Meant to be

The buzz of the 4 am alarm clock came in my bedroom like a clumsy burglar. I negotiated snooze one time, but the wife made me succumb on the second visit. I used to get nervous about making the tight timelines when traveling, but with all of the other distractions in my life right now, this trip was just another day.

I was traveling to Dallas for the REALCOMM, REApplications user meetup, a software that I helped implement at my company. The meeting was from 2-6 pm. I was to arrive in Dallas at 8:00 and return tonight at 8:00. Fate would not have it.

American was the chosen carrier. They had the shortest line at the ticket counters, but that was the end of my good fortune. “Mr. Floyd, we are overbooked and have two broken seats so we cannot assign you a seat at this time,” the American representative said. As I approached the gate, the pleas resounded the concourse, “We need 2 suckers volunteers to take a bump in exchange for $250 voucher.” The issue resolved quickly, and we began to board the plane. But low oxygen prevented anyone from actually entering.

What began as a maintenance request to fill the plane with oxygen turned into a major service to repair an oxygen leak. The 6:07 am departure vanished and became an 8:07 flight. Finally, at 8:45, they cancelled the flight, and I began the joyful trek to the gate to get another flight or refund. The could not get me to Dallas until 4:00, so I took the refund. I guess staying in Knoxville today was meant to be.

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Jeremy Floyd

Jeremy Floyd is the President at FUNYL Commerce. Formerly, he was the CEO and President of Lirio, Bluegill Creative, a marketing and communications firm in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to managing the digital strategies, Floyd was an adjunct professor for the University of Tennessee Chattanooga MBA program teaching digital strategies and social media. Floyd blogs at jeremyfloyd.com and tweets under the name @jfloyd. Jeremy is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee and holds a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from MTSU in English and Philosophy.

  • tim standridge

    ……… the ways of modern travel …. maybe a donkey would have been better ………. after all Jesus didn’t have a problem with riding a donkey ..

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