As I wrote earlier I’m going to Brussels for Christmas. I was scheduled to already be in Brussels but here I am at my computer in Toronto. What a day for air travel December 21 – The Winter Solstice: Alban Arthan – was . 🙂
I arrived at Pearson a couple of early to avoid standing in line for hours. I was through checkin in about 15 minutes and made my way to the Continetal gate. Beautiful clear skies and sunny. Perfect. My flight was scheduled to depart for Newark, the first leg of my trip, at 2:10pm.
Started to notice flight delays and cancellations on the monitor. Hmmmmmm. Turns out that there was lots of snow and freezing drizzle in Newark. Yikes. Then we were told that our flight was delayed and there would be an update at 1:30. I had almost three hours between arriving in Newark to get connected to Brussels.
We then told that our plane would be late but that it had left Newark. The plane would reach Toronto at 3:00 and we would depart at 3:30. Lots of time.
The plane did arrive at 3:00 but 3:30 became 4:00 and then 4:30. We were told there were delays in Newark as well so connections could be made. OK.
We board the plane. The turboprops wind up and we – don’t move. Ground crew moves around the plane with shovels. There is a strong wind outside but not a lot of snow except for drifts. The engines wind up again and we go – nowhere. The flight deck announces that the brakes are frozen. We sit and wait for a fix. 40 minutes passes. We are deplaned.
I am offered a standby on Lufthansa to Dusseldorf at 9:55pm that night with a guaranteed seat to Brussels. However, all the planes have been full that day and no standbys had been getting on. So I opted to get rebooked on Continetal. Nothing available for today – December 22 – so I am scheduled to fly out tomorrow morning December 23.
hohohohoho – A merry Christmas to all. 🙂
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