Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Moving target

8:55 now. They clearly have no idea when this plane is leaving.

They made it worse!

9:35 now.

It was a trick!

No, of course there was no flight. Still waiting as of 8:30... they're suggesting we take off at 9:10. So in other words, 10 minutes LATER than the original delay. Which I wouldn't mind at all except they sent this urgent missive at 6:30 suggesting the plane was waiting for us all at the gate and about to take off.
Then the gate agents had no info. Then the status kept moving but never showing a new time. After an hour I finally figured out there was no flight forthcoming.

Again, really wouldn't have minded if I had just been relaxing up in the lounge. But thanks to poor communication, we all had to sit around at the gate until it became obvious we weren't going anywhere.

I hate flying.

On time!

Holy moly, they got another plane. My flight is sitting at the gate and starting preboard. I'm going hooooommme!

Ok JFK, I apologize for dissing you.

Truth in advertising

The "real time" status on the FAA website finally updated. JFK is now red, "delays over one hour". Yeah, no kidding.

By the way, shout out to the husband, who strongly urged me to take a flight instead of the train from manhattan to albany, 'cuz those trains are so UNRELIABLE.

Mmm hmm...

How do you cure delays? Change the definition!

Well, after a 2 hour ride in, I'm hitting the first delay. My 6:50 flight now takes off at 9PM ("But you'll board at 8:30!"). Traffic out of midtown was heavy but not unreasonable for a holiday.
To make the weight bearable, I spent the $25 for the daypass to the Delta lounge. Hey, thanks to the delay, I'll get my money's worth out of it.

For the record, it's probably worth the price for the odd trip with a long layover. Free food and fermented drink, comfy chairs, wireless access. Busy as heck today but any other day would be quiet as a tomb in here, I'll bet. Showers for those who just stepped out int'l flights, not a bad deal.

So, in case you're wondering how my flight can take off 2 hours late and not count as a delay, it's because the delay is on the "inbound leg". Translation : the plane is stuck at the previous airport. Ergo JFK has "no delays".

At least I'm not stuck in the Calcutta-esque scene downstairs. The best part is this lounge actually has a balcony -- you can sit in your comfy chair drinking wine and watch the lower classes swarm below.

Airports. Bringing back the BEST parts of travel!

Hmm, an un-delay?

According to the FAA "real time" airport status, JFK has NO delays coming in or going out as of now. Delta hasn't posted one specifically for the flight, either. LaGuardia and Newark have departure delays, so I'm unclear as to how this works -- perhaps JFK is using some magical airspace only they can see...

I'm also looking out from the UN bldg over 1st avenue right now and the pretty low volume traffic appears to be moving swiftly... is it *possible* that I'll get to JFK in less than the 2.5 hours it has required for the last 6 weeks?

Now there's irony -- the one time I pad my schedule I'll end up sitting in the airport for 4 hours waiting for my plane. Maybe the 2 solid days of harping the story on CNN has scared everyone else into to leaving sooner.

About time to shut down and begin the airport voyage....