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| "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip . . ." (Gilligan's Island)
--or--
"The Saga of My Attempts to Reach Florida Via Airplane"
by Maryjane
It sounded so simple: drive to Detroit Metro Airport, board a Northwest Airline flight to Atlanta at 5:42, change planes in Atlanta, arrive in West Palm Beach at 10:44 pm.
Well, everything was fine, until we got on the plane in Detroit on Saturday evening. The boarding process was running a few minutes late, but finally we were all relaxing in our assigned rows, seatbelts buckled, awaiting takeoff, when . . .
A police car coming zooming up beside the plane, lights flashing. The policeman gets out and walks into the basement area of the terminal. We wait . . . and wait. They tell us that they are having a 'discussion' about the de-icing process. (Yeah, sure.) Then the pilot comes on and tells us that the first officer was involved in a 'ramp incident' and the policeman had to take statements, but we would be leaving shortly. (We found out later that it was some kind of fight, or physical incident -- not sure with whom.) Two hours after we got on the plane, we finally begin to back away from the terminal. We follow a long route all around the whole terminal to the de-icing pad, where they begin to de-ice the plane and "check for problems", the captain says. (Note that this plane is a DC9, a very old plane that they don't make anymore. Cary hates to fly on DC9's, because they are so old.) After the de-icing and another long wait on the de-icing pad, the captain comes on and announces that there apparently was a leak in the plane, the de-icer came in the leak and injured one of the flight attendants, and we were going to return to the terminal so she could get help. He also said that the de-icer had gotten into somewhere where it wasn't supposed to be, and they were going to have to clean it off. As we got to the terminal, an ambulance comes zooming up -- more flashing lights. Another long wait. Then they announce that they would have to get two new flight attendants and also had to take part of the plane apart to fix it, so we would have to de-plane. Meanwhile, many people (including us) had missed connecting flights and had to try to make new arrangements. This meant standing in a VERY slow-moving line inside the terminal, waiting for help from frazzled customer service people. I called NW customer service while standing in line and managed to get booked into another later flight out of Atlanta -- but still had to talk to the lady at the desk to get our tickets issued.
Finally they told us that they had another plane and sent most of us (those who wanted to continue to Atlanta) to another gate. We got on the plane (another DC9) . . . and waited. They told us they were waiting for the new flight attendants to arrive. Then they told us to get off the plane. As we stood up, they told us to sit down, they were still going to go ahead. Then, a while later, they told us to get off the plane again; the plane had a mechanical problem they couldn't fix in time, and the crew's work hours had expired.
Back inside the terminal to wait in line again. For some reason, I was always near the back of the line; this time, I was dead last. As I waited, they announced that this flight to Atlanta would be leaving at 7:30 the next morning; they would give us hotel vouchers, but we would have no luggage. At the desk, I arranged for a new flight: a non-stop to Ft. Lauderdale (instead of West Palm), leaving at 10:42 on Sunday. We were assigned first class seats (the only ones available)! HOWEVER, our luggage would go ahead without us -- to West Palm Beach. They gave us a voucher for the Embassy Suites and $45 worth of food coupons. We caught the shuttle to the hotel (Cary standing outdoors in just his shirt sleeves, because he put his jacket in his suitcase), and got checked in (again, I was last in line). It was now 10:50 p.m., and the restaurant stopped serving at 11. We rushed over to place an order, and were lucky to get served some delicious food at 11:30. Off to bed -- in our clothes. Very nice hotel -- brand new.
FYI -- of all the times I have flown in my life, this was the ONE time that I did not take a carry-on with makeup, shampoo, etc. Only my purse. Dumb.
The restaurant had a wonderful breakfast, and we made it to the airport for our next flight with lots of time to spare. The plane was late arriving, and then it sat at the gate for 40 minutes without letting the passengers off. Apparently the pilot could not follow the guideline for pulling up to the gate because it was covered with snow, so the ramp would not line up with the door. It took another 15 minutes for a tow truck to back the plane up and get it lined up correctly (after about 5 attempts and a change of drivers). We wait some more. Cary says that maybe the flight crew was duking it out with the ground crew. (ha ha) Then they announce a gate change (there was a mechanical problem with the plane (not a DC9, but a 757). FINALLY, we get on another 757, and we get on our way to Florida -- 1 1/2 hours late. First class, however, was very nice -- they kept trying to offer us drinks, and served a very nice free lunch. We finally got to Florida at 2:50 p.m., 16 hours after our original arrival time, at the wrong airport -- and we still had to go to West Palm to claim our luggage! We went home to Mom and Dad Engelhart's to rest for a while, then drove to the WP airport. The Northwest baggage office, and ticket counter, was closed! We called customer service; they didn't really know where our luggage was, they just knew that it wasn't in Atlanta! Then we remembered that our original connecting flight was Delta. Fortunately, the Delta office had our bags! Hurray!
After that, we got to eat dinner at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, the Sweet Tomato.
So that's our tale! If you read this far -- thanks for reading!
It was interesting to watch people's reactions throughout this process. At first, everyone was pretty cheerful and joking. Then as some people began to miss connecting flights, they got a little upset. After being ordered off the second plane, more people were angry. Especially when they found out that they would have no luggage. But overall, everyone was rather resigned to their fate, realizing that most of it was no one's fault. But I even got a little upset when I thought that we weren't going to find our bags at the airport.
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| Just wondering if it's worthwhile to bother with posting here anymore. Does anyone read this? If you do, could you just drop me a quick comment so I can evaluate the value of wasting . . .er, I mean . . . spending my time here. Thanks! I actually like Xanga much better than Facebook. Facebook is such a waste of time -- all the silly applications! And it's so garbled up, it's hard to even find a wall to write on. | | |
| My goodness! It's been almost a YEAR since I last posted. Wow. Guess I've been . . . busy . . . or something . . . Sarah inspired me to post this joke that I heard last week from a guy in my INSTE class at church. These three guys went hunting together -- a doctor, a lawyer, and a pastor. Suddenly a huge buck came running by, and all three of them pulled up and shot. The deer went down, and they walked up to it, wondering how they would tell which of them actually shot it. The doctor walked up to it, shook his head, and announced, "It wasn't my shot." The lawyer walked up next, shook his head, and said, "It wasn't my shot either." The pastor looked at them in amazement. "How can you tell that neither of you shot it?" The lawyer motioned toward the deer's head. "Look at it -- in one ear and out the other." Isn't that cute? I wonder why Pastor Ken didn't think it was as funny as the rest of us . . . | | |
| OK, I lied. I am going to Florida. Jenna and Jordan and the home health aide Tracy will be caring for my dad.
Don't know how much I'll relax . . . but I'll try! At least I will enjoy the sunshine.
I just hope that it's not 40 degrees (as they are predicting) when I get off the plane next Tuesday. I absolutely HATE to come home from Florida when it is cold outside.
Oh well. Quit complaining.
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| Hello, Xanga world. Is anyone still there?
Poor Xanga. Deserted for MySpace. I don't know why. MySpace is dumb. Even though I've never been there. Yet.
SPRING IS HERE!! I love spring. It smells good. And I hate wearing coats (which I didn't do much all winter anyway).
Unfortunately, I cannot participate in that uniquely Michigan ritual (well, OK, New Yorkers and New Jersey-ites do it too) called "Going To Florida". I'm intensely jealous of my husband, who is leaving tomorrow for the Sunshine State. (And before you ask, I'll tell you -- the reason I cannot go is because I am caring for my semi-invalid father, and my sister, who would normally come to stay with him, has gone on her own vacation for the first two weeks of April.)
But at least spring is coming. *sigh of happiness*
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