Monday, July 21, 2008

Flying High

WE went to Pennsylvania to visit my family. As you know from the earlier post we had the 2nd Annual Stoner Family Reunion. Well Me, Chris, Bethany and Noah flew from Jacksonville, Fl to Pittsburg, Pa for the weekend. Thursday night's flight we arrived at the airport 2 hours before our flight. When we checked into the airport to receive our boarding passes we found out that the flight had been cancelled. Well that stunk. She told us that we could fly out the next morning at 10:22am. I said are you kidding me? My husband went to park the truck and I have two little kids and we are expected tonight. She said let me see what I can do. She said we were a priority because we had two small children. (I don't really believe that is true but it sounded good.) She was able to get us on the 6:15pm to Atlanta and we would be on time to catch our connecting flight. So off we went. I have only flown three times in my life. Once when I was 15 years old with the Uniontown Red Raider Band. I don't really remember alot about the airport. Then twice within the last two years to go home for funerals. Because of this my husband thinks I am an expert flyer. (why the one time he thinks I am an expert about something I am really clueless)He kept asking 'why do we have to take our shoes off, why do we have to show our I.D., He went on and on with the stupid questions. The best was we were on the way to the airport and he was joking about a bomb on the plane. I say you have to stop talking about that because their are signs at the airport that say 'we take security seriously, do not make jokes or comments about bombs' He didn't believe me until I pointed and read the sign out loud.
He whined and whined about having to take his flip flops off and walk were everybody else and been walking with their shoes off. I said shut up when we get past security you can go in the bathroom get a wet paper towel go in the stall shut the door and wash your precious feet. (I don't know if he really did this but I am willing to bet he did)Traveling with my husband is tough. He thinks that everyone should be extra nice to him or he has the right to get in their face. He also thinks just because he says so it should be.
We got to Atlanta without a hitch. However, when we got off the plane we were on the opposite end of the concourse. We were on A30 something and had to get to B33. Well let me tell you it was really really really far. Because of all the delays people were running everywhere. I had never seen it so crowded. Anyway when we got to Atlanta I realized that Noah was running a fever. So, we paid 10.00 for the tiniest bottle of childrens tylenol. We finally get all the way down to B33 and we had to sit on the floor because that's all there was. Right after I gave Noah the children's tylenol the gate sign changed and said that our plane was now going to be at gate B18. Let me just tell you I was tired, and gate B18 was really far away. So, we drug ourselves down there. Chris and Bethany were way ahead of Me and Noah. Noah and I didn't care.
When we got to the gate they told us that our plane was going to be delayed. They at that point didn't really know for how long it could be 4 hours. At that moment I was thinking maybe we should have waited until tomorrow morning like the lady sugguested first. We were delayed for 2 hours
Anyway, there was another plane that was leaving Atlanta going to Pittsburg at gate 16. However there wasn't anyone there. They had been waiting on the plane for a long time. They didn't have clearance for take off.
We finally got on the plane and the pilot came on and said
'Well folks we don't have clearance for take off, so we are going to fly out right behind the other plane that is heading for Pittsburg. I don't want to wait the other plane has been waiting 2 hours for take off. Then we are going to keep it at 22,000 feet all the way to Pittsburg. Also, I know the time for this flight is generally 1 hour and 40 minutes, but today we are going to do it in 1 hour and 12 minutes."
I am not making any of that junk up. It was crazy, but it was late and I just couldn't care about it at the time.

Only Chris and I flew home on Sunday. We got to the airport but due to weather in Atlanta again we were changed to another flight for the next day.
Delta gave us tickets for US Airways for the following day. Because of this we had to have extensive securtiy done. The security was so bad the only good thing was I got to keep my clothes on, but let me tell you she knew every inch of my body. GROSS

it is good to be home. It is good that the kids are all off doing their own things. When they get home it will be time to get back on track.
School is right around the corner.

3 comments:

gigi said...

I've had flights like that before and it's a nightmare. But I think it still beats driving.

g said...

makes ya want to be a world traveler! Better luck on your next flight.

Anonymous said...

you know when we lived in GA I used to travel ALOT and fly alot...and my dad flew my whole life...it's amazing how much the airline industry has changed to the SUCKY side...especially in the last 6 years or so....but hey it sounds like you guys had a great experience