Trip Report Contents
Getting There, The DC – LA Edition: Mother Nature attacks (This Installment)
Getting There, The
DCA-to-LAX Edition (Mother Nature attacks)
Quick Summary: A winter
storm and crazy airport delays affect the beginning of our trip, and extend it
by one extra day.
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Storm Watch
As our departure day approached, so
too did an unwelcome possibility: an
early-March winter storm. For nearly two
years we had not had any real measurable snow.
Now, just as we were about to head out, it looked as though a
significant snowfall would impact our big trip.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t have been so concerned, but, given that we were
going so far and really needed to get that LAX flight, I was pretty worried.
Four days out from departure I
called Delta to ask about getting the outbound DC flight changed; no dice. When I called two days out the airline did
agree to move our departure up one day, giving us two full days in LA before we
resumed our scheduled itinerary. So,
when I went home that night I suddenly had just one night to get ready instead
of two. But, it was doable and I
managed.
In the end, the snowstorm never
materialized, but the threat seemed so certain that our original flight was
canceled. So, regardless of the actual
weather conditions, we would never have gotten out on our flight that
Wednesday. Even though there was no
snow; we felt vindicated.
A Conspiracy of Circumstances
I went to work on our new departure
day with baggage in-tow. Philip and I
met at the airport, about an hour before boarding, relaxed in the lounge a
little, then headed to the gate and boarded.
We took our seats on the plane, the boarding doors closed, and we
thought we’d be on our way and beat the incoming storm.
There we sat for a half hour, which
made us both a little nervous, as we were eating quite significantly into our sixty-minute
connection time. Eventually the pilot
came on to tell us there was a “VIP hold” on the airspace and we were waiting
for it to be lifted. Great.
Eventually the hold was
lifted. We pushed back and got in line
to take-off but were pretty soon told that “damage” was discovered on the
runway and there would be no take-offs or landings until it was repaired. Now, I’ve flown a good bit, but a damaged
runway? That was a first for me!
The runway repairs were fixed a lot
sooner than the pilot originally told us to anticipate (an hour was expected,
but it was just ten minutes or so). We
were airborne about twenty minutes later.
Being about 75 minutes late by this point I just assumed we would not
make our connection. We were down to
hoping the snowstorm didn’t hit Cincinnati too hard and that we could get out
the following day.
In Cincinnati, we pulled up to the
gate about ten minutes before our LAX flight was to push back. I didn’t think we’d make it but I was willing
to try. At the top of the jet-bridge we
were told the flight was waiting, so I took off, just to be waved off partway
down the concourse: “Are you going to
LAX? Don’t run. The plane has a mechanical.” What?!
First Mother Nature is against us, then the VIP hold, then a damaged
runway, and now this?! It all seemed a
little surreal.
The issue was one of the evacuation
slides was not functioning (no clue how they knew this!). We had to wait for a new slide and then for a
person to come to inspect the new slide.
All of this took about two hours but we had a couple of attentive flight
attendants taking care of us, so it wasn’t too bad at all.
We did finally make it do LAX, got
our luggage, and then the shuttle to our hotel.
After a light snack for dinner in the hotel restaurant, it was off to
bed. It was nice to put such a long day
behind us and to look forward to smoother travels.
