No fun.....

And away we go........
A nice 6AM flight out if SB..or so I thought. Its got good potential as a friend has given me a "buddy pass". Good and bad. Good,because of the price,bur bad because you fly standby. So, I arriving at the airport and check in. For starters, the flight looks full. Bad. Upon checking in I find out my 2 suitcases are both 10 pounds overweight for standby passengers. To make them follow me it will cost $200 PER BAG! Really. So I figure, whatever, the flight was still a bargain. So the counter guys says" if you had another bag,we could split it up and it would only cost you $100 for the extra bag". Hmmmmm. I DO have an overnite bag in there..so I pull 20 pounds out of the 2 suitcases. The y both weigh in at 49.5 pounds..right under the limit. Then he looks at my duffel and says " well if you just carry that on then there's no fee! " Happy! That drama solved I now have to hurry to catch the plane. One seat left on the fight and I get it!! Perfect..on my way to LAX and hopefully I'll get on the next plane to Washington DC. 
So at LAX,standby again, I am #14 and there are only a few seats left..I wait till the end and miss getting on the flight by 1 person! Arrrrggg!
Ok, theres another flight in an hour and now I'm high on the wait list..
The next flight checks in full but the sun is shining on me as one person does not show and I get the last seat! And the flight is so full my 20 pound duffel has to be checked! Cool, one less thing to drag around....oh wait. One more piece of luggage for potential loss...we will see what actually arrives in Roma....but for now I am stranded in our nations capital..NO FUN!