When we jump into any commuting system, we often buck the archetype of the system and feel some need to assume or maintain control. This seems more possible when we drive, as we pilot our cars through gridlock. But there are lessons to be learned from flight delays, as well.
My wife, Momo, and I spent roughly half a day as pieces of meat chewed in the logistical gears at Delta Air Lines on our recent trip to England and Germany. Once one small cog in the machine failed, we were essentially there for the bumpy ride and just chose to make the most of it.
We normally fly together to see Momo’s family northeast of Frankfurt twice per year. We almost always take the dinnertime Delta flight from Atlanta, putting us in her Motherland by 8 a.m. or so the next day. Even with two-plus hours in a car after the flight, our arrival time to the village of Barchfeld is usually around lunchtime.
But our planned stop to see family about two hours outside of London destined us for a midnight Delta flight to Heathrow. If the flight was delayed too much, we would miss our connecting regional train to Momo’s cousins in Stamford.
Little did each of us know on Aug. 22 we would be stuck in a layover in our hometown.
Everything went smoothly as we boarded our flight and settled into our bulkhead seats. But after sitting at the gate for some 45 minutes, the pilot informed us that one of the first officers had called out sick and the arrival for a replacement was undetermined. The pilot then issued a friendly order to deplane and wait inside at the gate.
As soon as we scrounged for seats, we learned that the flight would not take off until at least 2 a.m. Then the new takeoff time was pushed to 7 a.m.
Momo and I would now miss our train, on top of spending far too many hours in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s E Terminal. Other passengers were understandably shaken and frustrated. But what could any of us do?
People in mass transit situations face these adversities often and have very little to control but their own attitudes. They can’t just up and rent their own train or plane.
Delta wasted no time offering us hotel and food vouchers, so we finally piled into a hotel shuttle at around 2 a.m.We checked into the Airport Westin and generously got maybe 90 minutes of sleep, since our 7 a.m. flight required a 4:30 a.m. alarm.
Who’d have thought we would ever sleep in an airport hotel — in our hometown?
We hustled back to the shuttle, and through security, to the barely open food court (hello, vouchers), and even to two different airport lounges (hello, Momo’s rewards points). The 7 a.m. flight became 8 a.m., then 9 a.m., then, mercifully and successfully, 10 a.m.
Our original flight crew had timed out, so Delta needed to find alternates for the whole enchilada.
No, we did not attempt to drive to London.
In automobiles, drivers are their own pilots and get the sense that they are not part of bigger systems. As we covered in this space recently, bad things are likely to happen when drivers get selfish and reckless and take too much of their fate into their own hands. Emergency lanes get blocked (delaying first responders), people drive the wrong way on ramps or in other lanes (putting themselves and others in danger), or they simply get aggressive. The feeling of lost control in a situation in which we control just presses this ugly button. And our reactions generally make a bad situation worse.
As for us, we managed our flight frustration with some laughs. And we reaped the benefits of lounges, which included my first-ever, swanky airport shower.
We had some fun with the ordeal on social media, too, with an assist from A.I.
And Momo’s cousin, Annette, picked us up in the middle of the night at Heathrow on Saturday, the 23rd, to drive us to her family’s Stamford home. So we got some time back with her that the 10-hour flight delay cost us.
Part of the reason that we will look back on this marathon leap across the pond more fondly is because of the sheer lack of control we had and our decision to make good of the spontaneous delay. Would we choose to do it all again and lose 10 hours in England? No. But hardship might as well be life-giving and fun, if possible. And we will try to remember this lesson the next time we are pounding our steering wheels in an Atlanta rush hour.
Doug Turnbull covers the traffic/transportation beat for WXIA-TV (11Alive). His reports appear on the 11Alive Morning News from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and on 11Alive.com. Email Doug at dturnbull@11alive.com.
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