My trip back from Gastons

HPNFlyGirl

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iBrookieMonster
So here it is Sunday morning. My bags were packed an in the plane. Bill, Brent and I headed off to Brunch.

I wasn't going to eat anything, but when Jesse brought his plate back...it looked pretty good. I thought to myself..."It's going to be a long day and the next edible thing I see will be in Raleigh." So off to the buffet I went. After the main portion I had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, only to have Sharon tell me how good the eclairs were. Thats when it happened. Bill and Brent were like..."BROOK WE HAVE TO GO!!!! NOW!!!!! So I plopped down my money on the table and said good bye to everyone.

Brent takes off and life is good. We landed at MKL, purchased fuel, then it was Bills turn to fly thier leg home and my next leg of my trip back to RDU. Even though there was no inflight beverage or snack...there was inflight entertainment, by Brent. He danced. It was hilarious. I still laugh when I think about that.

We land at CHA. Unpack the plane. Then Bill loads my stuff in the truck to take me to the main terminal. I say good bye to Brent and thank him for everything. Then Bill drops me off at the main terminal. I thank him as well.

Now the fun really begins.

I go check in at the self kiosk. It doesn't want to take my skymiles number and pin. I go up to the desk to find out whats going on and they said that there was a problem with the system and the could check me in there. Ok. No problem. Then they told me my flight from CHA - ATL was delayed because of maintenance a issuse. So we rebook my flight from ATL - RDU to the last one of the night. 10:30 pm. GREAT....this puts me getting into RDU at midnight.

I go through security. Find a seat by the window on the approach end of the runway and listened to my iPod. Well the time was 6:30 pm. Wow...its really quiet in here. I mean there was NO passengers there. Only the gate agent and the cleaning crew. I walked up and asked her

Me - When the flight to ATL was going to leave?

Agent - That flight was CANCELLED.

Me - Its been cancelled? Well how am I getting to ATL?

Agent -There is a taxi going from CHA to ATL.

Me - A TAXI!!!!! HOW LONG IS THAT GOING TO TAKE!!!!

Agent - 2 hours.

Me - UUUGGGHHHH!!!!!!

So she printed me off a voucher for the taxicab and my "new" itenerary for when I arrived in ATL.

I go down to the ticket desk and the lady told me I was good to go. The taxi driver comes and picks up my stuff and throws it in the back of the taxi. Luckly I grabbed the last seat in this one, as there were several others leaving soon after.

I met Donna, a lady, going to CLT. She was really cool, but scared to death about having to catch a flight in this manner. I told her...I go through ATL all the time and I would help her out. In the mean time I was able to catch a glimpse of the speedometer. THE GUY IS DOING 95 MPH. This was the 1st time in a long time I had feared for my life. I asked him soon after how much longer till we arrive in ATL. He said that we had been in ATL for the last 10 mins. OH LOOK THERES THE CITY!!!!!

Finally we arrive at ATL airport. We all hop out and thank the guy. Donna and I check in, go through security.

There was this guy with a wheelchair and he offered to take our stuff to our gates for us. We place our stuff in the wheelchair, ride down the elevator, hop on the underground train. We are looking for Concourse D as in Delta I told him. Well, we arrive in Concourse D and it turned out we were to be in Concourse A. Well, he got ****ed off and threw our stuff on the floor and said some stuff in whatever language he spoke.

We pick up out stuff about to die laughing and head back down to the underground train. Ok...we are now looking for Concourse A as in Alpha. Concourse A finally came up and we rode the escelator up and went to go find our gates. Ok...looks as if there was a gate change for me. I am now at Gate A 21, not A 25. Donna was like..."Girl, I need a drink." Luckly there was a Houlihans right there. We grabbed a seat, ordered our drinks and toasted to one helluvah trip from CHA to ATL. While we had a table we switched off watching each others stuff so we could run to the ladies room.

Then we went down to Gate 27 where Donna was to leave to go to CLT. Uh Brook, that one says Las Vegas. HHHMMM!!!! ok...lets go check the monitors. Sure enough she had a gate change as well. Gate D 16. Poor Donna was almost in tears. What do I do now. Do I have to ride the train again. "Yes you do. It will be OK." I told her to look up at the signs, and just follow the arrows and she would be just fine. If it wasn't 10:10 I would have taken her to her terminal because I needed to use up some energy. But my plane was getting ready to board in like 15 mins. I said bye to Donna.

Next up...the Delta Gate Agent. I explained to her my situation. I NICELY told her that I paid for a plane ride and not a taxi ride from CHA. She said...I don't have a problem giving you a voucher. Ok cool. WTF IS THIS!!!! A MEAL VOUCHER!!!!! Now its 5 mins. till boarding time. I don't have time to eat anything. So I sprinted over to Ben and Jerrys and had a Peanut Butter Chocolate shake. I DID GET MY PEANUT BUTTER AFTER ALL THIS WEEKEND!!!! YYYYIIIPEEEEE!!!!!! (TSA threw out my PB at RDU on Thursday night on the way to CHA.) When I arrived back at the gate they had 1 available seat to upgrade to 1st class. HELL YEAH!!!!! So I upgraded to 1st class. I owed myself after all I had gone through the past few hours.

I was the 1st one to board. The FA asked me if I would like a drink. Sure. She named off all the alcoholic choices 1st. Ok...I will have a vodka and Fresca. Pretty good if I say so myself. Then I was all settled in ready to come back to RDU. We take off. The FA comes around and offers me another drink. Ok...sure. I was 1/2 way done with my drink....Oh yeah, I have to drive home so I shouldnt drink any more. So I had her pour me an orange juice over ice.

We land in Raleigh and the captain and FO let me tour the cockpit. We talk airplane stuff for a min and then I think them for a nice flight.

I drove home and made it in prolly about 1 am. Showered and went to bed.

Monday I called the airline and told them what happened. They didn't charge me the miles I used on this trip. They gave me 2,500 skymiles and a $100 travel voucher. :D WOOHOO!!!!! ANOTHER FREE TRIP ON DELTA!!!!!

Ok...I admit it. I like flying the airlines because I pretty much fly for free because I work the system. Say what you want but I like it. As for Delta...they have always treated me very nicely. Oh btw...that was ASA that had the mx issue.

Once again...THANK YOU BILL AND BRENT FOR A WONDERFUL FLIGHT OUT TO GASTONS AND BACK!!!!! You guys are GREAT pilots.
 
Thanks Brent. With me its NEVER a dull moment. Oh yeah...your right...I do know everybody. I forgot to mention that I ran into a pilot I met at WAI while returning to my gate from Ben and Jerrys.

Maybe I can have some more of your "inflight entertainment" one day. ;)
 
Ya gotta love an adventure - commercial OR GA!

May you have many, many more!
 
Oh btw...that was ASA that had the mx issue.

ASA, America's ****iest Airline!

On the times I've used them between ATL and CHA, I'd say I've had maybe a 40% success rate at completing the flight as booked.

I'd rather drive, to be honest.
 
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