School is back in session for many kids and will be back in session soon for others-including ours. This has been a very fast summer for us and we are left wondering where all of the time went. It seems the older we get, the faster time goes. Doesn't it?
In our July newsletter, I mentioned the wonderful 10-year wedding anniversary trip Brigid and I took to Jamaica. Unfortunately, we had a rather negative surprise happen on our way home. Here is what happened after we landed in Orlando to make our connection to Indy.
We had about 2-1/2 hours after we landed in Orlando to make our connection, so we had plenty of time. The flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30PM. We board the plane a few minutes past when we would normally board. There was a mechanic on the plane repairing one of the seats in coach-no problem. Then, the captain announces over the PA that we are not only waiting for the mechanic to fix the seat, but also one doing something under the plane. Again, no biggie...yet.
We finally pull away from the gate about 30-minutes past our scheduled departure time and the pilot who LOVES the movie, Star Wars, tells us that Luke Skywalker (him), Han Solo (the First Officer) and Chewy (the mechanic who worked on the underbelly of the plane) would try to engage the hyper-drive and use light speed to get us back to Indy in just a few minutes. If the hyper-drive wouldn't work, it would take about 2 hours, 20-minutes. Cute.
About ten minutes into the flight as we are still climbing quickly, Brigid turns to me and asks if I smell smoke. I calmly tell her no and suggest she is just imagining things or smelling burnt coffee or something. A few minutes after her question, we notice the flight attendant in the forward galley open up the first overhead storage compartment and retrieve a fire extinguisher. What? Now, THAT caught our eye! She didn't use it, but calmly and deliberately focused her attention in the galley with the other flight attendant. We don't break eye contact with the galley at this point.
Shortly thereafter, the flight attendant picks up the intercom and says something frantically and quickly puts it back down. About 20-seconds later, the flight attendant working the back of the plane comes running up the aisle past us with a second fire extinguisher. It has not been discharged and neither has the first one. They all talk softly and then turn off all of the switches in the galley and then get on the intercom with the captain.
The captain comes on the intercom and states that we need to turn around and land back at Orlando as a precaution only and that everything is okay, but they just want to be safe. Brigid starts to really worry now and I told her that as long as there are no emergency vehicles on the runway, we are fine.
As we approach our runway, of course we notice emergency vehicles with all of their lights on and the runway has been shut down, we are told for just us. After we land, we stop in the middle of the runway while the emergency vehicles light the plane up with their spotlights looking for smoke. We are finally cleared to park at the gate and are told to de-plane-no smoke noticed, apparently.
After about an hour of waiting at our gate, the captain tells us they have been looking for another plane as ours has been placed out of service due to smoking wires in the galley electrical panel. Our three flight attendants decided to not work anymore due to 'extreme emotional stress' and went home leaving us stranded at the airport (a very subjective perk that a good lawyer wrote into their collective contracts, no doubt). The captain was NOT happy about their decision and commandeered another flight crew who just arrived to fly back with us to Indy on the plane on which they just flew in. Now, THAT flight crew was NOT happy either.
We finally re-board the new plane with our captain and first-officer from our original flight and the new flight attendants who were visibly unhappy about working (I can't blame them). The time is now 10:50PM. We arrive uneventfully back in Indy at 1:20AM, however due to our frightening experience and delay, AirTran gives each passenger on our flight a FREE round-trip ticket anywhere they fly to be used in the next 12-months. Wow!!! Chalk one up for great customer service!
We finally arrive home around 2:30AM and four hours later have the privilege of getting up and going to work. Ugh! Not the end of the world, but a LONG day at work, to say the least. The positive is that we are still alive and didn't make national or even local news and we have 2 round-trip tickets.
We hope your air travels have NOT been as eventful as our most recent one was, but some of you travel quite a bit and we would LOVE to hear of any eventful flights you may have encountered (to make us feel better!).
Enjoy the rest of your summer and we hope you are able to make it out to the State Fair this year. Thanks again for your continued support and trust as we strive to make our clients' experiences as UNeventful as possible!
Click here to read our August newsletter.
Click here for exclusive coupons and discounts.
In our July newsletter, I mentioned the wonderful 10-year wedding anniversary trip Brigid and I took to Jamaica. Unfortunately, we had a rather negative surprise happen on our way home. Here is what happened after we landed in Orlando to make our connection to Indy.
We had about 2-1/2 hours after we landed in Orlando to make our connection, so we had plenty of time. The flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30PM. We board the plane a few minutes past when we would normally board. There was a mechanic on the plane repairing one of the seats in coach-no problem. Then, the captain announces over the PA that we are not only waiting for the mechanic to fix the seat, but also one doing something under the plane. Again, no biggie...yet.
We finally pull away from the gate about 30-minutes past our scheduled departure time and the pilot who LOVES the movie, Star Wars, tells us that Luke Skywalker (him), Han Solo (the First Officer) and Chewy (the mechanic who worked on the underbelly of the plane) would try to engage the hyper-drive and use light speed to get us back to Indy in just a few minutes. If the hyper-drive wouldn't work, it would take about 2 hours, 20-minutes. Cute.
About ten minutes into the flight as we are still climbing quickly, Brigid turns to me and asks if I smell smoke. I calmly tell her no and suggest she is just imagining things or smelling burnt coffee or something. A few minutes after her question, we notice the flight attendant in the forward galley open up the first overhead storage compartment and retrieve a fire extinguisher. What? Now, THAT caught our eye! She didn't use it, but calmly and deliberately focused her attention in the galley with the other flight attendant. We don't break eye contact with the galley at this point.
Shortly thereafter, the flight attendant picks up the intercom and says something frantically and quickly puts it back down. About 20-seconds later, the flight attendant working the back of the plane comes running up the aisle past us with a second fire extinguisher. It has not been discharged and neither has the first one. They all talk softly and then turn off all of the switches in the galley and then get on the intercom with the captain.
The captain comes on the intercom and states that we need to turn around and land back at Orlando as a precaution only and that everything is okay, but they just want to be safe. Brigid starts to really worry now and I told her that as long as there are no emergency vehicles on the runway, we are fine.
As we approach our runway, of course we notice emergency vehicles with all of their lights on and the runway has been shut down, we are told for just us. After we land, we stop in the middle of the runway while the emergency vehicles light the plane up with their spotlights looking for smoke. We are finally cleared to park at the gate and are told to de-plane-no smoke noticed, apparently.
After about an hour of waiting at our gate, the captain tells us they have been looking for another plane as ours has been placed out of service due to smoking wires in the galley electrical panel. Our three flight attendants decided to not work anymore due to 'extreme emotional stress' and went home leaving us stranded at the airport (a very subjective perk that a good lawyer wrote into their collective contracts, no doubt). The captain was NOT happy about their decision and commandeered another flight crew who just arrived to fly back with us to Indy on the plane on which they just flew in. Now, THAT flight crew was NOT happy either.
We finally re-board the new plane with our captain and first-officer from our original flight and the new flight attendants who were visibly unhappy about working (I can't blame them). The time is now 10:50PM. We arrive uneventfully back in Indy at 1:20AM, however due to our frightening experience and delay, AirTran gives each passenger on our flight a FREE round-trip ticket anywhere they fly to be used in the next 12-months. Wow!!! Chalk one up for great customer service!
We finally arrive home around 2:30AM and four hours later have the privilege of getting up and going to work. Ugh! Not the end of the world, but a LONG day at work, to say the least. The positive is that we are still alive and didn't make national or even local news and we have 2 round-trip tickets.
We hope your air travels have NOT been as eventful as our most recent one was, but some of you travel quite a bit and we would LOVE to hear of any eventful flights you may have encountered (to make us feel better!).
Enjoy the rest of your summer and we hope you are able to make it out to the State Fair this year. Thanks again for your continued support and trust as we strive to make our clients' experiences as UNeventful as possible!
Click here to read our August newsletter.
Click here for exclusive coupons and discounts.
