The Big Airline That Couldn't. Or Just Wouldn't.

...Continued from yesterday:    
     My flight back to Columbus was scheduled to depart San Luis Obispo airport on Sunday, February 10 a little after noon. And the flight did indeed depart on the correct day and on time. But without me and fifteen other hapless ticket-holding passengers on board.
     Anyway, though I was leaving Atascadero on Sunday - or thought I was - my sister Romaine was staying there longer, so she drove me to the airport.

         It was raining when we left the house, and  the neighborhood with its hills and trees looked so pretty to me in the rain that I was feeling a bit melancholy to be leaving. (Though in reality there was no need for me to have felt that way, as I'd be back in few hours).

     On our way to the airport we stopped in downtown San Luis Obispo, which also looked rather pretty in the rain and mist,

...for some breakfast.
           We decided to return to Big Sky, the restaurant where we'd had lunch on the day I arrived (See the post from  2/10/2019, "Chillin' In Wine Country"), and which was bright,  cozy, and uncrowded on this rainy Sunday morning

​    Our friendly server brought us a basket of fresh, tasty  cornbread muffins and ginger coffee cake while we decided what to order.

      Romaine tried a veggie egg white omelet - beautifully plated and yummy - with a side of awesome home fries,

​...while I had my standard sunny-side-ups with home fries, also nicely presently and delish.

   Along with the food, I give Big Sky  top marks for good service and friendly waitstaff, as well as for the positive message on the coffee cups.

       And so I left Big Sky believing I'd soon be up in the actual big sky in a small plane - the plane I'd flown on from Phoenix to San Luis Obispo reminded me of an over-sized pencil, and  so I assumed the one flying out would be equally size-challenged. But not so size-challenged that sixteen passengers would have to be bumped.
     I arrived at the cute little San Luis Obispo airport, where one walks outside to get from security to the gates,

...two hours before my flight, at which time the place was pretty empty.

     Even the ticket counters were mostly unmanned and unwomaned, and a local person I got to chatting with advised me that, the airport being so small,  the ticket agents generally arrived about forty-five minutes to an hour before an upcoming flight was due to depart.

     However as soon as someone arrived at the American counter I approached - I believe I was first in line, even - and was told that the plane was over weighted and I'd been selected to be bumped. I weigh 127 pounds.
    Though I'm generally a pretty good sport about being bumped, delayed, re-routed, and rearranged by the airlines - and I'm almost always the first one to volunteer my seat if the compensatory price is right - this time I was feeling a weence anxious about getting home by Sunday night. I didn't want to risk missing work on Monday, as I have a piano recital coming up and the last thing I wanted to do was cancel my Monday piano students and then scrabble to try and reschedule everybody.  I didn't want any skipped lessons at this point. (Especially because of an over-weight plane when  I only weigh 127 pounds).

      However, that is, in fact, what transpired.
      I was relegated to wait at the gate with the 15 other bumpees - it turned out not to be a matter of the plane being over-weighted strictly speaking, but rather of  our scheduled plane having been swapped out for a smaller plane with insufficient seats for the number of passengers who'd been booked on the flight - until we were called up, one at a time, to learn how the airline had decided to dispatch us.

     When my turn arrived I was informed by the gate agent that my itinerary to Columbus would be via Phoenix on a flight that left San Luis Obispo the following morning, Monday morning, at 6:15 am.  And with a delayed layover in Phoenix I'd end missing my piano lessons. 
        But on the upside I got to have  one more day with Romaine, and Lucy,

...and one more chance to see the beautiful Central California Coastal hills.