At the gate, we found a still earlier flight that had been delayed by rain. And they called Doug as a standby passenger for it. However, his luggage was on the next standby flight, so even if he got to the airport, he'd have to wait around for the luggage to show. But I live fifteen minutes from the airport, so I ended up as the last passenger on the earlier plane.
We landed at about 4 PM instead of the 8 PM I would have arrived at originally. The standby flight was due in about 4:50, so
daisy_knotwise picked me up, we got dinner at a nearby restaurant, and then ran back to collect my bag.And now I'm home, which is a good thing. (And I called Doug's cellphone when I landed and left a message thanking him. From the fact that I got his voicemail, I'm guessing he made standby on the second flight.)