Mwafrragghhhh!

No, this is not an entry in Chewbacca’s blog. This was me Friday afternoon on board a flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage. Of course, for it to be a flight, we would actually have to have lifted off the ground.

The day began well enough. I woke up at 5:45, showered, finished the last minute packing, and headed to the airport. I breezed through check in and security, and had time to have a small bite and read a little of my book before boarding the first of my scheduled three flights. I had only a forty minutes between each of these flights, so I was somewhat nervous about making all my connections, especially in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis- Saint Paul airport is rather huge.

I had apparently used up all of my good flight karma for the day. We touched down a few minutes behind schedule at Minneapolis, and my connection was at another gate. Cue LD running* through the airport to get to his connection. I made it to the plane, got on board to discover I was seated in the family section. Not one, not two, but three different families traveling with children under the age of two. One family with two. Can we guess where they were seated?

We all settled in and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

About half an hour after our scheduled departure time, the captain came on the speaker to inform us they were replacing a light bulb in the cockpit, and we would be on our way momentarily.

Some twenty minutes later the doors were finally closed.

And we waited.

The captain then informed us we were waiting for a crew to push us back from the gate. A short time later we actually began moving. We backed up about two hundred yards from the gate.

And we stopped.

And waited.

Finally the captain came on to inform us there was a computer problem, and they were waiting on word form the maintanence department.

And we waited.

We began to move, and the whole cabin breathed a sigh of relief.

A sigh that was cut short when we realized we were moving back to the gate. Someone please kill me now! We arrived back at the gate and guess what we did. We waited.

They finally opened the doors and made an announcement that anyone who wanted to exit the plane and get something to eat could do so. Then we were given a stern warning that as soon as the computer was switched out, we would be departing and anyone not on board at that time would be left behind. Oh, and by the way, we can’t tell you how long the repair will take. I knew if I got off the plane there was no way in hell I was getting back on, so I stayed on board.

And who else decided to stay on board? All three families.

After some time I stood up to stretch out, and ended up staying up for about an hour because I was just too pissed off to sit.

Eventually, they re-boarded the plane, and we took off exactly three hours past our scheduled departure time. Needless to say, I missed my connection in Anchorage, and as there was no room on the last flight to Juneau, I was put up in a hotel near the airport (the Puffin Inn, really, I couldn’t make that up).

The only good thing to say about the trip, despite the nine hours aboard a single aircraft, was the view in the morning as we flew South to Juneau was spectacular. It started me on a whole series of contemplations that will have to wait because I need to go to bed.

More later, because there are tales to tell.