How tall is this bus?
Written by: Holly
Written by: Holly
Now that I've finally recovered from the scare, I'm able to tell you -- we nearly missed our international flight. We left church a few minutes late but made up time on the road. We pulled out at about 10:20am and needed to be at JFK airport for check in at 4pm. Our flight departed at 7pm.
Everything was fine and dandy, and we were nearing JFK when we suddenly found ourselves detouring through NYC neighborhoods. Our driver had to turn off because he saw clearance signs of 10' 8". Our bus was 11' 5". The directions our driver had would work for a regular passenger vehicle but NOT for a bus.
We were lost. And while we knew where JFK was, our driver did not know how to get there. We searched in vain to find the "truck route" to the airport, while the clock just kept ticking. I called the Aeroflot counter at 4:30pm and told them what was happening. They said that check in closed at 6pm and despite the fact that we had 46 seats booked, they could not hold the plane.
Our driver finally put in a call to his colleagues, and got directions. We pulled into JFK at about 5:28pm. The VIPs followed instructions like champs and moved quickly to unload the bus and get to the counter. Aeroflot, much to their credit, had every available agent helping us. Security was kind. And the VIPs stayed focused on the goal: get on the plane.
While a few of us had a wild sprint to the gate, we made it. Hallelujah!