My pandemic travel saga starts with notification last night from @united that my flight had been cancelled due to “unexpected operational issues” (my translation: “Crap! We have no crew!”).

No flights at all from any DC airport to Orlando. Finally found a flight into Tampa on @AmericanAir.

We had rented from @Thriftycars at IAD and were told it would be a $500 charge to drop off at DCA. Pre-COVID, that surcharge didn’t exist—free drop-offs at any DC area airport.

So here I am at 4:15am in a @Lyft shuttling between IAD and DCA. Our itinerary today takes us to four airports (IAD, DCA, TPA, MCO) with only one leg in the air. Good times!

And our DCA to TPA flight has been canceled. Awesome.

Rebooked to JAX — so now that’s IAD, DCA, JAX, MCO with only one air leg. whee

Our American Eagle flight needs to be jump-started from ground power and has no A/C until the main engines get going. Could be a little warm in this buggy, but at least we have an aircraft.