shouldn’t still be in this airport - in fact, we shouldn’t have spent more than an hour and a half in this airport while we waited for our connection home.? But alas, we missed our connection due to a delay at Milan Malpensa, and then our rescheduled flight was unceremoniously canceled just before 9 pm EST, after a 6-hour delay.? The cancelation transpired just half an hour before we were about to get back onto the sardine tube.? Just as my children folded themselves into accordions across plastic crowded bench seats, and my last nerve split and bounced through the perpetual line in front of the women’s toilet.

This trip has been epic, a chat GPT dictated itinerary to some spectacular scenery in Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Venice, and Lecco.? I am trying to show my kids the kind of off-the-beaten-path travel they might have had with a family with two working parents, with more than one caregiver.? We have laughed uproariously and eaten too much cream cake, we have plunged into glacial lakes and studied churches and castles dating back to 1011. We realized that the value of hard work is the not- working solitude that it allows. ?

The airlines and their mysterious delays and cancellations have been the only low point so far, and this recent cancellation is part of the third delay and second outright stoppage in our travel in two weeks.? “Why are so many people sleeping in the airport?” Jude asks as we navigate around exhausted humans lying splayed across plastic chairs and checkered floor panels.

“Crew shortages and supply chain issues and a company that needs a customer service executive,” I reply grimly, “We are going to get a hotel voucher. When the airline cancels at night they have to do that.”

We wait in line for an hour and twenty-seven minutes and I am lucky for this relatively small wait because I travel a lot for work I have “status” with Air Canada and get to guiltily enter a special silo.

“Mommy it’s good that you have to travel so much maybe,” Summer says warily,” Look at that lineup! We are lucky we’re not in that.”

There are hundreds of people, sweating profusely and oozing righteous dismay, waiting for vouchers and to be reticketed at a mysterious later day. It’s never been this bad I think, and rub peppermint halo on my daughter’s anxious belly while I tell her and myself it will be ok, I know we’re tired from the 9 hour flight earlier but think about all we got to do.? Think about a comfy bed and then we will be home soon.

We finally get to the front of the line.? The agent assesses me quickly for yell potential and unhunches her shoulders.

“We were rebooked on a Monday flight but that was going to be tough for us so I called the Star Alliance Gold number while we were in line and they got us on a flight tomorrow at 6 pm,” I explained,” So that is better but first thing in the morning would be even better than that.”

Her shoulders raise up again,” I can’t do any better than that,” she says, “You got a direct flight unlike most everyone in that line.”? I glance at my daughter, holding her stomach. Glance at my son and his grimy flip flops and heavy backpack.

“OK,” I say,” We can kill the day tomorrow in the City.? Can we get a hotel voucher for the evening?”

“Nope,” she says with something that can’t be cheer but isn’t conciliatory either.? She hands me a customer service number.”Everything here is sold out. You’ll have to call a hotel.”

“But - my flight is being delayed more than 24 hours.? You don’t have options?”

“You can call some hotels,” she says and cranes her neck to the Australian man behind me,” Next please!”

I am grateful I don’t have her job because I am sure she gets unceremonially bellowed at several times in an evening but right now the back of my neck hairs are on fire and my daughter is sweating in her avocado oodie, my stoic 11-year-old is limping like an elderly man and my Marriott app is showing me 0 vacancies for any hotels in the Montreal area which has to be a mistake?? So I start calling Doubletrees and Holiday Inns and anything coming up in my Google search and get nothing but “I’m sorry ma’am.? The long weekend. We are full.”

After the eighth we are full, Summer wraps her arms around my waist which is now functionally wet with heated panic and says worriedly,” I don’t want to sleep at the airport floor.”

If I had been traveling by myself I would have hunkered down at Subway with my head in my palms but this is not possible and this is why I didn’t see any other solo Moms limping around Central Europe with two children, perhaps.

In desperation, I scan the vicinity and tell the kids to sit down on a backpack, and I am going to sort this.

“Excuse me?”? I flag down a tall young woman wearing an Air Canada uniform.? She smiles at me and I’m buoyed. She is the first Air Canada employee to look me in the eyes all day.

“Hi,” I say, “I am hoping you can help. Our flight was canceled and hotels all seem to be full.? Is there a secret place that flight attendants stay in the city, or anywhere you can recommend?”

She takes out her phone and starts scrolling.?

“Actually yes,” she says,” And I am sorry. I was supposed to be on that Vancouver flight too.”

“It’s so not your fault but any wisdom you can provide would be awesome - Summer’s not feeling great and we’re all pretty tired.”

Twenty minutes and sixteen hotel calls later and there’s nothing.? Flight Attendant’s Dad has come by because he is staying at her house in Montreal for the evening - he’d also been booked on the flight.

“I should let you go,”I murmur, still scanning the airport for some kind of solution,” Thanks so much for taking so much time trying to help.”

“I don’t want to sleep on the floor Mommy,” Summer whispers desperately again and the Flight Attendant and her Dad exchange a look.

“I could just stay at your sister’s,” he says to her.

“Why don’t you come stay at my apartment? I have an extra room.” She’s forming the words and looking at me but I cannot reconcile an in-uniform flight attendant stranger offering up a room in her house to a filthy Mom and her mildly greasy, red-eyed children with the situation of unhelpful dismissiveness that has been the vibe the entire day.

“We can’t do that but thank you,” I say and I can feel my eyes welling up with tears because we have been leaping off ancient bridges and eating luxuriant cream cake and wandering through narrow alleys and epic mountains and this feels like the most important moment of our trip.

“It’s really no problem,” she says and I can tell she means it. “I have a little dog,” she tells Summer.? Both my kids beam.?

“Oh my god,” I mumble,” I can’t believe you would do that.”

She asks me for my phone number and texts me an address 20 minutes from YUL.? Half an hour later we meet at her appointment and she introduces us to her ancient little dog, her boyfriend.?

“Help yourself to a shower or whatever you need,” she says” Here’s some water,. You must be thirsty..”

I can’t stop crying now and I wonder if actual dirt is coming from my eyes.? They burn like dry leaves on embers and I realize I have not closed them in 24 hours.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” I say, because I don’t.

Before bed, Summer tells me I should invite this kind woman to our house in Vancouver.? I say she is invited for life anywhere we live.? You should tell her bosses she is so nice, Jude says, You should get her a raise.? I think of the culture at the airlines and the masses of people on the airport floor, the harried customer service reps, and the way the airlines in Canada have veered towards dismissing passengers' plight rather than starting with acknowledgment. I realize that being able to travel is an immense privilege, but there is enormous power in even a small generosity to flip a day from devastating to the very best.

Kindness is the ultimate experience above all else.? I want to write to Air Canada about this flight attendant and tell them to give her a raise and a seat on the executive board to create loyalty and gratitude.? But I fear that she’ll be treated as a risk taker rather than a hero, so I’ll write about her here instead.

In A's small yet profound act of generosity, we discovered the true power of travel. It wasn't about the epic adventures we had on this trip or the breathtaking landscapes my little family witnessed. The ultimate experience was realizing the impact a single individual's compassion can have. It's a lesson that transcends borders and cultures, one that we will carry with us for a lifetime. And one that I hope we can pay forward in an airport very soon.