Weather Woes

June 25, 2010

in Weather Stories

My mother in law bought my husband and I tickets to see her in Wyoming. The day of the flight the weather took a turn for the worse. The plane was over an hour late leaving Denver. Once we were finally able to board, the visibility was at minimum. I wasn’t too worried about that. We had a female pilot that really had good work ethic and I had complete faith in.

The flight into Denver was uneventful. We looked at the screen to see which gate our next flight took off from. It was delayed 3 hours. We sat and waited with our fussy 20 month old daughter. My husband went to look to see if it was delayed anymore, and it said it was canceled. My husband went and talked to the people in charge, and they said they said there was freezing rain at the airport we were supposed to fly into, and that they couldn’t issue a hotel voucher for “weather related” cancellations. I had my laptop with me and I pulled up the weather for our destination; it was 25 degrees and clear. They threw in the bad weather to get out of hotel vouchers. Then to add insult to injury, they told us to take our baggage tags down to the baggage claim and they would have our luggage ready in about 2 more hours (note that it was already 11 pm). We waited the 2 hours, and then my husband went to talk to the person in baggage to ask about it and turns out they never took our baggage off and they weren’t going to either. United had booked us new tickets for 2 days later (Christmas day), so we were stuck without clothes and diapers and my husband’s medication. My mother in law ended up coming to Denver to pick us up so we wouldn’t have to wait.

That was just the way down! Then on the way back, we were stuck on the Dash-8. I’m not big on turboprop planes to begin with. We were the first flight of the day so the pilot had to “test” the engines and the plane was sitting there pulled back from the gate just rocking like crazy. It was slightly windy when we took off, but it was a relatively smooth flight until we neared Denver. Then we hit the worst turbulence I had ever seen! The plane was rocking and shaking and then we took two big drops, probably 200 feet or so at a time. Finally after about ten minutes it started to smooth out and was pretty calm the rest of the final approach. After that, the final leg of our flight home was smooth. I got to sit back and relax and was happy to be back on the CRJ200 again. I will never fly on a Dash-8 again; I’ll drive before I ever fly on one of those.

{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }

Jody June 25, 2010 at 1:46 am

Bumpy weather is normal when flying through Denver — doesn't matter if it's cloudy or clear, it's because of the mountains.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:08 am

True, but our trip down didn't have any turbulence going into Denver, and it was snowy and windy. On our way back through it was clear but turbulent. It made no sense. The only difference was the type of plane.

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madachode June 25, 2010 at 4:30 am

Why didn't you just say 2 year old instead of 20 month old you nutjob? Next time stay home if you can't handle flying on a free ticket.

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Jodi June 29, 2010 at 9:13 am

Maybe because 20 months does NOT equal 2 years.. last I checked that's 24 months.. Maybe you should go back to school… oh wait.. you probably are still IN school.. since you're acting like a 3rd grader having a fit by attacking her for stating the age of her child HOWEVER SHE WISHES.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:09 am

Exactly Jodi. Luckily my daughter who is now 2 1/2 LOVES airplanes, so that flight didn't unnerve her at all!

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Morgan September 21, 2010 at 4:16 pm

madachode, are you really this miserable?

Grow up!!!

We all know that you're a pimpled face little kid that gets a thrill from calling grown ups names. Does your Mother know how you talk to grown ups on the computer?

I hope that one day you will grow into a mature individual & make something out of yourself.

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David June 25, 2010 at 5:37 am

You trust the weather channel? I never trust them since they make chances which are normally 50/50 at best

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:10 am

I didn't say weather channel. I get my weather info from the NWS.

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rerere June 25, 2010 at 5:38 am

Hey, don't be going off about the Dash-8. That is a great plane.

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The Logger June 25, 2010 at 6:03 am

I love the Dash-8

It's what flying used to be like.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:21 am

That's what flying used to be like? Not hardly. Even the Comet was bigger than the Dash-8.

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rerere September 21, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Stop spamming, come back when you are a little more educated about aircraft

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Tina October 1, 2010 at 12:34 pm

rerere, I wrote this story so ya might not want to tell me what I'm talking about. The Dash-8-200 seats 37. The Comet used to seat 44. Want to tell me again that I don't know anything about aircrafts?

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Tina October 1, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Also, rerere, they were both made by the same company, de Havilland, who's name changed to Bombardier. If I were you, I'd think about shutting up now.

Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:18 am

Are you talking about the small Dash 8 or the large Dash-8? I was on the Dash-8 200. Obviously a bigger one would handle anything better than the smaller one.

I'll still stick to the CRJ-200, thank you!

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karrie June 25, 2010 at 12:12 pm

Seriously people, if you have nothing nice to say how about don't say anything at all!

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D-Money June 25, 2010 at 2:09 pm

Uh, why in the hell did you put "medication" into a checked bag?

If you have a 20 month old crap-factory, where is the diaper bag? Did you check that too?

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Tom June 25, 2010 at 4:38 pm

My thoughts exactly. Most thinking people will pack a few clothes and toiletry supplies in their carry on knowing that sometimes things like this happen.

Oh yeah, didn't you know the Dash 8 is the ONLY airplane on which you will feel turbulence? All the other planes have a button the pilot can hit to make it stop. So flying on all other planes besides the Dash 8 will solve your problem.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:24 am

Oh yes Tom, Isn't that the truth. NOT. I know all planes experience turbulence at one point or another, but some more than others. When was the last time YOU flew on a puddle jumper? You're probably one of those City boys that hasn't seen a plane smaller than a 747.

I hope to never intersect with you on any of my future flights.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:13 am

At 20 months old a kid doesn't need that much stuff. I had 12 diapers packed which should have been more than enough. She just happened to catch a bug that we didn't know about until we were on the plane. We've never had problems with our luggage before.

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Love It! June 25, 2010 at 5:32 pm

No sympathy for you whatsoever. First, weather is not always accurate when you check the internet. Cancellation depends on actual conditions, not reported conditions. I've been in a snow storm when weather.com is reporting overcast.

Second, you checked medication and diaper bag? Try being responsible. I'm not the best when packing extra clothes in my carry-on, but ALWAYS keep your medication on you and what kind of parent doesn't keep diapers with him/her? Last time I checked, diapers existed for a reason…

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:14 am

Not the diaper bag, Duche. We had a whole bag of diapers. Ya know… Fresh from the store? I had 12 packed. That for her is 3 days worth.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:28 am

Oh, Also, When I talked to the lady at the airport at my destination, she also said that there was no freezing rain. They had closed because no one wanted to stay there to keep the airport open until midnight. Not only do I fully trust the weather from the NWS, but I trust my Mother in law who lives blocks from the airport who said that the sky was clear, and there was no freezing anything!

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Salamandra June 25, 2010 at 10:24 pm

Another history from an irresponsible mother, and to add insult to the injury they were free tickets. You are a bratt rude free loader.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:30 am

How am I irresponsible for packing 3 days worth of diapers? Should I have packed enough for a full year? Would that make me more responsible?

Yes, the tickets were free to us, but they weren't free to my inlaws that paid for them. Try getting your facts strait.

Try posting another comment when you get out of elementary school and are able to comprehend anything.

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HB June 26, 2010 at 11:28 pm

Hey there,

Don't knock Dash-8 planes! I fly them about 120 times per year, and they can land in conditions and on runways that jets can't… Many a time I've been able to get home because I've been booked on a Dash-8, when people booked on a jet have been stranded at the airport.

They are small, however, I'll grant you that.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:33 am

Unfortunately, The Dash-8 was the plane that we were supposed to be on from Denver to Casper, but we couldn't take off due to the weather in Denver.

Yes, They are small. Very very very small….

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Jim June 29, 2010 at 1:00 am

If you had actually dropped 200 feet it would have felt a lot worse than turbulence.

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Laura June 30, 2010 at 3:19 am

I guess 200 was the "impressive sounding" number that came out of the lottery machine when she made this up

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:15 am

Not made up in the least. I can name you other people from this flight that will verify it.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 2:16 am

It was very turbulent before we started dropping. It was bouncing and rocking for about 10 minutes before we started dropping.

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Jodi June 29, 2010 at 9:15 am

So.. all you top-notch parents pack ALL your diapers in your carry-on for a week or 3 day trip? Seriously? RIGHT! None of you are adults so you can't have kids.. GROW UP and stop bashing everything just be bashing. Geesh

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Mabel August 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm

Always, always pack your medication in your carryon. That way if this happens you will have it with you.

I carry a set of clothes too, just in case.

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Tina September 21, 2010 at 3:36 am

My husband had packed an extra day's worth of meds with him in the carry on, but we were stuck with out our luggage for an extra 2 days beyond that because they made it to Casper before we did, and we got to Casper after the airport closed for the night.

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