Flight to Las Vegas an Interesting Adventure During the Blizzard of 2011

My wife and I just completed an interesting adventure this past week. One of my sons was scheduled to compete in a gymnastics competition in Las Vegas, Nevada the first week of February. Of course, the arrangements were made months ago through Southwest Vacations. We got plane tickets, hotel reservations, and a rental car all in one convenient package. I was very pleased with the price considering that we got 3 round trip tickets for a direct flight on Southwest Airlines from Indy to Vegas, 4 nights at Planet Hollywood, and the use of a rental car for the entire time we were there.

Best Laid Plans...

Of course the best laid plans are usually preempted by something, and this time it happened to be a massive winter storm affecting a third of the nation.  Indianapolis did not get a lot of snow in the 48 hours before we were to leave, but instead got about an inch to two inches of pure ice!  The original plan was to fly out on Wednesday morning.  We anxiously watched as all flights out of Indianapolis on Tuesday were canceled following the first phase of the ice storm on Monday night.  It took 40 minutes to chip away the ice with a hammer off my van on Tuesday morning to get to work.

As soon as we found out that flights on Wednesday were canceled, my wife began the process of trying to figure out how to get from Indianapolis to Las Vegas. After repeated calls to Southwest Vacations and plenty of time on hold, we ended up on a flight non-stop but on Friday instead of Wednesday. Two nights of hotel and rental car use would not be needed. My son and I had already packed but I figured I could take a little out of my carry-on and make the bag lighter.

On Wednesday morning, we awoke about 9 am and found out that some of the others from our gym had gotten onto a non-stop flight to Las Vegas from Columbus, Ohio which turns out to be 199 miles from our house. I checked the website for Southwest Airlines and discovered that tickets for an afternoon flight were still being sold. After a few minutes of discussion, my wife hurriedly showered and packed while I was on hold. She then held while I showered and the three of us were on the road at 10:20 am driving to Columbus, Ohio to catch a flight on which we had no tickets.

I was really concerned that the flight would be sold out by the time we got through, but the worst that could happen was that we would turn around and drive back home. Finally, after an hour and 15 minutes on hold and about 65 miles down the road, my wife got to talk to a human being. Several minutes later we were confirmed on a flight leaving Columbus, Ohio at 3:40 in the afternoon. We made it to the airport without incident by 1:30, zipped through security and had lunch before boarding the plane. It was an exciting and impromptu adventure! The best part is that making all the changes didn't cost a thing!  We were all glad that it worked out and we were able to get to Las Vegas on Wednesday as originally planned.