The easiest $300 I ever made…

I know some people are in the practice of being bumped to later flights whenever possible, but I usually decide that arriving at my location in some sort of timely manner is more important to me than the offered ticket…

I think this attitude stems from the fact that my parents still usually pay for most of my plane flights, especially when I’m going home for the holidays or for an audition or something of that sort.

But…these days they don’t just shell out whenever I have the urge to fly across the country to compete in a triathlon*…and why should they? I’m 25 years old and I’m choosing to take these trips—it’s definitely not obligatory.

So, when the announcement came across the Snoopy-like loudspeaker that Continental was offering $300 in flight coupons in exchange for postponing your trip an hour, the first thought that ran through my head was ‘WILDFLOWER!!’, and I ran up to the counter like some kind of crazed maniac. (I woke up at 4am to get to this flight, so I was actually feeling a little crazy in general…sleep deprivation and I are not the best of friends.)

Did you know they make you fill out an application in order to get bumped? I didn’t. So, after filling out the ridiculously numerous forms (and having flashbacks to the college application process), I turned in my papers and waited anxiously for the results.

And then, lo and behold, I was accepted! And so now I wait patiently for the next flight. My only hesitation is that this plane looks a bit smaller…if it doesn’t have movies I’ll be bummed. But even if that ends up being the case, it’s certainly worth it.

WILDFLOWER, HERE I COME!

I think I’ll make this the norm from now on. I’ll make each flight pay for the next one. I’ll never buy another airline ticket again. Now I just need to sign up for more races so that I have places to go…

*A bit of a correction—my mom did (very generously) give me her frequent flyer miles to get to Nice for IronMan France...