Mikey was especially excited because he had his very own bag to carry this time. He felt very much like the big boythat he is. I was very amused with what he decided to put in his backpack to carry on the plane. It contained a crane truck, red car, crayons with a stationary book to color in, spiderman action figure, a baby face book for Katie, a fire truck book, bathtime for Biscuit book, a flashlight and his puppydog blanket and sippy cup. :)
8:30am
We arrived at JFK at and were loaded onto the plane ready for our 10:55am scheduled departure. After waiting on the plane for 30 minutes we were told there was an issue with the gas gauge and that after a quick double check to ensure we had the right amount of fuel and signing off on the paper work we would be off.
11:30am
Another 30 minutes later and we were told it would be another 15 minutes (which meant actually 30 minutes). So an hour after we boarded we were told that there was an issue with the front panel on the plane that required a patch. Workers were working on repairing the panel and the patch had to cure for an hour. We were now on the plane for 2 hours and surprisingly the kids were being incredible good and well behaved. Thank God! At this point we were given the option of getting off the plane but the flight attendants were very insistent they mention over and over again that if we get off we may not be able to get back on.. Huh?
1:00pm
The pilot now tells us that it's going to take a while because they are still repairing the patch and it will have to cure and we all had to deplane and wait in the terminal. (We waited on the jet bridge for 30 minutes for our stroller, (the nice flight attendants said of course you all need your strollers) but ultimately we were forced to get off and were told our strollers would NOT be delivered to us. So with no stroller we were off to go in search of some food. Luckily they had some race car video games that Mikey played on and we all walked on the moving walkways about 100 times.
5:00pm
After pushing the departure time back again and again and again...4 total hours of waiting (without a stroller) in the terminal it was roughly 5:30 and we were told we were cleared for a 7:00 departure.
6:30pm
We all boarded the plane AGAIN and 7:00 came and went. At 7:05 the pilot said that they can't sign off on the paperwork yet because they want to give the "patch" another 15 minutes to cure because of the now cold temperatures. That 15 minutes turned into 30 minutes and at 7:30 we were cleared for departure.
7:30pm
Not even 300 feet from the gate and the pilot comes on the speakers AGAIN and says "Well folks, it looks like when it rains it pours. We have an issue with our attitude indicator (the gauge that tells the pilots it's level with the horizon). This instrument should NEVER fail. In my 30 years of flying I've never seen this happen. It may just be from the plane sitting for hours or it might have just rolled over and died." YIKES!!!! WHAT?!!!
I said to Scott we should just get off the plane and not go! Even if we do ever take off who say's we'll get their safely with everything that's gone wrong with this plane?!!! The pilot then went on to say it may be a quick fix, just switching out the gauge with a new one or we might have to deplane again and get on another plane. Luckily it was a quick 15 minute fix which turned into 30 minutes. (Why do airlines flat out lie to you again and again and again?)) At this point the pilot said we have the option of getting off if we didn't want to fly on this plane and they'd see what they could do for us. So those that got off the plane did and because of it we had to wait until their luggage got off the plane too.
8:30pm
So quick guage fix and at 8:30 we were up in the air. The kids were still little angels thanks to lots of snacks and movies downloaded on the ipad! Yes, they were!!! I only had to give them 1 lollipop a piece on the flight and Katie napped the last 30 minutes of the plane ride and Mikey fell asleep as were were landing.
11:30pm
We landed at 11:30 pm in Orlando (9 hours after we were suppossed to land) and after waiting for luggage, grabbing our rental and driving an hour north to The Villages we were all snug as a bug in a rug at 1:45 am. Phew, what a day! It was just to crazy not to share with all of you.
Needless to say out of all the flying that Scott and I have had to do over the years for our jobs and vacations we've never experienced anything like this. Here's to hoping we never will again.
P.S.~ The next day we got an apology email from American Airlines, with a monetary voucher and 5,000 free miles.
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| So excited carrying his own backpack. |
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| He loved the moving walkways, with flashlight in hand. |
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| Now we have the inside scoop! |
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| Katie napping in the car seat since we didn't have our stroller during our 4 hour wait. |
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