So we finally get snow in Utah and brilliant me comes east for Christmas to find grass, rain, 60 F in Vermont and Maine. Awesome. :lol:
Today though has been a big cluster f&*k for sure. We got up at 0530 to catch our flight from BGR back home. It was snowing and sleeting, so we got an early start for the 845 flight. Got to the airport at 6:45 or so and had no issues getting to the gate. Get on the plane and we push back for deicing. One deicing truck "breaks down" so the other one takes 20 minutes to deice the plane. OK, no big deal. We're still OK...it's 915 or so and our connector to SLC leaves at 12:05. We can easily do the first 2 hour leg.
Then the captain goes to rev the engines and only an engine spools up. Back to the gate. We deplane and wait almost three hours for the mechanic to get up on a step ladder and fix the jet engine (he drove around the airport more than actually worked).
We met with the gate agent who got us rebooked. The soonest he could get us on a connector from DTW to SLC was 9:40pm with an arrival in SLC at 11:40pm Mountain....or 1:40am Eastern. OK, well what can you do? Other people were going batshit. The wife, 4-year old daughter, and I kept our cool because it happens. One woman kept asking about her free first-class upgrade. Another turned down a free cab from BGR to PWM to catch a flight from Delta.
Back on the plane...deice again...with one truck. Into the air we go and 2 hours later we are in DTW. We take our time getting off because our connector is now 7 hours away.
"Hey, maybe we can move up to an earlier flight. Want to ask?" I suggest.
So we go to the service desk and talk to Mustafa. No joke, that was his name.
"So your flight to Seattle is at 3:20 pm. They will be boarding in a few minutes. You're all set."
"Seattle?!"
Turns out that they somehow rebooked us, in separate seats, to SEA and from there to SLC. The upside being that we get into SLC at 9:00pm. Thing is that it would have been nice to have at least told us. We were about to go find a place to camp out for the long layover. But crisis averted. Detroit this time of year, or any time of year, is um......
We hurry to the gate for the flight. My wife, lovely psychiatrist that she is, works her magic on the gate agents to get at least two of us sitting together because a four-year old can't really fly alone too easily. Somehow they bumped us off the flight we were all sitting together on and forgot about that detail. I get waved over....no dice. They let us get on early to get help but then wave us back. I think it's because my four-year old is a cutie and they felt bad. They were able to get them two seats together and move me into some Comfort Economy seat.
We're on. We takeoff. They present me and my seatmates with a basket full of bounty to eat. Fruit, candy, chips, cookies. Take what you want.
Then I go to use the bathroom at the front of my 737 flight and a woman beats me to it. I stand outside and wait patiently. Probably a solid 5 minutes or so. The flight attendant, a short Chinese woman, comes up and frowns. She bangs on the door. The woman pokes her head out...I can see someone else is in there. Must be a kid. I've been there before with my little one and I get it. The door shuts. I wait a few minutes more. The flight attendant is getting suspicious and raps on the door louder.
The door opens and the young woman sticks her head out again.
"Only one at a time in there, ma'am. Federal regulation."
The woman, flustered, comes out and says to the flight attendant, "he's just taking a shit in there" and some other choice words. She also is of Middle Eastern or Indian descent. I opt for the back bathroom to avoid a stench or mess from whatever was going down in there. As I type this I see that her "friend" is a similar aged man sitting next to her in first class. I am putting two and two together....opting for some kind of inflight entertainment as opposed to Isis attack in the works.
Stay tuned. Hopefully we do make it back to SLC....and hopefully our bags do too.
Any other travel horror stories to help me pass the time or make me feel better? I've got one more leg of my trip to go now....and am 2 hours from SEA.
Today though has been a big cluster f&*k for sure. We got up at 0530 to catch our flight from BGR back home. It was snowing and sleeting, so we got an early start for the 845 flight. Got to the airport at 6:45 or so and had no issues getting to the gate. Get on the plane and we push back for deicing. One deicing truck "breaks down" so the other one takes 20 minutes to deice the plane. OK, no big deal. We're still OK...it's 915 or so and our connector to SLC leaves at 12:05. We can easily do the first 2 hour leg.
Then the captain goes to rev the engines and only an engine spools up. Back to the gate. We deplane and wait almost three hours for the mechanic to get up on a step ladder and fix the jet engine (he drove around the airport more than actually worked).
We met with the gate agent who got us rebooked. The soonest he could get us on a connector from DTW to SLC was 9:40pm with an arrival in SLC at 11:40pm Mountain....or 1:40am Eastern. OK, well what can you do? Other people were going batshit. The wife, 4-year old daughter, and I kept our cool because it happens. One woman kept asking about her free first-class upgrade. Another turned down a free cab from BGR to PWM to catch a flight from Delta.
Back on the plane...deice again...with one truck. Into the air we go and 2 hours later we are in DTW. We take our time getting off because our connector is now 7 hours away.
"Hey, maybe we can move up to an earlier flight. Want to ask?" I suggest.
So we go to the service desk and talk to Mustafa. No joke, that was his name.
"So your flight to Seattle is at 3:20 pm. They will be boarding in a few minutes. You're all set."
"Seattle?!"
Turns out that they somehow rebooked us, in separate seats, to SEA and from there to SLC. The upside being that we get into SLC at 9:00pm. Thing is that it would have been nice to have at least told us. We were about to go find a place to camp out for the long layover. But crisis averted. Detroit this time of year, or any time of year, is um......
We hurry to the gate for the flight. My wife, lovely psychiatrist that she is, works her magic on the gate agents to get at least two of us sitting together because a four-year old can't really fly alone too easily. Somehow they bumped us off the flight we were all sitting together on and forgot about that detail. I get waved over....no dice. They let us get on early to get help but then wave us back. I think it's because my four-year old is a cutie and they felt bad. They were able to get them two seats together and move me into some Comfort Economy seat.
We're on. We takeoff. They present me and my seatmates with a basket full of bounty to eat. Fruit, candy, chips, cookies. Take what you want.
Then I go to use the bathroom at the front of my 737 flight and a woman beats me to it. I stand outside and wait patiently. Probably a solid 5 minutes or so. The flight attendant, a short Chinese woman, comes up and frowns. She bangs on the door. The woman pokes her head out...I can see someone else is in there. Must be a kid. I've been there before with my little one and I get it. The door shuts. I wait a few minutes more. The flight attendant is getting suspicious and raps on the door louder.
The door opens and the young woman sticks her head out again.
"Only one at a time in there, ma'am. Federal regulation."
The woman, flustered, comes out and says to the flight attendant, "he's just taking a shit in there" and some other choice words. She also is of Middle Eastern or Indian descent. I opt for the back bathroom to avoid a stench or mess from whatever was going down in there. As I type this I see that her "friend" is a similar aged man sitting next to her in first class. I am putting two and two together....opting for some kind of inflight entertainment as opposed to Isis attack in the works.
Stay tuned. Hopefully we do make it back to SLC....and hopefully our bags do too.
Any other travel horror stories to help me pass the time or make me feel better? I've got one more leg of my trip to go now....and am 2 hours from SEA.