Earlier this week I had the (thankfully) slight misfortune to be reminded how mobility is transforming our lives.
On Monday morning I left the office for a routine business trip. The plan was to fly from Kansas City to Providence, Rhode Island via New York’s La Guardia Airport. However, before I even reached my car, my cellphone rang with an automated message from US Airways informing me that one of my flights had been cancelled.
In a pre-mobility era, and especially in a pre-electronic ticket era, I imagine my day would have transpired very differently. For starters, I would not have known about the cancelled flight in advance. Since I was flying Midwest Airlines to New York, I’m guessing I may not have known about the cancellation until I arrived at La Guardia. At that point, my options would have been incredibly limited.
As it was, I immediately called Deanna, my resourceful assistant. Before I was halfway to the airport, Deanna had returned my call with a series of options. We picked one that involved flying American Airlines to Boston via Chicago. When I arrived at the airport, an earlier American Chicago flight had been delayed long enough I was able to catch that one instead. Before the aircraft doors were shut, I got one last message to Deanna with my new flight information.
By the time I landed at O’Hare, Deanna had e-mailed me information about earlier flights to Logan. I was able to catch one of those connections. Again, just before the plane backed away from the gate, I provided Deanna with an update. When we landed, Deanna had arranged ground transportation and e-mailed me the directions.
In all, at different points during the day, I held tickets on six different flights on three different airlines, touching five different airports. I arrived at my hotel about an hour later than originally planned, but the fact that I arrived at all can be credited to the power of mobility, an able assistant, and a gracious God.
Sounds terrible… the life of the hyper-mobile require systems of mobility (airports) and micro co-ordination (internet, phone) and the infrastructure (power, phone contracts, WIFI access) to travel and suport that hypermobility and when the systems of mobility fail (cancelled flights, dropped calls), can only lead to frustration, stress and disappointent. If you didnt have a PA, would you think yourself capable of surving this breakdown in your mobility lifestyle. Would you considered pre-planning (alternatives) rather than planning on the go.