Home Again, Home Again...

OK - I am officially tired!

We arrived at Dulles yesterday afternoon at 6pm for a 7:30pm flight home to Atlanta. Travelling with my mother is hard. she is almost 90 and requires a wheelchair through the airport. When we finally got to the gate -

SURPRISE!

The flight which was supposed to leave before us (6:40pm) from Dulles to Orlando was delayed for a 'mechanical problem'. The actual problem? A broken pilot seat. So the good people at Air Tran decided to give them the plane we were supposed to leave on to Atlanta at 7:30. Which meant we had to wait for the last flight from Atlanta to arrive. At 11:10pm. Which was three and a half hours from when we checked into the gate.

Now, wait a minute.

My father worked for United for almost 40 years. I know about delays. But I have never travelled with a 90 year old woman before. I wanted to get my mother home. It was a hard weekend for her, physically, and I just wanted to get her home. So a long delay did not sit well with me. But it really didn't sit well with others who were booked on our flight.

You see, there were no other flights out of Dulles last night by any airlines. So anyone who had a connecting flight they were trying to make in Atlanta was SOL. They could either fly out late with us and sleep in the Atlanta airport until another flight was available or stay at a hotel in D.C. and leave out the next morning. Needless to say, there was much unhappiness at gate b67 last night.

On the plus side? The plane landed in D.C. at 11:10pm. We rolled away from the gate at 11:25pm. The pilot floored it and we rolled to the gate in the ATL at 1am. That has to be a record for a commercial flight. I think he was as ready to get home as the rest of us. We dropped my mother off at 1:35am then headed for Woodstock. I finally got in bed at 3am.

Next time I think I'll take United.