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bumping

D. C. to Phoenix In Only 24 Hours

November 6, 2009

in Delay Stories

On a flight from Washington D. C. to Phoenix, I experienced a series of fairly normal events that piled up in a comical fashion that resulted in a 24-hour plane flight. It started innocently enough with the plane pulling away from the gate 20 minutes late. We were about fifteenth in line for take-off, so we spent another half-hour or so slowly taxiing our way to the runway. We were about two planes back, when the captain announced that we would be returning to the gate. When we got there, Federal Marshals escorted a father and mother off the plane with their four-day-old infant. Yes, four days old. They had been seated in a two seat row, and the father got irate when he found out that there were only two oxygen masks and he threatened a flight attendant. Since we were still on the ground, the pilot was required to return to the gate and have them arrested. It took half-an-hour to get clearance to leave and we taxied out to wait in line again, and we finally take off about three hours later than we were supposed to.

I had a change of plane in Chicago, but when we got into Chicago airspace we had to circle for about an hour to get a landing spot. Once on the ground, it took another half-an-hour to get a gate. By this time, I’m five hours or so late for my flight to Phoenix, which has long since departed. Everyone on the plane heading to Cedar Rapids and Oshkosh and Billings made their flights, but those of us going to St. Louis, Phoenix, L. A., San Francisco and the like missed our planes, and most of us got a free stay in a hotel.

The next morning, all of the West-bound flights were booked, so I ended up on standby. I got bumped twice and finally got a seat on an 11:00AM flight to Phoenix. The plane pulled away from the gate about 30 minutes late due to a mechanical issue and we taxied about half-way around the airport and got in line for take-off about 20 planes back. We had worked our way up to the front of the line, when the airport closed the runway due to a line of thunderstorms that were in our flight path. We taxied around the airport (and O’Hare is big) to another runway and got in line again. It took another hour to get to the front of the line when the pilot pulled the aircraft out of line and taxied back to the gate. The new take-off heading lengthened our flight path and, with all the taxiing, we didn’t have enough fuel to make it. So, we taxi around the airport again to fuel the plane, then taxied back and got in line for another 40-minute wait. I finally got to Phoenix just about 24 hours after I boarded the plane in D. C. At least my wife and I got free air travel for a vacation out of it.

Tagged as: bumping, delay & cancellation, missed flight, pilot, police

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Plane Backed Into Poop Truck

October 29, 2009

in Airplane Stories

My wife and I were flying from LAX to Tucson labor day weekend about 8 years ago on Southwest. We were already about 45 minutes late before we finally pushed back from the gate. As I watched outside from my window seat just in front of the wing I saw a ramp attendant running towards the back of the plane flailing his arms violently. It was about 2 seconds later that the plane stopped dead in its tracks and about 150 or so passenger necks slammed against the backs of their seats. We sat there for about 20 minutes before the pilot announced that the gate crew had backed the plane up into a lavatory truck puncturing a hole in the rear stabilizer, therefore grounding the plane. 

One-hundred and fifty groans and another 30 minutes later, we all got off the plane and boarded another plane (bumping all the passengers off of that flight). We were 2 1/2 hours late leaving LAX and got to Tucson with no other problems. I still wonder what ever happened of the gate crew who most likely took it in the POOP shoot…(sorry humor isn’t my specialty).

Larry

Tagged as: bumping, delay & cancellation, holiday, southwest airlines

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Passenger’s Spirit Defeated

October 12, 2009

in Delay Stories

I arrived at the Spirit Airline counter at 645AM for a 745AM flight to Boston, MA out of Ft Lauderdale. FL. The rep said sorry you are late and we already sold your seat. They offered to book me on a 10 AM flight for a $50.00 fee, so after arguing to no avail that I was on time I agreed to the next flight. My bags were accepted but when I went to the boarding gate at 930 AM I was told that the flight was booked and I was bumped. I started to cry. The next available flight at at 8PM. After yelling at several representatives again to no avail, I was defeated. My husband got off work at 3PM and picked me up.

I came back to the airport at 7pm, 40 miles from my house. The flight at 8pm was delayed until 10 PM. I was numb by this point. We finally boarded. Keep in mind my bags were already sent earlier in the day to Boston. As we taxied down the runway the flight was aborted. A bird had flown into the right engine while we were still on the ground. I did not blame Spirit for this but it was another hour before we were airborne. I arrived in Boston at 230 AM almost 20 HOURS after first arriving the previous day. And my luggage? No where to be found. To make a long story short, I received a call from Spirit Air 10 days later that my suitcase was found in New York and was now in Ft Lauderdale. To make matters worse, I was told that I had to pick up the suitcase as they do not deliver. On top of all this I was still charged a fee for my lost luggage. I will NEVER fly Spirit again.

Tagged as: animals, baggage, bumping, delay & cancellation, fees, spirit airlines

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Attempting To Get Airborne In Antarctica

May 7, 2009

in Odds & Ends Stories

Having done quite a bit of traveling to date, I’ve experienced a number of oopsies, some the airline’s fault, some a passenger’s fault and some simply an act of God. These include getting hit up for a bribe by airport staff in Belem, Brazil in 1989, taking two days to get from Orlando, FL to Boston, MA during a blizzard, and so on.

However, probably the most fun I’ve had was at the hands of the US Navy when I was trying to leave McMurdo station (in the Antarctic) in 1991.

I was finishing up our second of three field seasons and had, along with my personal gear and some scientific samples, a half ton of seismic equipment that absolutely had to be in Bangladesh within two weeks. Problem was, we were snowed in and the Navy C-130s (outfitted with skis) could not land, and those on the field could not take off.

Finally, after about a week, I was told that I could get on a C-130 and head for New Zealand. My seismic equipment, however, would have to wait for another flight. Granted, in my youth, I was very naïve, but I was not this naïve, so I volunteered to bump myself from the flight and insisted that I not be put on a later flight unless my equipment was loaded as well. This got me a few evil looks from the sergeant in charge of cargo, but as far as I was concerned, I was doing her a favor.

A couple days go by and we’re all scheduled for a departing flight. The same sergeant tells me that she had to bump three people to accommodate my equipment, to which I replied, “I made arrangements for this gear to be flown out of here over a year ago, if you can’t figure out how to manage this in that amount of time, I have no sympathy for you.” Oddly, me, my gear and a couple colleagues make it onto the flight.

Now, the next problem is getting off the ground. The C-130 is overloaded due to the backlog and the runway, which is seasonal ice covered by a fair amount of fresh snow, is not very slick (remember that these are C-130 Hercules specially equipped with skis). We hear the engines rev and we roll. The only points of reference on the all-white terrain are a set of numbered flags, counting down from ten to one. Flag number one approaches and the pilot hits the brakes, does a one-eighty, and we roll again, with similar results. This performance repeats several times with one brief moment of optimism when the pilot actually manages to rotate the C-130, only to have the nose-gear hit the runway with a disappointing “thud.”

Enter the load master.

Typically, the load-master on a C-130 is a short, barrel-chested senior enlisted person of the male half of the human species; he doesn’t talk much, but he does a great job intimidating people with oh-so-harsh-but-subtle expressions. Ironically, he must have called in sick today because our load-master on this particular flight was the one and only female load-master in a ten-thousand mile radius.

…did I mention that she was in dire need of a sedative?

Chipper, happy, cheerful – a real pain in the posterior. She asked me and a colleague if we would mind coming aft with her. She then points at the loading ramp and asks if we would mind climbing as far up it as possible, preferably so we ended up right under the tail of the aircraft. This was to get some more weight aft and hopefully help the C-130 rotate and then get airborne. Naturally, there was nothing to strap ourselves to, so all we could do was grab something, anything, and hope that it wasn’t a 600 volt conduit (electrical, hydraulic and other critical parts are exposed as there is no decorative bulkheads in military aircraft). After a couple more runs down the runway, we finally get airborne.

On returning to my seat another of my travelling companions tells me that had we not made it into the air on that last attempt that the ground crew was going to strap some JATOs to the fuselage. These are solid rocket boosters and the C-130 can take up to (at least) eight of them, four per side. While this is great for giving an overloaded brute the kick it needs to get airborne, JATOs do have the unfortunate habit of exploding once in a while.

We make the (normally) eight hour return trip to Christchurch, New Zealand in no less than nine hours – and we had a tailwind!

Naturally, anyone in the military must have stories that far outstrip my own experience.

Tagged as: bumping, military, runway, weather

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Overloaded & Underserved

October 13, 2008 Airplane Stories

This isn’t my experience, but it was shared with me the other day by a couple I know.
They are both disabled and cannot drive, and they were going to a banquet in a city four hours’ drive to the south of ours. They took another friend with them to assist them. They flew American, because [...]

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Holy Bovine!

November 16, 2007 Luggage Stories

Air India: Holy Cow! (Pun intended.)
I just flew them from Newark to Paris.
1. On arrival, my luggage was delayed by TWO HOURS.
2. On departure, the flight from Paris was delayed by FIVE HOURS, leaving me to miss my connection to SFO.
3. At Newark, I had to spend TWO HOURS waiting on line (once I figured [...]

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