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Oh How I Love Holiday Travel

thetrailboss

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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?!" :eek:

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.
 

JDMRoma

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Wow you have way more patience than i do !

Did I ever mention my flight from Denver to Boston.....!stuck sitting in between 2 very large women. 400lbs club members, overlapping into my lap eating the entire way. Neither of them had showered recently..... Gross ! I'll never fly southwest again !


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drjeff

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You got me beat TB!! "Worst" I ever had was an Egyptian C-130 lost its landing gear in the middle of the US Military run airport runway on the middle of the British territory controlled airport in Bermuda, and they couldn't just clear the plane, because if international relations issues from the runway, so me and my family (and there were about 30 of us there at the time) had to spend another night in Bermuda!!
 

thetrailboss

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You got me beat TB!! "Worst" I ever had was an Egyptian C-130 lost its landing gear in the middle of the US Military run airport runway on the middle of the British territory controlled airport in Bermuda, and they couldn't just clear the plane, because if international relations issues from the runway, so me and my family (and there were about 30 of us there at the time) had to spend another night in Bermuda!!

How terrible. ;)

We were flying back from Anna Maria Island to SLC almost a year ago. We were flying Southwest. I got a reminder the night before for the 5:05pm flight and checked in assuming my wife did as well.

We drive to the airport all assuming that we had the 5:05pm flight. Turns out they rescheduled my wife and daughter to the 3:00pm flight and she hadn't noticed. So we get to the counter at 3:15pm and the guy says, "and your flight juuuuust left." Needless to say, Southwest did us well and just treated it as an accident, changed us to the first flight the next day gratis even though it was not their fault, and I got to see the Super Bowl that night from a comfy hotel room at the airport in Tampa (the Marriott is a nice place there BTW).
 

thetrailboss

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And another interesting observation on my flight...by they way just got another round of free premium snacks and drinks....

Looks like there has been a change in protocol in the wake of this terrible accident this spring in which the crew blockades the front of the plane while the pilots, who switch with a flight attendant, use the restroom in turn. Interesting.
 

Cornhead

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My Son is supposed to fly out of Elmira early Tuesday morning. I have to drive him to the airport before I go to work, an hour each way from Binghamton. Hopefully his flight will just be delayed, supposed to become an all rain event, eventually.


Elmira NY

Refresh Hazards
Updated*7:36 PM EST

Winter Weather Advisoryclick to collapse contents*

243 PM EST SUN DEC 27 2015

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM MONDAY TO 10 AM
EST TUESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR A HAZARDOUS COMBINATION OF FREEZING RAIN AND
SLEET, WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM MONDAY TO 10 AM EST TUESDAY.

* LOCATIONS, SCRANTON WILKES BARRE AREA TO THE ELMIRA AND CORNING
AREA.

* HAZARD TYPES, FREEZING RAIN, SLEET AND A LITTLE SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS, SLEET AND SNOW ACCUMULATION LESS THAN 1
INCH, ALONG WITH AROUND ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH OF ICE.

* TIMING, A MIX OF SLEET AND SNOW WILL DEVELOP EARLY MONDAY
EVENING AND CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN LATE MONDAY NIGHT. FREEZING
RAIN WILL CHANGE TO ALL RAIN TUESDAY MORNING.
 

thetrailboss

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Got to SEA. Got off the plane only to get back on the same plane. Made life easy. A highlight was getting to see a BA 747-400 (Speedbird 48 ) readying for a trip to LHR. Pretty impressive plane. Too bad we don't see many 747's anymore.


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Last edited:

chuckstah

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I was stuck in SLC for 3+ extra days 3 or so years ago due to too much snow. That really sucked. Not. Extra pow days at Snowbasin, PC, and Alta. Work eventually got over it. I was supposed to fly home on Fri night, rebooked til the following Tuesday morning. That was a rare delay win!
 

thetrailboss

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My Son is supposed to fly out of Elmira early Tuesday morning. I have to drive him to the airport before I go to work, an hour each way from Binghamton. Hopefully his flight will just be delayed, supposed to become an all rain event, eventually.


Elmira NY

Refresh Hazards
Updated*7:36 PM EST

Winter Weather Advisoryclick to collapse contents*

243 PM EST SUN DEC 27 2015

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM MONDAY TO 10 AM
EST TUESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR A HAZARDOUS COMBINATION OF FREEZING RAIN AND
SLEET, WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM MONDAY TO 10 AM EST TUESDAY.

* LOCATIONS, SCRANTON WILKES BARRE AREA TO THE ELMIRA AND CORNING
AREA.

* HAZARD TYPES, FREEZING RAIN, SLEET AND A LITTLE SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS, SLEET AND SNOW ACCUMULATION LESS THAN 1
INCH, ALONG WITH AROUND ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH OF ICE.

* TIMING, A MIX OF SLEET AND SNOW WILL DEVELOP EARLY MONDAY
EVENING AND CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN LATE MONDAY NIGHT. FREEZING
RAIN WILL CHANGE TO ALL RAIN TUESDAY MORNING.

Hope that the deicing trucks, and both engines, work on his plane!
 

Cornhead

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Made it to Elmira and back safely, a semi was jacknifed in the Westbound lane on my return trip. Passing was an adventure, lots of slop in the fast lane. I broke the handle of my shovel when I got home, using it upside down to scrape the sleet off the asphalt, only then did I get the scraper from the shed, doh. No delay on the Elmira to Philly flight.
 

Cornhead

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I knew it was too good to be true. My son's flight left Elmira 2 hrs late. Naturally, he missed his connection in Philly. No other flights to Philly until tomorrow. He purchased a round trip ticket originally returning on 1/2. His employer didn't want him to be off that long so they agreed to pay half of a one way back today. My son has decided to return to Binghamton and fly back to CO on 1/2. It may be an expensive change of plans. Half of the one way has already cost him $300. If his employer wants their half back, there's another $300. If they're pissed enough to can him, there's more money lost. He probably should just get a room in Philly and fly home tomorrow.
 

thetrailboss

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Forgot to tell the punchline on this trip. Noticed we were missing two bags. Went to the office and were sheepishly led to the backroom to pick them up. No explanation. When I loaded them into the SUV I thought that I smelled something sweet. Got home and opened up the smaller one to discover that my bottle of Maple Bourbon had been broken and had leaked everywhere. My clothes and luggage smell nice, but I'd rather have drank it. :lol:
 
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