(Courtesy of US Airways)
All Philadelphia bound planes are delayed.
In my infinite wisdom, I get a seat on the 6:30
flight (trading in my seat on the 7:30 flight).
We boarded at 8:00 (7:30 flight wasn’t close to
boarding yet – yeah me!)
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…
Captain comes on and says there’s no tug to push
us from the gate.
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes …
Finally, we start moving. We taxi for a few minutes and then we stop.
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…
Captain comes on and says we have a load balancing
issue.
There’s too much weight in the back of the plane and
we need to go back to the gate for the baggage handlers to fix it.
Can we all just sit in the front?
We go back to the gate.
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…
Captain explains that it’s a new plane. Most planes have their luggage loaded first
in the back and then in the front. This
plane requires the opposite. They didn’t
quite have the process down.
We don’t care.
But we still have to wait.
We’re ready to go. We taxi back out to the runway.
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes…
We take off.
No one brings by even a glass of water! In fact, I’m not even sure there are flight attendants on this plane.
We land in Philadelphia (total time in the air –
55 minutes).
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…
They finally allow us to cross the active runway.
We taxi to our gate.
Wait for it… huh? No bell. Why can’t I get up?
We wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…
Captain says there’s no one there to park us.
Can we use those inflatable slides? Someone have a ladder?
We don’t care.
But we still have to wait.
5 minutes, 10 minutes …
I’m off the plane. Yeah!! It’s over!
The parking garage is locked.
Hello Heather!!
I do have a wireless internet card – I use Verizon broadband and rely on it heavily while traveling.
They wouldn’t let us open our computers because every delay was supposed to be 5 or 10 minutes and then kept growing!!! I like your approach though!!
Ann
You should get the wireless internet card…since you spend more time on the ground than in the air…definitely worth it to be sitting their connected. And if they tell you to shut off all electronic equipment tell them you will the very second they really plan on “taking off”
Hi Wally – we were actually laughing too – in a sad kind of way!
Gosh you got me laughing with that one. I’ve been there. Done that. And so has every other frequent traveler, methinks. That’s why the movie “Planes and Trains and Automobiles” is so funny.
Hi Eric!
It was actually interesting that no one got that bent out of shape. My row was actually cracking jokes about it.
I think we all just gave up!
Ann
Wow! What a night! Talk about a true test of patience. It would have been interesting to be on that plane and see the various reactions to what many would have felt was a major inconvenience.