It was fate. I was not meant to take off for home Sunday night. The flight began with an hour late wait at the Gate. What happened next was quite the sequence of events that makes one just go with their instincts...
After waiting, the plane arrived at the Gate. We were instructed to quickly board to avoid missing our connection flights, we did as instructed and promptly. Then the following occurred:
"We're sorry but the previous passengers luggage are still on board and we'll have to wait until their unloaded."
"We've been cleared for take off. (down the runaway we went) Sorry for the wait folks, but there's been a change of wind direction and we have to turn around and use the other runaway."
"Sorry for the wait again folks, but the breaks are frozen and we'll have to wait a little bit longer."
"Folks, luck is not with us tonight. We'll have to turn back to the Gate as mechanics are getting ready to fix the problem."
Forget the connection flights. What now? Four hours have passed. I got up once to ask what my option was? An announcement was made that they do not know how long it will take for the problem to get fixed. They said all the flights out of town were booked until after Christmas. There was no other option but to stay and wait and wait some more.
"For those who want to leave, your luggage cannot go with you and must stay with this flight."
Thank God for cell phones and an husband who looked for available flights out. There were two, with each flight having only one seat left at the cost of $1,300 one-way! Insanity! (It made sense to announce there was no available flights out. It made sense not to have a full flight of people get up in chaos searching for other flights.) So I got up and decided to leave and take my chances. On my way up the front of the plane a passenger stopped to me to say, "Are you really leaving?" "Yes. If you'd like to chance it I know of a couple of flights that may get you home too as oppose to waiting here." She didn't know what to do. She said if she left and there was no other way home, she couldn't possibly wait until after Christmas. If she stayed not knowing how long the wait would be, that would be painful. More so, what if something was truly wrong with the plane. I said, I know... "It's Catch 22".
She looked down at her lap and to both our surprise, realized she was reading "Catch 22"! How spooky is that!? I bid her well and kept walking out hoping that the plane will be fine, hoping that I can get that one seat left, hoping that I will not have to pay a penalty, hoping that my luggage will find its way home, hoping I will get home and get home safely. I did the following day, so did the plane the night before, so did my luggage, and it only cost me a sleepless night.
