Chosen To Live by Jerry Schemmel
Excerpts
As I turned away from the ticket counter, dejected and disgusted, Jay approached. He’d arrived at the gate a few minuets before I did and also learned that United had mistakenly put me on stand-by. The agent had told him that there was another flight to Chicago leaving at the same time as United 232 at the very next gate. It turned out that flight, too, was full, but Jay took the initiative of putting me on stand-by for that one as well. For the millionth time that day, I looked at my watch, which read 12:30 p.m. We positioned ourselves on the concourse so we could hear public address announcements for both gates. Almost immediately, I heard a sound that floated on the air like music.
"Mr. Schemmel, please come up to the podium."
The wait had ended with the fifth attempt to board a flight from Denver to Chicago. Jay and I would fly together. We would make our connection to Columbus. We would get the television problems ironed out and the Continental Basketball Association draft would proceed the next day. After five hours, we were finally leaving. It had been a frustrating morning to say the least, but all the trouble and misfortune seemed behind us now. What more could go wrong?
I actually felt particularly fortunate when I realized no other stand-by customers were called after me. I was the last passenger to get a seat on United Airlines Flight 232.
