This happened on August 4, 2009. I was flying from Baltimore to Peoria, IL, on Delta Airlines, for a skating contest. The first leg of my flight (connecting in Atlanta) went without incident. But that’s when things turned sour in a hurry.
The plane to Peoria left Atlanta about 45 minutes late. We get about 3/4 of the way to Peoria when the pilot comes on the speaker and says, “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. but we’ve been instructed to return to Atlanta.” Soon as I heard that, I knew it was gonna get ugly.
We got several stories, that there was heavy weather, that there was an equipment problem at the Peoria airport. They put us on a plane to Chicago-Midway, getting in at about 8:45 pm local time. After about 45 minues in the baggage claim at Midway, they load us on a bus for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Peoria. We arrived at the Peoria airport at 12:10 am.
End result: my flight to Peoria took about 13 hours. Just about the amount of time it would’ve taken in a car.
I would like to commend the lady who stayed at the rental counter way past closing to give rental cars to those of us who had reservations. Saved me from having to pay for a cab to get to my hotel.
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