Fly the Friendly Skies
Wednesday of last week (May 19th), I started by trip to Uganda. The itinerary was: Salt Lake City - Seattle - Amsterdam - Kampala. Thirty minutes out of Seattle our plane had to return to Seattle. One jet engine was leaking fuel and the crew wasn’t sure we had enough fuel to make it to Amsterdam.
As we landed, the pilot assured us that the fire engine escort was just a precaution. Before we could deplane, firemen entered and inspected a portion of the central cabin. They then told us to deplane in an “orderly fashion.” We were stuck in Seattle for the next 6 hours. No problem, a friend had an entry to the first-class lounge. I read, snacked, and drank while the plane was being repaired and a new crew was ordered. The airline gave us a $6 food voucher. Have you ever tried to eat in an airport for $6? Upon reentering the plane they did give us another voucher, this time for 5000 frequent flier miles.
We missed our connection to Kampala. So the airline put us up for the night and comped our meals. They also gave us a 2,000 mile frequent flier voucher. Our motel was near the Amsterdam airport, but was in an agricultural area. That night I took a leasurely strole around the countryside. The farms and farm houses were immaculate. It was a pleasant night. I was surprised at the number of planes taking off and landing from the airport.
For my flight to Kampala, they put us (myself and friend) in Business Class. Lots of leg room, the food and drink was plentiful. Unfortunately, the media system wouldn’t work. No movies to watch on this 8-hour leg. But it was an enjoyable trip. But we did arrive 24 hours behind schedule.
May 24th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
A couple of weeks earlier, I was returning from Denver on Frontier (operated by Republic). I was assigned seat 2B. Unfortunately the airlines had changed planes and on the new plane there was no 2B. The flight attendant asked me and a couple of others to wait just outside the plane on the ramp. This seemed strange, so I walked back to the concourse and got a new seat assignment. This time it worked. They eventually figured it out and got everybody on board. Does anything work with our current airline system?
June 4th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Glad you made it. I’m sure you & Bryan could talk for hours about the joys of commercial airlines.