Trying to fly to Kauai
By Lothar. Filed in General, Hawaii |
Today is July 27 and, for the first time in my life, I am a suspect! We are scheduled to fly to Hawaii, but the TSA lady at the Albany Airport, claims that I have explosives powder on my hands. I get to the front of the line and my body and luggage are thoroughly examined. I don’t know, if my remark, that I always play with fireworks, earned me the special security screening or if the machine is really this bad in detecting real stuff. By the time I can take possession of my luggage again, Gabi is catching up with me and we continue on our way to Hawaii. Our United flight to Washington Dulles actually leaves the gate 10 minutes early, which should help us to make a tight connection in IAD to catch United 49 to Los Angeles, our next way point.
Then the stress begins. United flight 49 to LAX is canceled and I can say good bye to our choice seats, I had booked on that plane. We stand in line for a good hour until it is our turn at the Customer Service Desk. Bad news: there is no way to get to
Kauai today. We are rerouted on US Airways, first flying from Washington to Charlotte, NC. At 4:15PM, we are starting our take-off, when the pilot suddenly turns off the runway and goes back to the take-off holding area. We are being held on the ground in Washington because of bad weather in Charlotte.
I can’t believe our bad luck today. We only have 59 minutes between flights in Charlotte, and now are being told that we have to sit here for 30 minutes! What a way to start a vacation!
Finally, we make it to Charlotte and run through the Airport and actually catch our next flight to San Francisco. After closing the cabin door, the ramp is being shut down because of thunderstorms in the area. We are playing the run and wait game today. We are sitting in the plane at the gate for another hour, until finally pushing back. At least, we were able to get exit row seats and can stretch our legs for the 5 1/2 hour flight to California. We are flying a new Airbus A321, but it is a bare- bones aircraft. US Airways must be trying to save every pound, the plane has to lift up into the air. The Airbus has no audio outlets and no TV monitors, to keep us entertained during the long flight. We arrive in San Francisco at 9:15 PM and have to stand in line again at another United Service Desk. We actually get boarding passes for tomorrow on United 41 from San Francisco to Lihue, Kauai, again seats in Economy Plus exit row. We are scheduled to depart at 9:27 AM. We are staying overnight at the San Francisco Airport Hilton and have a midnight snack and a well deserved beer. By the time we go to bed, we should have been already in Kauai!
Hopefully, we will arrive there tomorrow. Right now, it is 3AM on the East Coast and we need some sleep!