I was heading to Phoenix, Arizona for a business trip. The idea was to arrive before noon in Phoenix so I could  meet my colleagues for a long drive to Holbrook, AZ. So I booked a ticket on USAirways for a flight leaving my airport at 7:30am. I arrived at the airport, went through the security checkpoint and  headed to the gate. I stopped at the newspaper store and purchased a bottle of water to carry with me on the plane. When I arrived at the gate, I notice the departure information was not posted and there was no flight information. So I went up to the counter and asked the agent if this was the gate for the USAirways flight to Phoenix, he said yes. He then said it was leaving at 12:30pm, not 7:30am. Apparently, the crew got in late and this flight won’t be ready to leave until the afternoon. He then asked me if I had received a message, I said no. I told him that I was on a tight deadline and really needed to get to Phoenix; leaving at 12:30pm would be too late. He graciously offered to assist me in locating another flight with another carrier. He also said that this portion of my ticket would be refunded. With his help, I was able to purchase a ticket on Southwest Airlines that was leaving in an hour and half from another terminal. It was the last seat to be sold on the plane. I purchase the ticket over the phone with the Southwest agent, gathered my bags and headed in the direction to my new gate. As I was approaching the exit area I remembered my bottle of water that I had just purchased. There was a police officer standing near by and I went to him and ask if he could tag my water bottle so that I would not have to get rid of it at the security gate at Southwest. He laughed and said no, he stated that I would have to either drink it or throw it away. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

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I left my house in plenty of time to catch my flight, only to arrive at the airport and discover the plane is delayed due to missing crew personnel. I was trying to get to an appointment in North Carolina for the evening. When I asked the gate agent if he knew when we were going to depart, he said he did not know because they were waiting on the crew. He did mention that he would keep the passengers updated. We may have waited for 1 1/2 hour before the crew finally showed up and we were able to board the plane. I phoned my contact to let them know I was running late and to reschedule the appointment for later. 

I boarded the plane, pulled out my ipod, and stuck the earplugs in my ear, in hopes of enjoying a quiet 80- minute flight to my destination. As I was getting comfortable, a lady came and sits next to me. She sat down and let out a big sigh. I tried not to notice her and reached for my book out of my bag. She put her bag under the seat in front of her and then said in a bit of relief, “I can’t believe this.” Not wanting to be friendly or engage in conversation, I turned my head towards the window hoping that she would sense I was not interested in chatter on this flight. Then she muttered something again. I let out a mmm. The plane pulled back and we were heading towards the runway, see continued to talk. Read More…

I was on a business trip in Pittsburgh when this encounter happened. It actually birth the idea for this blog. I finished my meeting and rushed back to the airport to catch my flight for home. I arrived at the airport, went through security, and as I approached the gate I discovered my flight was three hours delayed. (If you have to be delayed at an airport, Pittsburgh is the place to be. They have GREAT shopping, much better than any mall you will find anywhere.) So, I decided to do some shopping to burn the time.

After three hours. I went back to the gate. Another update stated three more hours of delay. I had already spent enough money shopping. I stood there puzzled trying to figure what to do next to burn more time. As I was leaving the airline counter, an elderly woman approached the agent and with a tremble in her voice she expressed sadness to the gate agent about her turmoil of waiting so long. The ticket agent was of no help to her. The older lady then broke down in hopelessness and stated that her son was waiting for her at the other airport and she had no way of contacting him. Overhearing the dialog, I asked the older lady if she wanted to use my cell phone to contact her son. Elatedly she said yes. She phoned her son, and thanked me for letting her use the phone. We started to talk and began walking away from the gate. I wanted to keep her company to take her mind off the time and the delays. As we were walking, an Asian lady in her mid 40’s stopped us and asked if we knew anything about the flight since she also had been waiting. Read More…