A couple of years ago DH had a work trip to San Francisco and he asked if I wanted to go with him... by the time we booked my tickets his plane was full so I said it was no big deal I would follow him the next day.
He leaves on Monday and Tuesday AM I get up early and leave to drop Dash at the kennel, before heading to the airport. There was an ice storm hitting the area, but my flight still said it was on time. The roads were horrific, trees snapping and landing on the roads, ice everywhere.
I got to the airport early and went to my gate to wait... they were just finishing up sending a passenger down the jetway as I arrived. I sat down to wait, knowing my plane was another 2 hours. The desk agents asked if I was on that plane they were boarding and I told them "no, I was just early for the next plane". They told me it was going to Minneapolis too, which is where I was going and did I want to get on this one to make sure I left before the storm hit even worse. Then I could just catch my second flight from there, no problems. My luggage would be on my regular flight, but would catch up with me in Minneapolis and it would arrive with me in SF. I wish I had just said no, but I was nervous the storm could delay me and I had no idea of what was really going on behind the scenes.
They get me a new ticket and I rush to board the plane, feeling horrible that I am delaying them from take-off. Someone is sitting in my seat, and asks if I just want to take their seat farther back. They were 2 people traveling together so I didn't mind at all, other than the farther walk as I felt bad going by each row and apologized as I was going along.
Get to my seat and see one of DH's co-workers in the row in front of me, so I say hi quick as I go by and get my bag stored and hook my seat belt. Then I start noticing people are half standing up and chatting away with people in other rows. I start talking to the co-worker and find out this is the flight that was supposed to leave 90 minutes earlier, not right now as I was led to believe as the gate agents hurried me along after getting me a new ticket. This plane had sat there all night and was iced over and they were waiting for the truck to come do that. Turns out the passenger that I saw boarding the plane as I arrived at the gate was also on my original plane, and she was asked to get on this "early" flight as well.
Eventually after maybe 40 minutes we backed away from the gate to be de-iced... then the truck was empty and had to refill. then a nozzle was froze, then they ran out of de-icer. This went on for hours, and I missed my original flight because I was put on a plane that wasn't going anywhere.
They pulled back up to the gate and let us off to get lunch, we still had not seen a truck at that point, just announcements from the pilot. Everyone was rebooking their connecting flights, but I still had time if we left soon. We re-boarded and sat for another 4 to 5 hours and pulled back to the gate again. Tons of people bailed at this point and went home or to a hotel. I kept getting hopeful information so I stuck with it. I rebooked a 7:30 pm connecting flight, so I had 2 1/2 hours to catch it (only had an hour flight to get there). The truck finally showed up and was working so they re-boarded us a 3rd time and we backed up again and after being de-iced we took off at 6:30pm, I literally missed my connection by 2 minutes.
Now I was stuck in Minneapolis and the ice storm had arrived there, so I spent the night trying to sleep at a gate. The next day, I was able to board a plane and get to SF finally... 28 hours later!
The best part of it all? My luggage made it to SF on time, on the plane I should have been on. If the gate agents hadn't asked me to switch planes, none of that would have happened. I was not a happy camper and fought with the airline a long time before they made it right. They kept saying it wasn't their problem because it was a weather delay. I kept telling them it wasn't a weather delay that prevented me from going, it was that their gate agents put me on a plane they knew wasn't going anywhere, it had already been sitting there with passengers for 90 minutes before I arrived. I never approached them, I simply sat down to wait for my flight. They came and asked me to get on that plane... why would I ever suspect they were putting me on a plane that wasn't leaving. Finally someone at the airline agreed with me and it was made right, but that airline nearly lost us as customers over it. I still have flashbacks to sitting on that plane for almost 9 hours whenever I hear we need to be de-iced. Thankfully we were able to get off 2 times for a short time, I can't imagine being trapped the entire time like some people have been.
He leaves on Monday and Tuesday AM I get up early and leave to drop Dash at the kennel, before heading to the airport. There was an ice storm hitting the area, but my flight still said it was on time. The roads were horrific, trees snapping and landing on the roads, ice everywhere.
I got to the airport early and went to my gate to wait... they were just finishing up sending a passenger down the jetway as I arrived. I sat down to wait, knowing my plane was another 2 hours. The desk agents asked if I was on that plane they were boarding and I told them "no, I was just early for the next plane". They told me it was going to Minneapolis too, which is where I was going and did I want to get on this one to make sure I left before the storm hit even worse. Then I could just catch my second flight from there, no problems. My luggage would be on my regular flight, but would catch up with me in Minneapolis and it would arrive with me in SF. I wish I had just said no, but I was nervous the storm could delay me and I had no idea of what was really going on behind the scenes.
They get me a new ticket and I rush to board the plane, feeling horrible that I am delaying them from take-off. Someone is sitting in my seat, and asks if I just want to take their seat farther back. They were 2 people traveling together so I didn't mind at all, other than the farther walk as I felt bad going by each row and apologized as I was going along.
Get to my seat and see one of DH's co-workers in the row in front of me, so I say hi quick as I go by and get my bag stored and hook my seat belt. Then I start noticing people are half standing up and chatting away with people in other rows. I start talking to the co-worker and find out this is the flight that was supposed to leave 90 minutes earlier, not right now as I was led to believe as the gate agents hurried me along after getting me a new ticket. This plane had sat there all night and was iced over and they were waiting for the truck to come do that. Turns out the passenger that I saw boarding the plane as I arrived at the gate was also on my original plane, and she was asked to get on this "early" flight as well.
Eventually after maybe 40 minutes we backed away from the gate to be de-iced... then the truck was empty and had to refill. then a nozzle was froze, then they ran out of de-icer. This went on for hours, and I missed my original flight because I was put on a plane that wasn't going anywhere.
They pulled back up to the gate and let us off to get lunch, we still had not seen a truck at that point, just announcements from the pilot. Everyone was rebooking their connecting flights, but I still had time if we left soon. We re-boarded and sat for another 4 to 5 hours and pulled back to the gate again. Tons of people bailed at this point and went home or to a hotel. I kept getting hopeful information so I stuck with it. I rebooked a 7:30 pm connecting flight, so I had 2 1/2 hours to catch it (only had an hour flight to get there). The truck finally showed up and was working so they re-boarded us a 3rd time and we backed up again and after being de-iced we took off at 6:30pm, I literally missed my connection by 2 minutes.
Now I was stuck in Minneapolis and the ice storm had arrived there, so I spent the night trying to sleep at a gate. The next day, I was able to board a plane and get to SF finally... 28 hours later!
The best part of it all? My luggage made it to SF on time, on the plane I should have been on. If the gate agents hadn't asked me to switch planes, none of that would have happened. I was not a happy camper and fought with the airline a long time before they made it right. They kept saying it wasn't their problem because it was a weather delay. I kept telling them it wasn't a weather delay that prevented me from going, it was that their gate agents put me on a plane they knew wasn't going anywhere, it had already been sitting there with passengers for 90 minutes before I arrived. I never approached them, I simply sat down to wait for my flight. They came and asked me to get on that plane... why would I ever suspect they were putting me on a plane that wasn't leaving. Finally someone at the airline agreed with me and it was made right, but that airline nearly lost us as customers over it. I still have flashbacks to sitting on that plane for almost 9 hours whenever I hear we need to be de-iced. Thankfully we were able to get off 2 times for a short time, I can't imagine being trapped the entire time like some people have been.
....needless to say they shut down the airport right after we landed. I'm a great believer that when it's your time it's your time....my problem is, what if it's the pilot's time or my seatmate? I don't want to go with them.
I still fly because I live in the middle of nowhere but it's not fun. Now if I could be the backseat flyer things would go much smoother..
Grrrr....that was so unacceptable.
(And I honestly had never heard of him. Now, with internet, I see he was quite well known and hung with a lot of celebrities in his day.)
I would have been freaked for sure! What airport was this at?
