If there is ever a reason to fly into your port of departure at least a day early, this article will convince you.
Air India blew a tire on take off from LA and circled the airport and landed, Hours later, the next plane was ready for take off, but they couldn't get one of the engines started. The passengers sat on the tarmac for almost 5 hours before calling the flight off.
They were taken to a hotel where most of them did not get into a room until 4am. The third flight attempt was supposed to depart around noon or so, but didn't actually take off until 4:30pm, some 45 hours after the original flight.
Passengers had little sleep and were understandably grumpy.
Here is a link to the entire article that appeared in the L.A. Times.
If there is ever a reason to fly into your port of departure at least a day early, this article will convince you.
Air India blew a tire on take off from LA and circled the airport and landed, Hours later, the next plane was ready for take off, but they couldn't get one of the engines started. The passengers sat on the tarmac for almost 5 hours before calling the flight off.
They were taken to a hotel where most of them did not get into a room until 4am. The third flight attempt was supposed to depart around noon or so, but didn't actually take off until 4:30pm, some 45 hours after the original flight.
Passengers had little sleep and were understandably grumpy.
Here is a link to the entire article that appeared in the L.A. Times.
Wow! What a story. I would have been long gone with alternate arrangements. Pity the poor flight attendants on that last plane. I cannot abide incompetence when it comes to customer service. Leaving those people on the plane for 5 hours is unacceptable.
Tom, I heard a story that will sound too familiar, just a couple of weeks ago.
I was waiting to board a plane from Ft. Lauderdale to Washington DC on December 4. That morning in the northeast, there had been wintry weather. A plane arrived at 3:30pm while I was sitting there. Everyone came off the plane talking on their cell phones and looking terrible.
One woman walked past me and I asked her where the plane was coming from. She said New York, and they had been onboard for 8 hours. The plane was due to leave La Guardia at 7:30am, arriving around 10:30am into Ft. Lauderdale. She said they waited 90 minutes to go through the de-icing line. At that point, the Captain got on the speaker and said they now needed to get more fuel before taking off. They then waited another 90 minutes for the refueling truck to come out to them, but the truck never arrived. So at around 11:00am, the Captain got back on the loudspeaker and said they are taking off from La Guardia and landing in Islip, Long Island, to re-fuel. And that's what they did, finally taking off from Islip around 12:30pm.
Many people on the plane were going on cruises. The ones leaving from Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale were upset, as you're supposed to be onboard by 4pm. The passengers leaving from the Port of Miami were panic striken. This was a very popular start-up airline, and I suspect ALL of these people had made their air arrangements on their own. As you know, the cruise lines assume no responsibility if you miss the ship due to an airline problem if you did not book your tickets through the cruise line.
Just another reason to consider flying to your port of embarkation a day early, especially in winter!
Friends of mine were flying from the Netherlands to Flordia.
They had some technical problems during the flight and had to land on a military airport in Greenland, where they waited the whole night until another airplane came. Not enough seats, nothing to eat and of corse, everybody totally upset.
And that was the beginning of their honeymoon.
I have clients who were flying from New York to Israel, usually a non-stop flight to Tel Aviv. On the outbound leg, there was an announcement that they had to make a stop in London due to a medical emergency. Turns out there was a troublemaker on the flight, someone allegedly on drugs, whom they wanted to let off the plane.
On the return trip, there was an annoucement made that they had to make a stop in London, due to a medical emergency. What are the chances? When my clients were getting off the plane, they discovered that the medical emergency was for -- the pilot!! He'd had an appendicitis attack and needed an emergency appendectomy. They had to overnight in London to wait for a fresh crew to arrive to fly the plane back to New York.
Just another reason to consider flying to your port of embarkation a day early, especially in winter!
Don't forget that cruise ships can also run late due to weather or other problems. Maybe that's a good reason to consider flying home a day LATER ?????
We regularly cruise P&O ex Southampton and arrange our own air travel. A night in a good Southampton hotel before and after the cruise makes for a longer vacation and certainly is a safer option!
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