I immediately start freaking out, assuming I've done some screw-up, but in this case I haven't. He's booked for the right flights. He's ticketed. He's got seat assignments. There's absolutely NO REASON he should be having any problem.
I call the airline (UNITED!!!) and when I finally get through to someone in a call center in Punae, India, I'm told the same thing. There's nothing wrong.
Meanwhile he's at the airport and there's no one manning the checking counter. He goes to look for someone, while I make a back-up reservation on Southwest. Then he emails he's on a line with 40 "schmos."
We wait.
We wait some more.
Now he's got a boarding pass, but still has to get through the security line and get to the gate with like 15 minutes to spare.
We wait.
We wait some more.
HE MAKES IT!
I still have to contact my United rep and find out WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED and get an apology, but at least I can relax a little bit.
It's a good thing I got my hair done on Sunday (and it looks fabulous, thank you very much) because I'm pretty sure I just got some new gray hairs.