A jetBlue Valentine, Running a Few Days Late

DadLabs ventured to the New York Toy Fair last week, and we got a good deal more than we bargained for.

The show was great, even though we had been warned that the show was a giant nightmare.  The Javitz center was huge, and there were a daunting number of booths for a three-man production team to cover, but we fanned out and were able to get by most of them.  We put our heads together and picked our fifteen favorite new products for a spotlight review on our site.  Troy filmed as Brad or I did the interviews and we managed to get all fifteen segments filmed in a single day.

For the DadLabs Toy Fair picks for 2007 visit dadlabs.com (we will be posting individually over the next several weeks – the first is already up).

Then the fun really starts.  The next day we get up early to go home.  You see, it's Valentine's Day, and we're headed to JFK.  To fly home.  On jetBlue.

That's right, those poor suckers you were watching on the news and feeling sorry for – that was us.

The jetBlue Valentine's Day Ordeal in Brief:

-flight delayed at 8, 10, 11, 12, 2, 4
-heat in terminal goes out 4 (see our video on YouTube)
-flight delayed at 6, 8, 9, 11
-flight canceled at 11:30
-after waiting in line for an hour, agent offers to rebook us.  On the Sunday redeye arriving Monday (bear in mind it's Wednesday)
-we re-book and head down to get our bags.  Troy and Brad, no problem.  They've lost mine (the one full of Valentine's presents for my wife and kids).  We didn't even leave the airport. No offer to forward bag if it is found.  "You can come back and pick it up," I'm told.
-all flights from Newark, Boston, Providence, Philly, are full
-no one will rent a one-way car
-trains will take a week and cost a fortune
-waiting to get home to families until Sunday deemed unacceptable
-some thought given to buying car in NY and reselling it at home
-flights found in Baltimore
-debate trying to get to Baltimore
-flights to Baltimore lost
-3 AM train to Baltimore found
-flights to Baltimore become available again and we book them
-bag abandoned, cab scramble to Penn station to catch 3AM train
-listen to crazy people talk to themselves in Penn Station waiting area, get on train
-train arrives BWI airport 6am
-Southwest flight (2 stops) not until 12:45pm, but SW lets us stand-by for 9:45am direct
-we all get on
-we all get home noon Thursday
-Saturday jetBlue calls to let us know our Sunday flight to Austin has been canceled
-Sunday my bag shows up at my house

The last item redeemed them a bit.  Just a bit.  They refunded the cost of the return leg, but I'm waiting to see if they will offer any additional refund or free tickets.  Will I ever fly jetBlue again?  Yep.  In June we take the kids to Boston.  Booked the flights the day before we left.  Hope they're still in business.
Gather byline

Clay Nichols, Health Correspondent:
Clay’s column, Dadventure, published twice monthly to Gather Essentials: Health, is a sure-fire guide to raising flawless, perfectly behaved, and always obedient children.  Yeah, right.
 
Clay is the co-author of Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts, an award-winning playwright, and the Chief Creative Officer at DadLabs.com, a fatherhood website.

You can find all of Clay’s Dadventure articles at http://gather.com/dadventure

Keep up with Clay’s other postings and Gather activity by joining his Gather network -- just click here and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page
 
You’ll find Clay and other health correspondents, plus expert guest columnist content and plenty of other health nuts at Health.gather.com