An Expensive Mistake - A Cautionary Tale

We were packed and organised. The alarm went off. All five of us were dressed and ready to go. We just needed the taxi to arrive, which I'd booked in advance the day before for 5.30 am. Or so I thought. At 5.40 we called to check on the whereabouts, only to discover I'd forgotten to change the PM to AM on the online booking time. A costly mistake.

While they said they could send first available, we were fast running out of time. Cancelling the cab, after another few minutes debating what to do, we jumped in our own car, figuring it was better to pay for one airfare again than five, but hoping to only have to pay the exorbitant parking in the terminal car park.

There was a mini traffic jam on approach to the terminal, and the minutes ticked by as we sat at a stand still. We finally pulled into the drop off bay with six minutes until the check in closed.

Madly racing, we printed the boarding passes and ran to the bag drop counter as they announced they were about to close the flight. The attendant looked at his watch (and no doubt the mildly hysterical mother of three) and waved us over to an empty counter.
We'd made it under the wire, for at least four of us.

Now a stressful few minutes seeing if my partner would make the same flight, having gone to park the car and then needing to return to the terminal on foot. As we'd used the long term parking before, he knew there was no time for that and fortunately decided he didn't even have time to make the $45 a day car park, but take the nearest driveway available.

Miraculously, he appeared, $448 poorer, but we were checked in and all together. Next hurdle was to make the gate on time, as there was a huge queue at security, and the flight was now boarding. We had 12 minutes before the gate closed.

The queue crept along, and if we were stopped for the residue test, we would miss the flight completely. The woman in front of me had a baby still in her bjorn, so exasperatingly, I had to wait while she ever so slowly undid all the straps, then moved through the process.

Finally we were through, with only a few minutes to make the gate. Needless to say, it was the furthest away, at the end of the terminal. Unbeknownst to me, we had the wrong gate number on our boarding pass, but luck smiled on us, and they announced the pending gate closure just as we were about to run past the correct gate. So we made it. Without a minute to spare. Literally.

We were all on board. As was our luggage.

I do not cope well with stress. While I didn't cry, I'm pretty sure I would have burst into tears had someone drawn the line which would lead to our downfall. It was all my fault. I had no one else to blame.

I am grateful to my wonderful partner who never once gave me grief about my very expensive, stupid error. I am thankful that my kids, for once, moved quickly and quietly through the airport, and my eldest excelled himself by taking responsibility of the youngest while I ran ahead through the crowds.

I am thankful for the smooth check in process of Jetstar - had they not announced the dedicated bag drop counter as we entered the airport, we wouldn't have made the flight.

What I've learnt:
1. Always, ALWAYS,  check the AM/PM button when booking taxis online.
2. Have a plan B. Have a cut off time that you must jump in the car. Better to pay for parking or buy a new ticket for one than for five.
3.When time is tight, work as a team. (Had the error been reversed, I'm not proud to say I may not have been as understanding, and that certainly wouldn't help the situation. Though I will remember this moment for the years to come.)

Ironically, we were on the early morning flight to save money. We got the airfares for a steal in a Jetstar sale, saving $400 across the five fares. Yes, the very $400 we ended up paying on parking.

This is not our worst airport fiasco, that one I'm still recovering from, but it will eventually make it to this blog, as people can learn a lot from my idiocy. But for now, I need to find an extra $448 to pay for my mistake.