Our oldest son was here for Christmas (he had some end-of-the-year, use-it-or-lose-it, vacation time) and he flew home to Houston on Saturday.
First off, his flight was more than two-hours on a ground hold due to weather in Houston. He was boarded and taken off the plane twice during that time. They finally took off but when they landed, there were 17 planes stuck on the tarmac waiting for gates. After two-hours the pilot decided to taxi over to the international terminal where there were open gates, but they then had to wait better than an hour because there was no one there to guide the plane into the gate. When they finally got to the gate, it was another hour's wait because United Airlines had no personnel available to operate the Jetway and officially dock the plane and record the arrival.
So for a flight that normally takes about three-hours and 10-minutes, he spent nearly nine-hours on the plane plus his time waiting to board here in Orange County. And there was no food or beverage service available once they were on the ground. And because the delays were the result of weather, the airline owes the passengers nothing. Our son was going to check his bag, but at the last minute he decided to carry it on (it was a standard roller-bag that fitted in the overheard) and thank goodness he did because when he finally got off the plane, the passengers were told to go home and wait for a phone call as to when they would be able to come back to the airport and get their luggage.
And he flies back out here again on January 13th for business for two-days then to San Francisco for another two-days before he flies back to Houston. If all goes well, we'll meet him for lunch or dinner at the restaurant in Anaheim.
OCU
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