Bad Travel Karma?

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Historically, the start of my adventures have been fraught with surprises; some of my own undoing, and for others, the airline was at fault. This time, it was Delta (again!)

I get to the airport with time to spare. At check-in, the kiosk displays that my flight is "unavailable" (kiosk-speak for cancelled, I later learn) and offers me another some 12 hours later, when I'm supposed to be well on my way to Dakar. At the direction of a ticket agent, I head to a "black phone" to let someone know the flight is unacceptable.

Thankfully, my connecting flight from JFK to Dakar was an evening flight. Since I was at National before 10:00 in the morning for my cancelled flight, I had ample time to spend--

• waiting in line to use the "black phone",
  
• waiting on hold once on the "black phone", and later, after reluctantly accepting a flight to LaGuardia,
  
• unpacking my suitcase to shed 7 pounds so I only had to pay $25.00 for excess baggage instead of $100.
  

Finally settled on the plane hours later, waiting to be approved for takeoff, I reflect with bemused detachment on the morning's goings on. S, my travel buddy who I'd been calling at work in NYC with updates, decided on a whim to check on our flight to Dakar. She emails me just as we're approved for takeoff and electronic devices have to be shut off: "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!! THE FLIGHT TO DAKAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED!!"

I smile, buckle my seat belt and settle in for whatever comes next.

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