Strange week of travel
I’ve had one of the most bizarre travel weeks I can remember having in a long time. Please allow me to explain.
Monday afternoon I headed to Logan to fly to NY. I had an early morning meeting on Tuesday and feeling run down lately, decided to get in the night before instead of getting up at 4AM on Tuesday. I got to the airport and the 3:30 was cancelled, so I got on the 4:30 (they have hourly flights between Boston and NY, and NY and DC). The 4:30 was delayed about a half hour, I got on, and we sat there for about 20 minutes. The captain, a guy I know from flying so much, got on and said that air traffic control put a stop to any traffic into LaGuardia because of weather. He said they would give him an update in 55 minutes. He opened the door to let people off and walk around. With plenty of time and work to catch up on, I opened up my laptop and started working. About 30 minutes later he came on and said they pushed back the time they would give an update. So with no clear time on when we were getting out, I got my bags and headed off the plane, back home.
Tuesday morning...
Tuesday morning I took a 6AM flight to NY, uneventful. Wednesday I had to be in Lynchburg, Virginia, so I was going to take the shuttle from NY to DC and then drive 2 and a half hours to Charlottesville, which is about 60 miles from Lynchburg. I stay in Charlottesville because there is a nice Doubletree hotel there I like.
So I got to the airport in NY late afternoon and the immediate flight I was going to take was delayed an hour due to incoming aircraft. Not a big deal, its only an hour, but that made 2 days in a row of trouble. Hmm.
Wednesday I had my meeting in Lynchburg and had to get back to NY for a Thursday meeting. Getting from Lynchburg to New York can be done in two ways. I could either fly from Lynchburg to Atlanta and then on to NY. Or I can drive back to DC, about a 3 hour drive, and take the shuttle to NY.
Fly from Lynchburg to NY through Atlanta.
Pros
I am sitting in airports or on an airplane, working or reading. Most likely get first class from Atlanta to NY. Free booze. Bigger seats. Flight attendants only berate you, instead of inflicting harm like they do in the back.
Cons
Going through one more city adds a failure point. It’s more expensive than just the shuttle.
Driving from Lynchburg to DC for the Shuttle.
Pros
The flight is usually reliable and convenient. I find the drive relaxing and I like to listen to conservative talk radio, which there is plenty of in Virginia.
Cons
Driving three hours can be a pain in the ass, especially since most of it is on back roads instead of a major highway. As a friend told me this past week, the pretty rolling hills of Virginia aren't so pretty after the 10th trip.
So I booked a flight on the Lynchburg route and figured I would decide what to do at the last minute. I got out of my meeting at 3 and made a knee jerk decision to drive.
I got to Reagan National around 6:30PM. Huge rain clouds had rolled in and there was thunder and lightening. When I went to purchase a ticket, they put me on the 8:30, telling me the 7:30 was already cancelled. I got to the gate around 6:40 and the 6:30 shuttle was still there, with two other people standing around, an older woman and a lady about my age. They said they were trying to get a seat on the 6:30. The gate agent said there were no seats left. Just then, the pilot came out and said he was going to let the people get off the plane. I asked the gate agent that since some people would probably just go home, could the three of us standing there take the empty seats. She was grumpy and didn’t say yes or no. She pointed to seats near by and mumbled something.
I then saw a flight going to Boston only a gate away. Eff it, I thought, I am going to head to Boston and then to NY the next morning. It beats waiting this out until 10 at night. So I walked over and bought a one way ticket from DCA to Boston.
The young lady behind the counter had a hard time crediting my NY ticket, so I tried to make jokes.
Me: (after talking for a minute and her ignoring my jokes). I can tell you're not listening to me. You and my wife would get along.
While I was on the plane, I called Delta and cancelled my ticket on the 8:30 to NY. Mistake. I’ll tell you why in a minute.
So we get on the flight to Boston, and sit there, and sit there, and sit. Finally, about 40 minutes later, the pilot gets on the PA…
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have some bad news. Because of the delay getting out, the pilot has timed out. We have to cancel this flight.”
UGH!!! What. The. Eff. Is. Going. On.
I got off the plane and immediately ran back to the gate for the 8:30 flight to NY. It was now sold out. No more seats. UGHHHHH.
As I walked by, I saw Mario Cuomo standing with Charles Gibson from ABC News. I looked around and there were about 10 other very nicely dressed people, half of which I recognized from TV or politics. What the deuce was going on?
Since by now I knew the young lady behind the desk at the gate, I told her I needed to get to either NY or Boston. For some reason I didn’t want to bite the bullet and just stay in DC. Not sure why. So the gate agent typed and typed, showed me a picture on her camera phone of her and Barack Obama from last year, and got me on a 9PM US Air flight to Boston. GREAT!!
And the reason for Gibson and Cuomo and the rest of them...it was Tim Russert's funeral, so they were all in the town for it. BTW, I loved Tim Russert. Thought he was great, loved Meet the Press, and anytime he was on NBC talking politics it was worth a listen. But NBC had 5 days of tributes to him, which was WAY over the top for anyone.
anyway, I digress.
I ran to the other side of the freakin terminal and while going through security, right behind Charles Rangel from NY, I got tagged for a special screening. Now I started to think those dark clouds were following me.
I made it to the gate, the flight was delayed, but I got home around 11.
This morning I got up and headed to Logan to fly to NY. I get on the plane which was delayed about 15 minutes because they were waiting for a part to come in, and we take off.
15 minutes into the flight we started to bank hard to the left.
What the deuce?
Pilot: This is your captain speaking. You might have noticed when we took off that the plane shimmied a little. We are experiencing a problem with our controllers and need to turn back to Boston. I apologize and there is nothing to worry about, but we will not be heading to NY.
Holy freakin crap, what is going on??
So back we went. We landed, I got off, walked right past the next shuttle to NY, and went home. Enough. I am done. This week’s travel battle goes to the demons of air travel, they won. I lost. Let’s try again next week.
Anyway, just thought I’d share.
