Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Flight Problems

Who here has slept in an airport? Me! me! I'll admit, my "first time" was a result of poor planning... flying into Christ Church, New Zealand with no prior lodging bookings on the final afternoon of the Speights Coast to Coast triathalon.

However, my last opportunity to cuddle-up against an aging rough carpet and strips of chairs with stationary armrests was certainly not my own doing. As a keen airplane passenger, I always make sure to have at least 45 min. in between connecting flights at an absolute minimum. An hour and a half is perfect. When booking my most recent Las Vegas excursion (I keep talking about it, but I've really only been there twice in the past few months), I flew through Houston. Little did I know that my 1.5 hr layover would turn into a 7 hr overnight one, with no reimbursement or gifts from my airline!

Picture this: I board my flight 30 min. after the expected departure time, along with a schoolgroup of about 40 8th graders. Lucky me got to sit in front, behind, and next to them. Then we proceed to sit on the runway for 3.5 hours... without AC so that we can conserve fuel, avoiding a return to the gate. 3.5 hours in a plane with 40 eighth graders, people!

Eventually we do actually leave La Guardia, arriving in Houston at 12:15am, 3 hours after anticipated arrival, and well after any remaining departures from IAH. What's a girl gonna do when Continental Airlines informs me and about 15 others that because the problem was "Air Traffic Control" and not the airline, there will be no vouchers of any kind! Of course, she's going to find her next gate, rest her head on her purse, and try to drift in and out in a vacant airport terminal. I would have much rather been hitting the clubs in Sin City.

Check out what Wikipedia has to say about Air Traffic "Ground Control." It sucks, but what are you gonna do?

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