Ode to the Road Warriors

January 25, 2019

Being ever grateful for learning experiences in order to have a greater appreciation of our what travelers, especially our road warriors go through, I’ve had an adventure… 

I sit on GBTA’s Payment Solutions Committee and was headed to DC Wednesday morning for an in-person meeting. Our 7:15 a.m. flight was delayed out of GR. We sat on the tarmac for an hour before finally being de-iced and getting airborne. Would've loved to have slept that extra hour.

It was a rainy but warm morning in DC Thursday and the sun ultimately came out by the time we were headed back to the airport to return to GR after our two days of meeting.

At least 30 minutes after we should’ve landed in GR, we were informed that we were headed to Detroit to refuel since the only remaining open runway at GRR was closed until it could be plowed and we could not continue to circle without getting more “gas.” You see, insta-winter had arrived in West Michigan.

So, we hit the runway in DTW at 8:08 p.m. What the crew expected to be a 15 minute stop ultimately turned into a cancelled flight around 10:00 p.m. By then, myself and two other travelers had jumped ship, rented a car, and drove back to GR. Got home around 2:00 a.m. Friday morning.

Late today I found myself at GRR retrieving my carry-on bag that I could not get last night.

I am grateful I was able to get that carry-on because we had to check them plane-side in DC and they were not ticketed, labeled, or identified in any way other than our own claim on our luggage. THANKFUL to have found it easily enough.

Our guests – perhaps your employees, colleague, maybe even yourself – experience so many inconveniences and distruptions in the course of doing their work.

Thank you, AHC+Hospitality Customers, for allowing them to stay in my nice hotels! After all that, I was happy to sleep in my own bed last night, but for those that are not so lucky, I hope they find AHC+Hospitality hotels the next best thing!