I had an interesting routing for my trip home last week...
I was scheduled to depart Atlanta at 8:40 PM. We ended up departing some time after 9:00 PM. Okay, stuff happens...
As the crew was getting ready to button up the hatch, I called Jeanie to let her know the flight would be late arriving, so she wouldn't end up having to sit at the airport waiting to pick me up - little did we know...
The flight to Jacksonville was bumpy - enough to prevent in-flight beverage service - but not so bad as to be scary. At least, not until we started our descent into JAX.
The first bit of excitement was the simultaneous occurrence of a bright flash outside the aircraft accompanied by a loud cracking noise.
What appeared to be a lightning strike we later learned was a static discharge.
The approach was quite bumpy. After a while, you get kind of used to the various sensations and noises that seem "normal" when taking off or landing. Everything seemed normal for a while, but all of a sudden, it appeared that the pilot had applied full power, and aborted the approach. Turns out, he did.
We were informed that due to weather, we were going to stay clear of the airport for a while, and wait for the nastiness to clear. So, we climbed back up to ten thousand feet or so, and circled.
After a while, the pilot informed us that it appeared that the weather had eased up, and we would once again begin our approach.
One again, we started our descent, once again we rocked and rolled, and this time, after some really nasty bouncing about, the pilot once again put the coals to the fire and aborted the approach.
This time, however, he informed us that he was giving up on Jacksonville, and heading back to Atlanta. Normally, the actual flying time is around forty-eight minutes. I don't know for sure, but I'd almost swear that we were back in Atlanta in twenty minutes. My guess is we were close to sucking fumes, and he got clearance to make a bee-line back to HotLanta.
As soon as I heard that we were headed back to Atlanta, I did something I have never done in all of my years of travelling - I picked up the inflight telephone to place a call to my honey. Unfortunately, I guess every other person on the plane decided to do the same thing, as after dialing, I got a nice little message informing me that all lines were in use. We were most of the way to Atlanta before I finally got through to Jeanie to tell her that I was okay, but that she should go home as I had no idea when I'd be arriving.
After landing in Atlanta, we were informed that we would be placed on another 767 and sent back to Jacksonville. Since it was the same model and configuration as our initial flight, we would just keep our boarding passes and sit in the same seat on this new airplane.
The good news was that I wouldn't have to spend the night in Atlanta. The bad news was that I had no way home. After pondering on my predicament for a few moments, I decided to call Hertz to reserve a car. Sure, it would be late when I arrived, and I had already worked a long day, but, given the lack of cabs in Jacksonville - in the middle of the day, much less in the middle of the night - I figured that would be a better bet. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Hertz counter in Jacksonville only stayed open until 1:00 AM, and our flight was scheduled to arrive after that, so Hertz wouldn't make a reservation for me. Oh well I thought, I'd figure out some way to get home after I was actually in Jacksonville - one problem at a time, and all that....
Unfortunately, it turned out that while the Pilot and First Officer were legal to fly the "2nd try," not all of the cabin crew were. Unfortunately, there was a problem with one of the replacement flight attendants, so we ended up having to wait for quite a while for another to be located.
Finally, we boarded the new plane and headed back to JAX. This flight was also bumpy, but not as bad as the first try. The approach was once again bumpy, but the pilot managed to get us on the ground in one piece around 2:30 AM.
As I walked to the area where the taxis wait - which happens to require walking past the car rental counters - I noticed that there were still agents at Hertz. Intrigued, I walked up to the counter and inquired as to whether I could rent a car. The two agents were extremely friendly, and informed me that they would be happy to rent me a car - except for the small problem that their computer system stopped working at 1:00 AM. They were just about to start writing a contract by hand when we (I can't remember who exactly) had the bright idea to call Hertz reservations and make the reservation that way. Unfortunately, the Hertz telephone reservations person was adamant that she couldn't make a reservation for me because the Jacksonville location was closed. Fortunately, Joe, one of the two agents was able to convince her that no, they weren't in fact closed, and didn't close until the last flight arrived. Unfortunately, open or not, the telephone reservation person still couldn't make a reservation for me since her computer insisted that the location was not open at 3:00 AM and therefore wouldn't accept a reservation. Fortunately, Joe had the bright idea to have her make the reservation for 5:30 AM, when they were scheduled to open, and then just have me pick up the car "early."
That done, Joe was able to provide me with the keys and contract, and I was able to head home, finally arriving at 3:30 AM - only 5 hours or so late.
While the trip involved some inconvenience, all things considered, I felt that in the end, I had received good service - both from Delta, who decided that the safety of their passengers was more important than the potential cost and passenger ire, and Hertz, whose local agents demonstrated dedication and creativity.
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Posted by David at February 09, 2006 11:47 PM