Still in Texas
We tried to fly out of DFW yesterday, to no avail. The 1-2 inches of snow that were predicted turned into nearly eight inches over the course of the day -- an all-time record for this area.
After multiple calls to the airline, who assured us each time that the flight looked fine, we drove to the airport at 5:30 Thursday morning through large flakes of snow. The agent who checked us in assured us again that the flight was still scheduled to leave on time. We believed them.
We boarded the plane -- a full flight in which we had to check one of our carryons and every seat was full. Tim was in the window seat, I was in the middle with Katie, and there was a man sitting in the aisle seat next to me.
Then began our wait on the plane. First, we taxied out to get in line for the de-icing machine. We were third in line. They told us it was a 10-minute process. After 30 minutes, they had finished one airplane, but we were suddenly fourth in line. We then had to go back to the gate to get more fuel. By the time we got back, we were eighth in line. We had been on the plane for five hours when we finally went back to the gate to give everyone a "break." They still hadn't canceled the flight. I was gathering up our things and trying to scurry off the plane (as much as you can with two kids and lots of stuff) when the alleged 10-minute break turned into "hurry up and get back in your seats! If we don't get back in the de-icing line we lose our place altogether!" We were already going to have to spend the night at a hotel in New York because we were already going to miss our overseas connection, so there was not much that was going to keep me from getting off that plane.
My first mission when I got off was to do everything I could to get at least our checked carryon off the plane. I was hoping to get the checked luggage off, as well, since letting it take off on that plane meant we may never see it again. The airline personnel were surprisingly helpful at that point. We had our carryon back in about 30 minutes and our checked luggage back within the hour. In the meantime, I called my parents to come pick us up (their second two-hour round trip through the snow to the airport that day -- bless them!).
So now we're back in Garland until Monday morning, at which point we're going to give the exact same itinerary another whirl. Hopefully by then the snow and ice will be gone and the backed up airport traffic will have cleared a bit.
We had a fun morning of playing in the snow! Here are a couple more pictures.
My dad holding Tim (left) and my mom holding Tim's cousin Candace (right):
Even Katie went outside for a few minutes!
After multiple calls to the airline, who assured us each time that the flight looked fine, we drove to the airport at 5:30 Thursday morning through large flakes of snow. The agent who checked us in assured us again that the flight was still scheduled to leave on time. We believed them.
We boarded the plane -- a full flight in which we had to check one of our carryons and every seat was full. Tim was in the window seat, I was in the middle with Katie, and there was a man sitting in the aisle seat next to me.
Then began our wait on the plane. First, we taxied out to get in line for the de-icing machine. We were third in line. They told us it was a 10-minute process. After 30 minutes, they had finished one airplane, but we were suddenly fourth in line. We then had to go back to the gate to get more fuel. By the time we got back, we were eighth in line. We had been on the plane for five hours when we finally went back to the gate to give everyone a "break." They still hadn't canceled the flight. I was gathering up our things and trying to scurry off the plane (as much as you can with two kids and lots of stuff) when the alleged 10-minute break turned into "hurry up and get back in your seats! If we don't get back in the de-icing line we lose our place altogether!" We were already going to have to spend the night at a hotel in New York because we were already going to miss our overseas connection, so there was not much that was going to keep me from getting off that plane.
My first mission when I got off was to do everything I could to get at least our checked carryon off the plane. I was hoping to get the checked luggage off, as well, since letting it take off on that plane meant we may never see it again. The airline personnel were surprisingly helpful at that point. We had our carryon back in about 30 minutes and our checked luggage back within the hour. In the meantime, I called my parents to come pick us up (their second two-hour round trip through the snow to the airport that day -- bless them!).
So now we're back in Garland until Monday morning, at which point we're going to give the exact same itinerary another whirl. Hopefully by then the snow and ice will be gone and the backed up airport traffic will have cleared a bit.
We had a fun morning of playing in the snow! Here are a couple more pictures.
My dad holding Tim (left) and my mom holding Tim's cousin Candace (right):
Even Katie went outside for a few minutes!
posted by steveandbeth at 9:35 AM
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