Fun with aviation

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I have flown many times over the years, but last night was a first for me. I was returning to Las Vegas from Roanoke, VA. My stepdaughter had a campus tour and an interview for admission to the veterinary medicine program at Virginia Tech. On the way back, we had a connection at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. This is where the fun begins.

 

Our flight had a last minute gate change, and boarding began a little late. It was an absolutely full flight, with every seat occupied and at least ten stand-bys waiting for any opening. We sat on the plane at the gate for an hour and 40 minutes because the plane â€‹had not been refueled for the flight. The captain explained that (for reasons unknown to any of us) there were only about half as many fuel trucks at O'Hare as usual, and refueling was taking much longer than normal.

 

I don't blame this on the airline (for the sake of illustration, let's call them United). However, knowing how refueling was going last night, I believe that they exercised less than ideal judgment in boarding the flight when they did.

 

This is the single dumbest thing that I have encountered in all my years of flying.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Blarg]

They made their on time boarding for the records.

[Amazing Larry]

I'm flying in about an hour. I asked my wife a couple minutes ago what airline I was booked on. When replied United I looked at her in a calm, peaceful manner and said "f**k."

[Amazing Larry]

Update: Boarding was supposed to begin 10 minutes ago but the plane isn't here yet.

[gotbeer]

Yeah, I've had one of those incidents Cals.  Flying to Vermont through Philly. 

 

Land in Philly to catch my connecting flight to Vermont.  Crystal clear weather in both Vermont and Philly.  Guess the problem was that the flight out of Virginia or wherever was snowed in.  So it couldn't make it to Philly.  Had to spend 8 hours at the airport waiting for a plane to get there.  When it probably would have been easier to turn back a returning flight, since it couldn't take off to get to Virginia or whatever. 

[gotbeer]

Update: Boarding was supposed to begin 10 minutes ago but the plane isn't here yet.

 

Check with the desk.  I once had that happen to me.  ****ers changed gates on me without announcing it.  Was an hour early to the flight.  Because the shits changed gates after I got my boarding pass, was 2 minutes late, with no overhead compartments available, so had to have my computer in front of me under the seat.  You take those 6 inches for granted, but it sucks if it's taken away.

[Amazing Larry]

Check with the desk. I once had that happen to me. ****ers changed gates on me without announcing it. Was an hour early to the flight. Because the shits changed gates after I got my boarding pass, was 2 minutes late, with no overhead compartments available, so had to have my computer in front of me under the seat. You take those 6 inches for granted, but it sucks if it's taken away.

Thanks for the heads up but I'm at the right gate and the plane is late getting here, but here's the good news... My connecting flight to OC is late too so I should still make it home without having to do anything crazy. This airline is so shitty that it might just work out.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Check with the desk.  I once had that happen to me.  ****ers changed gates on me without announcing it.  Was an hour early to the flight.  Because the shits changed gates after I got my boarding pass, was 2 minutes late, with no overhead compartments available, so had to have my computer in front of me under the seat.  You take those 6 inches for granted, but it sucks if it's taken away.

 

One thing that I have noticed flying over the past 3-4 days is the profound difference that baggage fees have made in how people travel. Everybody carries everything on now, so boarding and deplaning takes twice as long as it used to. On the flight from Chicago to Roanoke, my stepdaughter got to carry on her small case. On the flight from Roanoke to Chicago, the flight attendant wouldn't even let it in the cabin, and she had to green tag it to be kept in the cargo hold until we landed. Same type aircraft on both legs (Embraer 145), and there were fewer people on the return flight to Chicago.. United was offering to check bags for free to keep things out of the cabin. My small cloth zippered bag wound up under the seat in front of me for all four legs, meaning that I had no legroom at all.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Vegas Halo Fan

[mrwicked]

i was stuck on the jetway in f*cking houston texas once, probably 10 years ago.

in a little small plane, where each row is two and two.

for three god damn f*cking hours.

hungover as a mutha f*cka.

in a suit.

in houston JULY heat.

with no A/C.

i must have lost 10 lbs of sweat.

they just would not let anyone off.

people started passing out and finally they let us off.

this was before the "passenger bill of rights" thing they have now.

it was absolute f*cking bullshit and f*ck united.

[Amazing Larry]

i was stuck on the jetway in f*cking houston texas once, probably 10 years ago.

in a little small plane, where each row is two and two.

for three god damn f*cking hours.

hungover as a mutha f*cka.

in a suit.

in houston JULY heat.

with no A/C.

i must have lost 10 lbs of sweat.

they just would not let anyone off.

people started passing out and finally they let us off.

this was before the "passenger bill of rights" thing they have now.

it was absolute f*cking bullshit and f*ck united.

I'm at SFO right now Wicked. Can you pull some strings and get me a free dinner here? TIA

[Blarg]

A few years back I was flying back from Seattle and arrived early at the Airport and went to check in and the person behind the counter said I could board the earlier flight if I wanted to so I thought, great, I get home that much earlier. So off I go about an hour ahead of schedule only to have a stopover in Portland where we are told we will deplane and have to take another flight since this one was hit by lightening. Whew, dodged a bullet there getting on the ground alive.

 

So we sit in Portland waiting for a connecting flight that was only half full due to board soon. Up to the terminal pulls this jet with a huge ass dent in the nosecone. I was thinking, no friggen way, they wrecked our plane. I ask the front counter is that our plane? Some stammering and then, no, our plane is being refueled. Uh, huh.

 

An hour goes by and a jet shows up at our terminal and I think, at last, headed home. But only maintenance guys board the plane. Now they have panels being removed on the jet housing and more time goes by and I'm thinking, what the hell? Soon the little cart shows up and they drag that plane away. More time goes by, the entire concourse is shut down, you can't even get a cup of coffee because... Portland. They also shut off the WiFi for no apparent reason.

 

Five hours after the flight diversion our jet to go home to California shows up. It's the one we deplaned, they put it back into service. So by taking the earlier flight I ended up arriving 5 hours later than if I had waited for my original flight.

[Amazing Larry]

Haha. Classic.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

About 8 years ago, I flew out of PHX back to San Luis Obispo. After I check in at the front counter, I'm told to go to gate 41, as it also says my boarding pass. We're running late, so we sprint to gate 41, hand the gate agent our boarding pass, and find our seats on a small plane.  A few minutes later, an older mexican couple walks to our seat, and in broken english asks where 14A and B are.  I told them we were in 14a & B, they must have made some mistake.  They left, and a few minutes later a flight attendant comes over and looks at our tickets.  Turns out we were on a flight to Fresno instead. There must have been a gate change that check-in didn't know about, and we sprinted to what we thought was the correct gate, only to find out that it was an entirely different flight.

 

Bastards. So we had to sprint again to the correct gate, got on and barely made the flight.  I did feel bad for the Mexican couple, they were probably swearing something about us estupido pinche gringos.

[mrwicked]

man i love SLO.

totally due for a weekend down there.

such great food and wineries.

Edited January 19, 2016 by mrwicked