The "Airplane Fiasco" Story
It was an ordinary day. But .... a very stressful one. We left this morning with our friends Barry and Karen W. for St. Martin. Rented a timeshare unit from someone in Lancaster. The unit is in the Pelican Marina complex. Or, at least it used to be called that until a few days ago when they decided to change it. But, that's another story. This story goes like this ....... got up at 3:30 AM and drove to Barry and Karen's house in Rawlinsville. Roads
were wet, but not icy. Did encounter some fog. Barry drove to the Baltimore airport from his house which was fine with me. Arrived at 6:30 AM and found covered parking in the lot next to the airport. We sailed through check-in and security and headed toward our gate with the intention of getting breakfast before we boarded about 8:15 AM. So far, so good. Then, after breakfast we headed to our gate destination. As we were passing an arrivals board, I checked to make sure of the gate and time and there it was. "Flight Canceled." Holy S*#t! Now what do we do. RAN to the gate and asked the person at the counter why the flight was canceled. They told us it was mechanical problems. Then we started with the problems. No wait, the problems started when I saw the arrivals board! US Air told us we would have to fly to Philadelphia and then to St. Martin. "But we just came from that direction in the car," I told her. We were supposed to fly from BWI to Charlotte, then t
o St. Martin. OK, as long as we get there. But, our trip to Phila. wasn't for two more hours and our connecting flight wouldn't get us there till after dark. Didn't like that and told them. Then, the girl said, "OK, see that door over there? Hustle over there and you will leave for Phila. in five minutes." She told us to immediately go to gate A20 when we landed, since she was putting us on an earlier flight to St. Martin. We would have 20 minutes to get to the gate. But, we couldn't take off immediately, since the plane needed de-icing and the line for takeoff was growing. About 20 minutes later we were in the air. Now the ONLY good part of this story is that the four of us were given First Class seats in the plane. For 25 minutes we were treated like Royality. Got to sit in seat 1A!! Got a bottle of wine to drink, but since it was only 8:00 AM I gave it back. I know, I'm nuts. When we landed they immediately got an electric cart for us, since the next gate was on the other side of the airport. After transferring to a second cart, we made it to the gate and saw the frantic look of the gate attendant. The plane was still there, but ready to shut the door. "Quickly, give me your boarding passes," she said. I replied with, "But we don't have any. They didn't have time to print them in Baltimore!" She checked and found we really were on the plane, but there weren't many seats remaini
ng; and they weren't together. Row 31A, B, and C and Row 24F. I told her I would take the 24F and the others could sit together. Didn't even take the trouble to print out the boarding passes. She actually took us to the plane and showed us to our seats. Carol, Karen and Barry went from First Class to the last three seats in the back of the plane. I sat by the emergency door. But, we were flying to St. Martin, so who cares. Arrived 1 1/2 hours earlier then we we originally scheduled to arrive with our old accommodations. That 1 1/2 hours was quickly made up waiting in the Customs line. Seems five planes landed about the same time and we were the last. The line through Customs stretched from one side of the airport to the other. Seems that five planes landed about the same time and we were the last one. But hey, we're in St. Martin. NO SNOW! After Customs we hustled to get our luggage, and then ........ one piece didn't make the journey with us. But, that's another story. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Sorry if I have misspelled words. The Wi-Fi is in Dutch and it tells me that 90% of my words are wrong. Pixs from top are: First Class, Flat Stanley enjoying his ride, and our first meal together. More about that later.
were wet, but not icy. Did encounter some fog. Barry drove to the Baltimore airport from his house which was fine with me. Arrived at 6:30 AM and found covered parking in the lot next to the airport. We sailed through check-in and security and headed toward our gate with the intention of getting breakfast before we boarded about 8:15 AM. So far, so good. Then, after breakfast we headed to our gate destination. As we were passing an arrivals board, I checked to make sure of the gate and time and there it was. "Flight Canceled." Holy S*#t! Now what do we do. RAN to the gate and asked the person at the counter why the flight was canceled. They told us it was mechanical problems. Then we started with the problems. No wait, the problems started when I saw the arrivals board! US Air told us we would have to fly to Philadelphia and then to St. Martin. "But we just came from that direction in the car," I told her. We were supposed to fly from BWI to Charlotte, then t
o St. Martin. OK, as long as we get there. But, our trip to Phila. wasn't for two more hours and our connecting flight wouldn't get us there till after dark. Didn't like that and told them. Then, the girl said, "OK, see that door over there? Hustle over there and you will leave for Phila. in five minutes." She told us to immediately go to gate A20 when we landed, since she was putting us on an earlier flight to St. Martin. We would have 20 minutes to get to the gate. But, we couldn't take off immediately, since the plane needed de-icing and the line for takeoff was growing. About 20 minutes later we were in the air. Now the ONLY good part of this story is that the four of us were given First Class seats in the plane. For 25 minutes we were treated like Royality. Got to sit in seat 1A!! Got a bottle of wine to drink, but since it was only 8:00 AM I gave it back. I know, I'm nuts. When we landed they immediately got an electric cart for us, since the next gate was on the other side of the airport. After transferring to a second cart, we made it to the gate and saw the frantic look of the gate attendant. The plane was still there, but ready to shut the door. "Quickly, give me your boarding passes," she said. I replied with, "But we don't have any. They didn't have time to print them in Baltimore!" She checked and found we really were on the plane, but there weren't many seats remaini
ng; and they weren't together. Row 31A, B, and C and Row 24F. I told her I would take the 24F and the others could sit together. Didn't even take the trouble to print out the boarding passes. She actually took us to the plane and showed us to our seats. Carol, Karen and Barry went from First Class to the last three seats in the back of the plane. I sat by the emergency door. But, we were flying to St. Martin, so who cares. Arrived 1 1/2 hours earlier then we we originally scheduled to arrive with our old accommodations. That 1 1/2 hours was quickly made up waiting in the Customs line. Seems five planes landed about the same time and we were the last. The line through Customs stretched from one side of the airport to the other. Seems that five planes landed about the same time and we were the last one. But hey, we're in St. Martin. NO SNOW! After Customs we hustled to get our luggage, and then ........ one piece didn't make the journey with us. But, that's another story. It was an extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Sorry if I have misspelled words. The Wi-Fi is in Dutch and it tells me that 90% of my words are wrong. Pixs from top are: First Class, Flat Stanley enjoying his ride, and our first meal together. More about that later.
Oh, my, cousin and wife! what a story! glad you made it! I am not sure if I ever met Flat Stanley.....he seems a bit familiar ......like maybe you had a story about him on your blog but as of right now he's new to me and seriously funny. Carry on! S
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