Thoughts

What an annoying experience.

Friday:

I was flying out of Detroit on Northwest Airlines Friday afternoon...well I was scheduled to do so at least. I had a 4:57pm flight which, though a 64 minute flight, was scheduled to land at 6:45. This would have given me time to get picked up from the airport and have dinner with my friends before going out.

Delayed.

Our new estimated departure time was 5:40pm. Not too bad. They sited heavy air traffic into Newark for the delay. Heavy traffic? Into an airport? Isn't that what they do? Aren't flight schedules made months in advance?

Cancelled.

The 5:40 delay was just a tease. The agent at our gate politely comes over the PA and tells us that our flight was cancelled and that we may talk to any agent other than her for help with flight arrangements; she had to get another flight out of our gate. We were now on our own to fend for a few remaining spots on a 7:10pm flight. As people run to any available agent at nearby gates I call the 1-800 number and reserve myself a seat on the 7:10 to Newark.

Delayed.

7:30. They are now talking about "conditions" in Newark. Everyone picks up their respective cellular telephones and attempts to confirm the weather report. Conditions? There were no conditions in Newark.

Delayed.

7:55. Now they say those conditions have been defined as "wind".

At this point comes the only quasi-bright moment. It is announced that they are bumping the departure time back to 7:30. As we board at 7:00 they tell us that the flight crew actually wants to leave early. I didn't know they had the authority to do that. Turns out they don't. We get on the plane and push away from the gate. And sit. We then, apparently, decide it would be a good idea to get a jump start on the flight by driving to Cleveland. I had no idea that Detroit Metro Airport had a runway that far away. We taxied for a very long time before we stopped. The pilot turned off the engines and came on the intercom. He told us something to the effect of, "they weren't really sure where they were going to fit us in on the flight plans and now it looks as though we're going to be able to take off at about...."

Delayed.

"8:25." We finally got off the ground and landed safely at 9:35pm.

Sunday:

I had a 6:05pm flight Sunday from Newark back to Detroit. Boarding should start somewhere between 5:35-5:45...that is when the plane is actually there. I do not fault Northwest Airlines.

Delayed.

The plane on which we would be riding back to Detroit was in Newark, well over Newark. They were not granted permission to land so we had to wait. This delay only cost me 1 hour...