09-04-2014, 11:41 AM
I had an interesting experience getting back home from the USA. I had 3 planes to catch, but this only affected the first flight leaving from Louisville.
The Story of the Cursed Flight
as I said, I needed to get from Louisville to Los Angeles to catch the final leg of my journey back home to Sydney.
I was originally scheduled to fly out to New York (JFK Airport) at 1pm on the Tuesday. That was how it was when I booked the flights about 5 months ago, and even with all the various timing updates that I received (an adjustment of ten or twenty minutes here and there) I was going to get to LAX via JFK Airport. That was my understanding anyway, when I got to Louisville airport to begin my long trek home (a 24 hour trip end-to-end).
well, I get to the self-check-in machine, and scan my passport. To my surprise, I find that I am going through Atlanta rather than JFK. No probs there. This will just be a reverse of the way that I flew in. But the flight that I am booked on leaves at 2pm rather than the 1pm I was expecting, so I have an hour extra wait. That's cool too. I don't mind waiting. It's just an opportunity for further introspection and quiet observation. So I end up rocking up to the waiting area around noon, with a 2 hour wait. Cool beans.
The plane arrives, we board, and we get airbourne. No probs there. About 20 minutes from landing time, the Captain informs us that there is a problem. Apparently, a big storm is sitting right over Atlanta Airport, and landings are not possible. This is the start of the chain of events I call 'The Cursed Flight'.
Ideally, we would hold a circling pattern around Atlanta until the storm passes, and then planes would be cleared to land. Unfortunately, we don't have enough fuel on board to stay in the air long enough to meet our place in the queue. We have to be diverted to another airstrip, and then take on board fuel before coming back to Atlanta. The pilot takes us to Huntsville, Alabama.
We land at that airstrip, and there are already 2 other planes requiring refuels as well. We join that queue.
When it comes to our turn, and tanker empties everything it's got, and we get to 18000 gallons of fuel. The Captain says we need 20000 gallons to make the trip back to Atlanta, and so we are just short. We have to wait for another fuel truck to come out. That's more time passing in addition to the above delays.
When we finally get enough fuel, and are ready to take-off, we get delayed another 12 minutes because the on-board flight computer has sent through the wrong weight information to the air-traffic control folks. We miss our scheduled take-off spot, and are sitting on the tarmac for a little while longer.
We do finally get airborne, and make it back to Atlanta. When we land, the Captain says that some other plane has taken our docking port, and we have to taxi around to another terminal so that the passengers can disembark. So we have the situation of a large plane driving around very slowly, and looking both ways before crossing the road into some other space (I'm sure it was all guided by the ground-control folks though).
We do finally make it into large space at Atlanta Airport, and I have to find a Delta agent (I flew Delta) to reschedule, because I missed the connecting flight to LAX by over 2 hours. All the readjustments are handled by computer - to find the optimal connections - but I did end up having to confirm by one of the phones they have available, and that wasn't the easiest experience trying to hear someone talk in the middle of a crowded area of other people who have also missed their connections (plus all the background noise of announcements and the general flow of people through the concourse).
that get's confirmed, and I hurry to get my flight to LAX. When I get there, they are just boarding, but there are a lot of other people who have been rescheduled to that flight as well, because the storm earlier had affected a bunch of other people too. I manage to get on board, but the take-off time is delayed because so many other people are being redirected to that flight as well.
Atlanta to LAX flight goes well (no curse), and when we touch down after 4 hours, I have to race to the international gate for my Sydney flight. Luckily, it was only like 10 gates from where I had disembarked at LAX, and they have already boarded half the passengers for that flight. When they scan my boarding pass, it comes up with a big red light, and a buzzing saying something is wrong. Am I ever going to make it on board this flight??
the person working that station types all this random stuff into various unix-style windows, and I finally get a new boarding pass, with a slightly moved seat. And I do finally get on board, and make the final 14.5 hour trip flight back to my hometown of Sydney, Australia. The flight from LA left at 1030pm, and we got into Sydney at 630am (but not the next day, the day after), so they kept the cabin dark most of the time, apart from meal times, to simulate the effect of one very LONG night and sleeping session. It worked pretty well actually. That final trip was pretty effortless.
- -
if I had originally gone the route of flying back via New York (rather than the mess that was Atlanta) maybe there wouldn't have been any dramas. I don't know. I don't even know why I got rescheduled like that. But it was a fun experience of the 'cursed flight', and I eventually got the two subsequent connecting flights with the barest of margins. I did contemplate having to spend the night in LA if I missed that final 1030pm flight out, but I didn't invest a lot of thought power into that. I had my credit card, and I'm sure something would have been arranged to fly out the next day if that happened.
I thought it was quite neat that I stayed pretty balanced throughout (regards things and situations and circumstances outside of my direct influence) when 10 years ago I would have become much more anxious and started entertaining all sorts of negative scenarios.
It was a good 'test' overall, but it certainly felt pretty good when I sat myself down on that final flight home. By the barest of margins, I had gotten to that seat
The Story of the Cursed Flight
as I said, I needed to get from Louisville to Los Angeles to catch the final leg of my journey back home to Sydney.
I was originally scheduled to fly out to New York (JFK Airport) at 1pm on the Tuesday. That was how it was when I booked the flights about 5 months ago, and even with all the various timing updates that I received (an adjustment of ten or twenty minutes here and there) I was going to get to LAX via JFK Airport. That was my understanding anyway, when I got to Louisville airport to begin my long trek home (a 24 hour trip end-to-end).
well, I get to the self-check-in machine, and scan my passport. To my surprise, I find that I am going through Atlanta rather than JFK. No probs there. This will just be a reverse of the way that I flew in. But the flight that I am booked on leaves at 2pm rather than the 1pm I was expecting, so I have an hour extra wait. That's cool too. I don't mind waiting. It's just an opportunity for further introspection and quiet observation. So I end up rocking up to the waiting area around noon, with a 2 hour wait. Cool beans.
The plane arrives, we board, and we get airbourne. No probs there. About 20 minutes from landing time, the Captain informs us that there is a problem. Apparently, a big storm is sitting right over Atlanta Airport, and landings are not possible. This is the start of the chain of events I call 'The Cursed Flight'.
Ideally, we would hold a circling pattern around Atlanta until the storm passes, and then planes would be cleared to land. Unfortunately, we don't have enough fuel on board to stay in the air long enough to meet our place in the queue. We have to be diverted to another airstrip, and then take on board fuel before coming back to Atlanta. The pilot takes us to Huntsville, Alabama.
We land at that airstrip, and there are already 2 other planes requiring refuels as well. We join that queue.
When it comes to our turn, and tanker empties everything it's got, and we get to 18000 gallons of fuel. The Captain says we need 20000 gallons to make the trip back to Atlanta, and so we are just short. We have to wait for another fuel truck to come out. That's more time passing in addition to the above delays.
When we finally get enough fuel, and are ready to take-off, we get delayed another 12 minutes because the on-board flight computer has sent through the wrong weight information to the air-traffic control folks. We miss our scheduled take-off spot, and are sitting on the tarmac for a little while longer.
We do finally get airborne, and make it back to Atlanta. When we land, the Captain says that some other plane has taken our docking port, and we have to taxi around to another terminal so that the passengers can disembark. So we have the situation of a large plane driving around very slowly, and looking both ways before crossing the road into some other space (I'm sure it was all guided by the ground-control folks though).
We do finally make it into large space at Atlanta Airport, and I have to find a Delta agent (I flew Delta) to reschedule, because I missed the connecting flight to LAX by over 2 hours. All the readjustments are handled by computer - to find the optimal connections - but I did end up having to confirm by one of the phones they have available, and that wasn't the easiest experience trying to hear someone talk in the middle of a crowded area of other people who have also missed their connections (plus all the background noise of announcements and the general flow of people through the concourse).
that get's confirmed, and I hurry to get my flight to LAX. When I get there, they are just boarding, but there are a lot of other people who have been rescheduled to that flight as well, because the storm earlier had affected a bunch of other people too. I manage to get on board, but the take-off time is delayed because so many other people are being redirected to that flight as well.
Atlanta to LAX flight goes well (no curse), and when we touch down after 4 hours, I have to race to the international gate for my Sydney flight. Luckily, it was only like 10 gates from where I had disembarked at LAX, and they have already boarded half the passengers for that flight. When they scan my boarding pass, it comes up with a big red light, and a buzzing saying something is wrong. Am I ever going to make it on board this flight??
the person working that station types all this random stuff into various unix-style windows, and I finally get a new boarding pass, with a slightly moved seat. And I do finally get on board, and make the final 14.5 hour trip flight back to my hometown of Sydney, Australia. The flight from LA left at 1030pm, and we got into Sydney at 630am (but not the next day, the day after), so they kept the cabin dark most of the time, apart from meal times, to simulate the effect of one very LONG night and sleeping session. It worked pretty well actually. That final trip was pretty effortless.
- -
if I had originally gone the route of flying back via New York (rather than the mess that was Atlanta) maybe there wouldn't have been any dramas. I don't know. I don't even know why I got rescheduled like that. But it was a fun experience of the 'cursed flight', and I eventually got the two subsequent connecting flights with the barest of margins. I did contemplate having to spend the night in LA if I missed that final 1030pm flight out, but I didn't invest a lot of thought power into that. I had my credit card, and I'm sure something would have been arranged to fly out the next day if that happened.
I thought it was quite neat that I stayed pretty balanced throughout (regards things and situations and circumstances outside of my direct influence) when 10 years ago I would have become much more anxious and started entertaining all sorts of negative scenarios.
It was a good 'test' overall, but it certainly felt pretty good when I sat myself down on that final flight home. By the barest of margins, I had gotten to that seat
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