We just got back from a 10 day vacation late Sunday night. Four days in Florida and a 1 week Caribbean cruise. Our airport has an Autism program so check-in,
security and customs all went smoothly.
The
plane was a 787 so very spacious and in-seat monitors with movies that R likes! BONUS!!
We
even managed to leave on time. Say what??? In 5-1/2 hours we would be in sunny
Florida. We must be living right.
Until…
An
announcement…
*dialogue is not
verbatim and times are approximate*
About
30 minutes into our flight…
Captain: I’m sure some of you are aware there is a
problem with the lavatories. We are working on getting them fixed and will keep
you updated. In the meantime, please refrain from using them.
15
minutes later…
Captain:
We are trying our best to get the
lavatories up and running remotely and are in contact with our maintenance people. They are doing their best and we will keep you updated.
Another
15 minutes later…
Captain: Well it looks like we are not able to fix the
problem remotely so we are going to have to turn back as it is too far to continue
without lavatories. In the meantime, if you need to use the lavatories you may
do so but you will not be able to flush them.
Yup...that’s
what he said. "NOT BE ABLE TO FLUSH THEM!" Or words to that effect. Pretty sure everybody on that plane was thinking about having to go to the bathroom at that point. So an hour+ into the flight we had to turn around and head back
to where we started from.
Two plus hours later, we were back on the ground at home.
Captain:
Maintenance is here and we should hopefully
be on our way in about 30 minutes.
We
wait…
Riley: *on
repeat* The plane went the wrong way! Oh no.
But I DO want to go home.
And
wait some more…
Riley: *adds to
the repertoire* I’ll just go home. Can I go home now?
Me: *begins
avoiding all eye contact*
30
minutes later…
Captain: Thank you for your patience! We have fixed
the issue and are now waiting for a new flight plan. Shouldn’t be much longer
before we are on our way.
10
minutes later…
Captain: Folks, I’m afraid we are having some issues
with US Customs allowing us to leave the gate. We are working on it and will
keep you updated.
5
minutes later…
Captain: Unfortunately, the US Customs Supervisor on
duty will not allow us to leave as they consider the plane to be *compromised (can’t remember the exact word
he used) as maintenance had to come on board. This usually isn’t a problem
but I’m afraid everybody is going to have to get off the plane and proceed
through Customs as if you have arrived from the US. Your bags will be taken off
the plane and you can claim them once you have cleared Customs. Then head back to
check-in, and proceed through security and Customs. The new departure time will
be 3:45pm. We apologize for the inconvenience.
By
this time, it was after 12pm.
Riley
was NOT a happy camper!
I
wanted to figure out where to get something for R to eat. G wanted to
figure out how to get us through check-in quickly.
Guess who won?
Finally we
were up and on our way…again. At about the time we should have originally
been arriving in Florida.
Riley:
Now we’re going the right way! Oh bother. I’m sorry. We went the wrong way.
Now
normally I do not drink when flying. Really. However, at that point I decided perhaps
some alcohol was in order. To go with the complimentary sandwich. That was for
dinner. Without chips. I like chips with my sandwich. They offered me a Kit Kat instead. A Kit Kat is not chips.
What
should have been a 5-1/2 hour flight took us over 12 hours or almost 15 hours
door-to-door. But we made it. And you know how there’s always THAT vacation
story. This will be ours.
Oh no! Glad he made it back onto the plane! It’s funny that he said he was sorry as if the plane going the wrong way was his fault - DC does the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThere was that one time when they cancelled our flight home (and when he knows it’s time to go home, it’s time to go home!) that I finally decided that I was not going to be the only one to have to listen to him yelling “There’s no place like Home” over and over again, so I brought him to the counter where doug was trying to rebook our flights. He continued to repeat it so much that the ticket lady apologized more than once and gave us a room too (of course we didn’t have our luggage - it was already loaded on the flight, but that’s another story).
A drink was definitely called for and no, a kit Cat is no replacement for chips.
They are very similar aren't they. :)
DeleteI too have recently come to the realization that we should "share" R's unique personality with others. :P
Agh, that must have been so stressful! It's one of those parts of travel that we often don't think much about, delays and unplanned cancellations and hiccups. We once had to sit on the plane for 2 hours on the tarmac after flying 14 hours back to Sydney, only to be re-routed for another 2 hour flight. I hope the rest of your holiday story went better! xx
ReplyDeleteI really don't know how you do that flight! This was peanuts compared to your epic air travel stories. :O We were SO excited that it was only going to take ~7 hrs total compared to the last time we came home from Florida (17 hrs) and to have this happen was more than a little disappointing but...what can you do?!?!?
DeleteAnd they further tortured you by giving you egg salad? Ugh! I'd rather eat the cellophane!
ReplyDeleteDid you read the live tweets by Chrissy Teigen when she was trying to fly to Japan and the plane had to turn around?
Hahaha...actually it was chicken salad but I was SO hungry that even the cellophane would've tasted good.
DeleteDid not see the live tweets...will have to look them up. :)