The Pilot Did What...?

Last week we flew to Virginia to visit our son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Jack had just turned one so we helped him celebrate. We did some of the touristy things like visit Old Town Alexandria, the Spy Museum and the Roosevelt Monument. Jerry and I have been to the DC area many times so on this visit we mainly wanted to spend time with this little family.

After such a fun visit with them our return trip home was anything but!!! We got to the airport, got on our plane and sat on the tarmac for over an hour. Bad weather was all around so some flights were being delayed or diverted and we had to wait our turn. Finally our plane started moving and then stopped. A little while later the pilot came on and told us he had run off the tarmac. He said someone would have to come and tow us. As it turned out, we were so stuck in the mud that the plane couldn't be towed out. We had to walk down steps in the rain with our carry-on luggage and board buses that took us back to the airport.

Once we got back inside it was pretty much chaos. So many people (not just our flight)had to rebook that the line to get to the customer service counter was LONG!!! We waited an hour in this line to rebook a flight home. We found out that Delta had brought over another plane that could take us back to MPLS. the same night. Yay!

We finally boarded that plane (we were late boarding for some reason) only to sit on this plane for an hour. It needed more fuel in case we ran into bad weather and had to fly around it. Everyone on the plane was thinking, "you've got to be kidding!"

Finally we got to take off and our flight home was uneventful. As it turns out, Delta sent each of us an email telling us they were giving us Frequent Flyer miles for our trouble. It's nice to see that they could do that on their own without us having to complain. Although they did get some bad press (friends told us they saw the plane stuck in the mud on the news)it helps to have good customer service!

All in all, the people on the plane were good sports. There was some laughing (it just seemed crazy that a pilot could drive off the tarmac)and joking at the pilot's expense. Everyone was pretty courteous to one another and tried to be helpful. There were a lot of stressed people that missed their connecting flights and some families with small children. Some of us were thinking a little libation would have helped some of the stress!!

I'll chock this up to another flying adventure. It's not my favorite thing to do but it's the best way to get to see little Jack. As long as we got safely home, it will be forgotten. Do you have any crazy flying stories?