I was 15 years old, in a high school thousands of miles away, when I found out a very close friend of mine died. My friend and I bought plane tickets from a certain airline so we could fly home and attend the funeral. At the gate, after checking in, and going through security and everything, the plane began boarding. They called by sections to board, and my friend and I were in the last one. At the last minute, an employee told us that we were booted from the flight because they were overbooked.
At this point, my hysterical 15 years old self and my friend were sobbing over the fact that we both might not be home for our best friend’s funeral. Besides that, the employee wasn’t even helpful at all, just causing us more grief and panic by not informing us what would happen next whether will still be able to get back home or not. In a state of panic, my friend and I rushed over to the door to the terminal or whatever and tries to open it, insisting we can still get on the plane, we can still see seats from out of the window, it’s there. Ended up, airport security comes to escort us away.
Then I called my mother, which she called the another airline that has a flight. They were completely helpful and nice, insist on finding the (still hysterical) guys and helping them get to the plane as soon as possible, and letting them choose their seats when they got on the plane. Expensive, but great service.
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