![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhThe icon is in honour of George Gershwin's birthday, which was yesterday. He would have been 106.
What I had planned: Get on a 4pm flight from NY to Atlanta, for business reasons, with my subordinate coworker J. Land around 6:30, check into the hotel, eat dinner, get some sleep, go to a full day of meetings (starting at 9am), and return on the 6:30pm flight tomorrow night.
We left the office at 2:30 to go to the airport. We arrived and found that our flight had been delayed to 4:50. Alas! We check in and head to the airline club room to relax before our flight.
At 4:50, the plane starts boarding. I got on before J, and had settled into my seat, when the captain announces that the Atlanta airport is closed because of the winds of the hurricane, so he's not sure when we're taking off but is being told it will be around 6pm. Some people get off the plane, which we are free to do at this moment. J and I sit on the plane for a bit, then decide to get something to eat, but alas, we have chosen a time to get off the plane when they have decided to reboard the plane. So we sit back down and get ready to leave.
Then they say no, we are not leaving at 6pm after all, but at 7:30. However, they no longer want to let us leave the plane. So they put on the film Dodgeball (which was really, really funny) and we all sit tight and watch. At 7pm they turn off the film and say, yay, we are leaving! So we all get our belts buckled, etc. and get ready to go.
Then the captain gets back on the PA and says, actually, no, we're not leaving, they've pushed us back again, and we'll get another status from the airport at 8pm. Alas! But they do not want to let us off the plane because as soon as we get the word, we're leaving. J and I are pretty hungry. They say, well, you can leave the plane, but what we will do is take you "off" the plane and then put you back "on" the plane when you get back, and we'll leave without you. We decide to take the chance, and run out of the plane to the BK in the terminal, grab food, and run back to the plane with it.
Of course, we sat there for another hour. Hey, at least I saw the end of the movie! We're all hanging out on the plane after the movie is over and a woman from the gate comes on and says, "This plane isn't going anyplace until 9:30. Everyone should take all of their personal belongings and get off the plane." Alas!
J and I grab our stuff and go back to the airline club. We see that all the flights to Atlanta have been cancelled except our flight and two others. We're tired. A 9:30 departure means a midnight arrival in Atlanta, then a dash to the hotel, sleep, and up early for our meetings. I say to J, well, if they push us back any further, we're not going because we won't be well rested at all. (I felt okay about this as we had been down at the client the week before for various meetings, and the other people at our company were doing their meetings on the phone.) J says, "Can we go now?"
At that moment, they announce that our flight and one other have been pushed back to 10pm, and the third one has been cancelled. They also advise that those who want to secure a seat on one of the morning flights should do so now. That was enough for me! I didn't think our flight would ever leave, so J and I leave the airport. I go to the office, email the presentations to our client, call my boss (who was flying in from SF) and tell him the scoop, call my clients, and then go home.
We sat on that plane for three hours--longer than the flight usually is--and we never went anywhere. The flight did eventually take off, at 10:30, which should land around 1am. I plan to be in bed by midnight, myself. I'm exhausted!
What I had planned: Get on a 4pm flight from NY to Atlanta, for business reasons, with my subordinate coworker J. Land around 6:30, check into the hotel, eat dinner, get some sleep, go to a full day of meetings (starting at 9am), and return on the 6:30pm flight tomorrow night.
We left the office at 2:30 to go to the airport. We arrived and found that our flight had been delayed to 4:50. Alas! We check in and head to the airline club room to relax before our flight.
At 4:50, the plane starts boarding. I got on before J, and had settled into my seat, when the captain announces that the Atlanta airport is closed because of the winds of the hurricane, so he's not sure when we're taking off but is being told it will be around 6pm. Some people get off the plane, which we are free to do at this moment. J and I sit on the plane for a bit, then decide to get something to eat, but alas, we have chosen a time to get off the plane when they have decided to reboard the plane. So we sit back down and get ready to leave.
Then they say no, we are not leaving at 6pm after all, but at 7:30. However, they no longer want to let us leave the plane. So they put on the film Dodgeball (which was really, really funny) and we all sit tight and watch. At 7pm they turn off the film and say, yay, we are leaving! So we all get our belts buckled, etc. and get ready to go.
Then the captain gets back on the PA and says, actually, no, we're not leaving, they've pushed us back again, and we'll get another status from the airport at 8pm. Alas! But they do not want to let us off the plane because as soon as we get the word, we're leaving. J and I are pretty hungry. They say, well, you can leave the plane, but what we will do is take you "off" the plane and then put you back "on" the plane when you get back, and we'll leave without you. We decide to take the chance, and run out of the plane to the BK in the terminal, grab food, and run back to the plane with it.
Of course, we sat there for another hour. Hey, at least I saw the end of the movie! We're all hanging out on the plane after the movie is over and a woman from the gate comes on and says, "This plane isn't going anyplace until 9:30. Everyone should take all of their personal belongings and get off the plane." Alas!
J and I grab our stuff and go back to the airline club. We see that all the flights to Atlanta have been cancelled except our flight and two others. We're tired. A 9:30 departure means a midnight arrival in Atlanta, then a dash to the hotel, sleep, and up early for our meetings. I say to J, well, if they push us back any further, we're not going because we won't be well rested at all. (I felt okay about this as we had been down at the client the week before for various meetings, and the other people at our company were doing their meetings on the phone.) J says, "Can we go now?"
At that moment, they announce that our flight and one other have been pushed back to 10pm, and the third one has been cancelled. They also advise that those who want to secure a seat on one of the morning flights should do so now. That was enough for me! I didn't think our flight would ever leave, so J and I leave the airport. I go to the office, email the presentations to our client, call my boss (who was flying in from SF) and tell him the scoop, call my clients, and then go home.
We sat on that plane for three hours--longer than the flight usually is--and we never went anywhere. The flight did eventually take off, at 10:30, which should land around 1am. I plan to be in bed by midnight, myself. I'm exhausted!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-27 08:41 pm (UTC)That sounds like it really sucked.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 04:00 am (UTC)I'm glad you didn't wait....
Date: 2004-09-28 08:01 am (UTC)It was raining cats and dogs in Metro Atlanta. The wind gust was around 40mph and I wouldn't want to think about the turbulence involved in landing.
It was horrible. The place I work at had roof issues. So, most of it our place was leaking all day and got worse after six in the evening.
Actually, the rain didn't stop until midnight. So, there's that.
I'm glad you were smart enough to head back home. Besides, traffic was murder last night. Accidents everywhere.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 01:31 pm (UTC)*hugs* I hope you got some rest.