Update: I am home. Overall, about 3 hours late b/c we sat on the runway for an hour and a half. Pilot explained that there were a lot of other aircraft in front of us. I got up to use the bathroom while we were waiting for takeoff and chatted with 2 flight attendants. I was clear that I was happy to be on my way , willing to be patient and understanding that it was not the fault of anybody on our flight ( I added unless they are in Congress - they chuckled at that). I made a point to thank the crew at the end of the flight ( as I always do). Fortunately everyone on our flight seemed to have a similar attitude and no one got nasty or rude to the crew or other passengers.
My friend was through security this morning when her new flight was cancelled. She managed to find another one to a city nearby.
I’m surprised they let you get up on the runway. That’s my biggest nightmare - gotta go but they won’t let you.
Good you made it home.
They are saying ending the shutdown won’t save Thanksgiving. I find this hard to believe but if not, why end it ? I’d assume it was solely for this reason.
I wouldn’t take that so literally. I speculate that they held short of the runway, on a taxiway. If there is an aircraft on the runway, no takeoffs and landings are allowed, and I doubt they would shut the runway down for an hour and a half.
Years ago I was loaded onto a plane and we pushed back and were parked on the runway for 1.5 hours because of a hold by the airport I was flying to. They got credit for an on time departure, we got treats on the plane, but we didn’t have to sit with our seatbelts on because we weren’t moving on the runway.
I sat on a runway for 90 minutes due to thunderstorms that moved into the area (that was 2022). Orlando had grounded all planes soon after we left the gate. We were waiting in the line of planes who were queuing to take off.
Then we were so late getting to our destination that ground crews were limited and we had to wait for a gate to open. Sat on the tarmac for an hour, in full view of the gate, waiting to pull up to it.
Sounds like they either weren’t using that runway, or you were on the only aircraft landing or departing the field. They aren’t going to let one aircraft close down a runway for a long time because of delays to their destination, if there are other planes going elsewhere or landing.
The reality is, there’s all sorts of possibilities, particular if weather is an issue. Usually the passengers don’t understand what is actually going on (whether they’re on a taxiway, runway, or closed runway) or the pilots or flight attendants misspoke. Yes, they might leave an aircraft in takeoff position if the airport is closed, because nobody is going anywhere at that point.
If they have aircraft burning gas whether from leaving an engine running or APU, for long periods of time off the gate instead of just letting them stay at the gate, connected to external power, someone has miscalculated badly, or has been very unlucky that a long delay happened unexpectedly after they pushed.
I’m glad I’m not flying until Thanksgiving, but God help us then.
D24 is scheduled to fly home on 11/21 for Thanksgiving (her college has the entire week of Thanksgiving off). Talked to her about the flight disruptions yesterday evening & helped her strategize what to do, what to prep for if her flight is delayed or cancelled.
Thankfully, her flight is from 1 major hub to another major airline hub, so that’s a plus. Told her that if her & other flights are delayed, tensions will probably be high amongst everybody at the airport. And when that happens, your odds of getting what you want out of the airline’s gate agent & other support staff are higher if you’re courteous, polite and say please and thank you.
On her own, she looked up the airline’s policy about delays, cancellations, compensation like meal vouchers & hotel stay.
told her to make sure to pack a clean pair of undies & probably her toothbrush & some toothpaste in her ‘under the seat in front of you’ bag just in case her roller bag ends up having to be gate-checked.
Fingers crossed for everybody flying during the shut down!
So smart! Make sure she stays on top of the “rules” her airline has specifically for the shutdown - these are not the normal “policies”. United, for example, is allowing all fare classes to cancel or reschedule to w/in 6 days of the original flight at no cost. But that applies to tix purchased before 11/4. The communications I received from another airline are different, but it seems most are doing their best to keep passengers abreast and to their destinations.
The airline’s app, which she probably has, is almost certainly getting updated most reliably.
Context is hard with the written word. I’m aware a rocket launch isn’t something that’s a whim but I was being tongue in cheek about all the delays this past weekend.
Crazy that a cruise ship got too close?
My daughter was happy to get home. She hasn’t had the best track record flying so she was laughing if it wasn’t one thing it was another
I for one am very happy that my flight over the weekend is an international flight from a large airport. Hopefully it will be minimally impacted by travel happening in the US.
Best of luck your travels go smoothly. We’ve had a crazy couple weeks and have a crazy couple more with a dozen or more flights. The timing really couldn’t have been worse for us! But luckily we haven’t had too much trouble so far. Yes I know I’m jinxing myself for my flight tomorrow!
As far as I know S’s flight HNL to NYC went as planned. He went straight to his place and slept! They’re planning to go to New Orleans later this month and then he’ll be back visiting us here in January. He takes flying hiccups in stride.
