How many times does it happen? You have a two-flight schedule, with an hour to spare between them. However, too often Murphy’s Law takes over ,and your first flight is late and you miss the connecting flight.

It happened to me recently on a flight from Fort Lauderdale FL to Tucson AZ. We sat in Lauderdale for three hours, and by the time we got to Las Vegas for the connecting flight, it had already departed.

I was told there was another flight leaving in an hour, but was completely booked. The next flight wouldn’t go until five hours later. Then, I did exactly what NOT to do. I fumed and fussed at the check-in desk, demanding to get on the next flight.

I’m actually a harmless old guy, and didn’t intend to do anything menacing, but one of the clerks was so distressed, she ran crying to the ladies’ room. I apologized to the surviving clerk, and politely asked if she  could help. She said she had no authority to get me on that earlier flight, and suggested I call the airline hotline.

I did, and suddenly there was an available seat on the flight I wanted. Did I learn a lesson? Yeah, something about getting more bees with honey.