Adventures in Airports

Let us review just some of what happened with our travel last week:

• The flight from Charlotte to New Orleans was supposed to take off at around 14:30. No plane turned up
• Ground staff told us that there was a plane “in the hangar” and it would be coming out soon
• A few hours later, that changed to “it’s in the queue to come from the hangar and we’re trying to find people that can bring the planes”
• After a fistfight down at the gate desk, a plane did arrive sometime around 21:00 or so
• We boarded, the heavens opened, and the crew timed out, meaning we all had to get off the plane
• We were told that another crew was available and they were on their way
• The flight was cancelled five minutes later
• With no chance for another flight out that evening, we were rebooked for a flight the next morning
• But due to the storm, there would be no returning of gate-checked luggage. Which included our buggy and car seat
• So our choice was to sleep in the airport overnight with a baby or somehow get to the provided hotel
• We don’t want to talk about the taxi ride to the airport ever again. but let’s just say that being in the back sear of a car driving at 90mph in aquaplaning conditions, holding a baby with no car seat is a harrowing experience
• (the people at the hotel were lovely, taking care of us when we came staggering into reception in total shock)
• The gate agent forgot to add Maeryn on the rebooked tickets, so we were pushed to one side on boarding and nearly denied the chance to get on the plane
• New Orleans was really lovely!
• The captain of our flight to Dallas (we’re never going anywhere near Charlotte again) cheerfully announced that the plane was broken but a crew was fixing it
• The short flight was delayed over an hour
• We arrived in Dallas ten minutes before our connecting flight left, but American refused to hold the flight for us
• We were rebooked for a flight four hours later
• That plane got hit by a bird just as we were boarding
• Thankfully, Dallas did have another plane in the hangar and somehow even managed to get it to a gate, but delayed us another two hours or so, turning a leisurely late afternoon arrival into a nighttime one
• A tornado thunderstorm ripped through the Cincinnati area, meaning that Tammy had to drive us home through rain coming down sideways

But…we made it back. And I’m not leaving the area again for at least a month (though the back half of the year is likely to have more travel than I anticipated…)

Last week of paternity leave coming up! The to-do list is laughably almost still as long as it was at the start, but I’ve mostly made my peace with that. If I can play about with a new version of FAISS this week and get my Irish citizenship application underway, I’ll be pretty happy…