(By Erik and Jeanie)
It’s hard for us to top Bobby’s recent airline experience, but here is a list of actual excuses for delayed flights Jeanie and I have heard over the years. Please feel free to post your favorite excuses.
(But seriously, we love to fly … and it shows.)
There’s a small electrical problem with the plane.
This nondescript problem took about three hours to resolve. It was a Memphis to Amsterdam flight, too. And although I say “resolved,” I can’t help but remember that the whole plane smelled like burning electrical wires.
A small part of the handle broke off one of the cargo doors.
We sat on the tarmac for half an hour while they looked for a maintenance guy. Finally, someone showed up with something that looked like — I’m not kidding — clear packing tape. A few minutes later we were good to go.
The flight attendants were delayed going through customs.
… which seemed strange to me, as it was a domestic flight
There’s a small spring in one of the windows that’s broken. We’re trying to put a new spring in now.
This took about 45 minutes to fix, while we all waited on the plane. Jeanie and I were scratching our heads. What sort of window on a plane is spring-loaded?
The TSA is inspecting all the cargo we’re unloading from the place this plane just came from — Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After they’re done we’ll begin loading your luggage.
I was in the plane for that one. (I think they found a few flight attendants in there.)
Since we were late pulling away from the gate, we got behind another plane that’s also going to Chicago, and now we can’t take off until he’s been in the air about five minutes.
Yes, evidently planes generate something akin to a wake zone. This was some sort of FAA rule.
There’s some sort of wreckage on the runway in Lagos, so we’re diverting to Abuja and will wait for them to clean it up.
All I can say is, “Ahhh … Nigeria!”
We don’t have a pilot for this plane
Whoops! They had to call a guy in to fly the plane. He looked like he was about 17 years old.
There’s some sort of animal on the runway.
The pilot (the same 17-year-old) assured us that, the last time he was at Chicago O’Hare, the same thing happened.
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2 comments:
The one about the cargo door handle reminded me of a Ntl Geo. documentary on catastrophes where the whole side of the plane disappeared - you got it - because the cargo door handle broke off! Hope that tape was sturdy!
I keep checking back to see how many good excuses have been posted, to my dismay not any. Unfortunately I can not recall any good ones myself although coming back from a campaign in Poland we sat on the tarmac in Vienna, Austria for at least 2 hrs on board a small BA (British Airways) flight to London, after which they kicked us all off and we had to fly Delta back to the states. And if anyone has flown BA international and Delta international I think I would have preferred to fly crated up aboard a Fedex plane. Of course to top it all off a member of our party who has an EXTREME case of motion sickness, wasn't able to take another pill before we boarded our Delta flight because it was too soon after he had taken one for the BA flight. That trip will stick in my memory till death or Alzheimer's takes it!
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