Washington DC - day 1

What a miserable day. I woke up Monday morning looking forward to a nice relaxing morning at home before I headed for the airport to catch my flight for Washington at 1:12. The weather was very strange for San Diego, it was pouring rain. That happens sometimes during December, January and February. I turned the sprinklers to standby and started packing. I have my account with United set up so that they send me text messages giving me updates regarding my flight. About 8:40 I got a text message from United telling me that my flight had been delayed and we were now leaving about 1:40. I wasn't too worried figuring this just gave me more time at home with my darling wife. About a half hour later I got another text message telling me that I was now delayed to around 3:02. I then got another text at 9:43 telling me that the flight was delayed to 3:19.

I then decided that I had time to stop by Hi-Z (a company where I consult) on my way to the airport. While there I got even more text's so I stayed even longer. I finally got to the airport and as I settled down at the gate to read my book I heard an announcement saying that a plane had just missed his landing because of the fog. I was glad to realize that "missing your landing" didn't mean that he had crashed. That flight got diverted to LA. Ten minutes later they announced again that our flight was approaching and if he made his landing then we would leave right away, if he "missed" his landing then we'd have to wait and see. I prayed we had a good pilot who could land in the fog. Luckily we did. We boarded our flight and after what seemed like a very long time we taxied out to the end of the runway where we sat for nearly an hour. Finally they announced that we had mechanical problems and we had to head back to the gate for the mechanic to look at it.

Here are a list of my text messages from Monday:

time new departure time
8:17 1:12 on time
8:40 2:40
9:14 3:02
9:43 3:19
10:32 3:57
12:48 4:15
3:55 4:35 we got on the plane
5:36 6:15 we came back to the gate but still on the plane
5:48 6:45
6:45 7:00
6:55 7:30
7:25 7:45
7:55 8:00
8:14 8:20

At one point they felt sorry for us so they went into the terminal and bought all of the pizza's that were available. They came down the isle handing out pieces of pizza and they gave the last piece to the person right in front of me. I was so upset but I remained calm and polite. I assured the poor flight attendant that it was fine but all the while I wanted to ring her neck. She even offered me a free drink but I told her a glass of water would do.

We finally left around 8:30 and landed in Dulles at 3:30 in the morning. I caught a taxi (I was way too tired to bother with a bus) a little after 4:00 and I walked into my room right around 5:00. I am so glad my meetings don't start until noon.

On the bus to the main terminal I heard the pilot talking to a friend. Apparently we had two problems that were completely independent of each other. One problem was with the reverse thrusters and the second problem was the back up control system for one of the engines. I guess I shouldn't complain because I remember a flight off the coast of Newfoundland that went down when a reverse thruster accidentally switched on. That would not be fun. I'm here and I'm on time for my meetings. I'm grateful.

There are two good things that came out of this. One - the plane was not full and I had my whole row to myself. That is good since I was on that plane for eight hours with no food. Two - they told us to go to www.united.com/appreciation for a gift. I just checked it out and I can either get $150 towards a united ticket or 5,000 air miles. I think the money is the better deal.