Aerolotto

For a change, this business trip was an absolute delight. Most of that was simply due to the fact that I wasn't the only on-site consultant, and I even got to work with people that I know well. At last, there's someone to talk with over dinner, or in the cab, or at the airport.

However, when multiple flights are delayed or cancelled, and many more people are wanting to get home than can actually fit on the remaining planes, it's nail-biting time on the standby list.

At check-in, one colleague and I head straight for the empty Business Class/Star Alliance Gold queue. The other joins the back of the general lineup. Colleague #1 travels a lot more often than I do, and has been commuting to Chicago for the last several months. She immediately gets a boarding pass for the next flight home.

My cell phone rings - it's the airline calling to inform me that my flight has been delayed two hours. I thank them for actually calling for once, and let them know that I'm next in line at the counter, and will sort it out there.

The woman behind the counter has a different uniform, and a Concierge name plate. When chaos descends at O'Hare, it's time to call in the experts. Still, I can only manage a confirmed seat on my original flight (departing in four hours), and a spot on the standby list. I follow colleague #1 as she heads towards the unmarked security checkpoint for premium passengers. Colleague #2 is still in line. Eventually he makes his way over with a boarding pass for a flight in three hours, and a standby spot with no promises.

After making our way through the shoe/water/toothpaste security show, the gate area is crowded with edgy travellers. Some come running in, only to find their onward connecting flight has been cancelled or delayed. Others seem to have been waiting there for quite a while. One need only stand within earshot of the counter to quickly learn that the standby situation is not good.

We find a spot to sit down, and strike up a conversation with some of the long-term waiters, all the while looking over for any activity at the counter, and occasionally sidling up to listen for a status update, over the louder than normal din. Finally, as the (hoped-for) departure time approaches, they start processing the standby list. Did they just announce my name? I leap up and over. No one else seems to be moving towards the desk, so they must mean me, right?

With new boarding pass in hand, I make my way back to my colleagues, trying not to make eye contact with the rest of the other passengers around the counter, or to look excessively pleased. So now two of us are on the flight. One by one, people are called up.

What are the rules of etiquette for leaving a colleague behind? No way of even getting him into a lounge to wait another few hours in slightly more comfortable surroundings. It's not looking good for our friend, until finally, his is the last name called, to collect the last seat, at the back of the aircraft.

Jackpot - three for three on this day.