Friday, June 2, 2006

I’m destined to never have a good flight…

I just wanted to throw in a quick entry regarding my flight home. No, it’s not as bad as the last time I flew to the Twin Cities, but it also wasn’t flawless. Surprisingly, the flight from Aberdeen to Amsterdam was good, and we even arrived about fifteen minutes early. The actual flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis was likewise pleasant and uneventful, and we arrived at MSP about thirty minutes early. We taxied to the terminal and the seatbelt sign was turned off, so everybody got up to collect their belongings. I was just about to issue forth a decree that this had been an uneventful flight (for a change) and that my luck must be changing. However, at that precise moment the captain’s voice came over the speakers to say that they were having some slight problems getting the walkway connected to the plane and that it would be just a few minutes more. Alright, so it’s not like the plane was on fire or any big problem like that, but this was an anomaly nonetheless. I would have been prepared to forgive and forget this small incident just then, but not now. Ten minutes later the captain again came on the speakers and said that they were still having problems and that there were numerous mechanics working on the problem but they still couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He mentioned that it was an ordeal to try and hook up a tow to move us to a different terminal, and that regardless there were only a few limited terminals that could even accommodate an airplane of our size, so we were going to continue to wait it out for a bit. I would like to interject here just to point out that by this time we had been standing in the isles with our luggage for the past fifteen minutes, and as the aircraft had been powered down by now, the plane was turning into a heated sardine can. Everybody was sweaty and restless, but still we waited. Ten minutes later the captain came over the speakers for the third time to reiterate that people were still working on the problem, and this was highly unusual, but the walkway just wouldn’t move the last two or three feet to the airplane. By this time I was willing to risk the gap and jump the damn thing! It was roasting in our little metal can and I had been awake and traveling for the last fifteen hours and just wanted off! We looked out the windows and saw that our luggage had been removed from the airplane…what a great feeling to know that my own luggage had been freed from the broiling hell of the airplane before myself! I was getting very antsy by this time, as you can probably imagine. Finally, at about 3:20pm (approximately forty minutes after arriving, and ten minutes after our originally scheduled arrival time) the doors swung open and we were allowed to leave the airplane. *Sigh* Am I cursed with regard to airplanes, or is this just some monumental unfunny cosmic joke on my behalf? I used to adore traveling by plane, but lately I have seriously been rethinking this.

Back to main page