International Travel - The Joy of Airlines

[Stephan Whelan]

So - i'm sitting in Washington, Dulles Airport typing this message after sitting on a plane for over 12 hours. My journey isn't even over yet but here is a little recap so far...

Flying from London to Dulles to then change and head on down to Virginia. Virgin Atlantic flight VS021 took off on time at 11:30am and we started climbing for about 30 minutes before the captain came on to explain that one of the engines was having trouble and had been shut down. We then were forced to dump fuel and do an emergency landing back at Heathrow to be chased down the runway by about a dozen fire trucks.

Turns out the engine only had a "minor" fault but it took an hour to repair. Finally 4.5 hours after we were supposed to be taking off we finally left.

Now - we apparently went "faster" in the flight as we made up 20 minutes in the flight (excuse me if I hold onto my excitement). I arrive at Dulles to be told there were now no flights to Virginia till 22.10 (a meer 4 hours from the time I was told this). So - I went off to security and got tackled over a tiny pair of scissors in my baggage (this was my fault - I should know better) - so by now my good humour is cracking slightly.

I'm still waiting to board my connecting flight to then hire a car on the other side to drive down to Williamsburg, VA (about an hour drive from the other airport).

Then up early tomorrow to see clients....

Ah the joys of international air travel!

 

[icarus pacific]

Like the ads say...

Virginia is for Lovers. :chatup

 

[sinkweight]

Dude. That sucks. I wonder what happened with the plane...

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Ah! So a full 24 hours after I left home this morning I finally walk into the hotel!

If you ever get offered a job where extensive travel is required - run like the wind!

 

[Amphibious]

Sounds like a normal working flight to me... but then again I'm going a little farther usually

have a few pints on the company's tab and get some rest next time we're having drinks I;ll tell you a few of my "Heathrow" stories

 

[Alison]

LOL @ Stephan rofl
You know after flying for 26 years, we didnt have so much as a hiccup with an aircraft apart from one emergency stop on take off (on the ground before sinkweight pipes up), funny that most people I know have had some problem or other.
But the scissors rofl I can just see the headlines Stephan Whelan! International Terrorist gives Pilot a bad haircut! ( Just dont ask how many nailfiles I had taken off me after 911)

 

[Freediver81]

LOL @ Stephan rofl
You know after flying for 26 years, we didnt have so much as a hiccup with an aircraft apart from one emergency stop on take off (on the ground before sinkweight pipes up), funny that most people I know have had some problem or other.
But the scissors rofl I can just see the headlines Stephan Whelan! International Terrorist gives Pilot a bad haircut! ( Just dont ask how many nailfiles I had taken off me after 911)

rofl rofl rofl

2 years ago in Thailand when I was flying from Phuket to Bangkok our plane had an engine falilure and returned to Phuket with one engine! I saw the guy beside me started reading the emergency manual so I did the same ( you never know)!
At least in the next flight I joined the mile high club! It was worth it!!!

 

[bdurrett]

Uhhhhh... Stephen......

Ummmm ...... I don't mean to be a Neener or anything but...

Dulles International Airport is IN Virginia and Williamsburg is about a 3 hour drive to the south towards Richmond. Instead of waiting all that time, I think I would have just grabbbed a car at Dulles and drove there myself. You must have flown (or rather tried to fly) into Richmond..... :head

I only know this because I used to live about 6 miles from the end of Runway 26Right at Dulles. The Concorde used to set off my car alarm when it took off from Dulles in my direction because it was so low and so loud when it passed over that it would trip the vibration sensors..... :vangry Forget trying to sleep or talk or listen to the radio or the TV.


And Amphib - we are talking about Virginia here... There is no such thing as a "few good pints" there..... It is good old American .... well p:rcard water (BTW - I am from Denver (Coors Country) so I can say that!)

We could probably start a whole thread on "Heathrow Stories To Terrorize Your Children With."

Bret

 

[sinkweight]

(on the ground before sinkweight pipes up)

hey!

ha-ha...One time I was making a short flight from Dallas down to Houston. I had not looked in my work backpack in quite a while, but brought it on as carry-on anyway. I got off the plane, and was walking down the neck of the terminal when I hoisted the heavy bugger over on to the other shoulder. That's when a 9 inch, rusty, pointy, jagged drywall saw burst its way through the top of the zipper-hatch. A security guard at the gate saw me dealing with it and putting it in a better place in the backpack, and pulled me aside and tried to confiscate it and get me into some trouble. That's when I told him that the bag went through the metal-detector, and a last minute security check, and that if I were him, I wouldn't want a media circus involving lack of security.

I know it's not an international flight, but ain't it all supposed to be safe now?

 

[bdurrett]

hey!

I know it's not an international flight, but ain't it all supposed to be safe now?

I know exactly what you mean.... that is my own Heathrow Horror Story.....I had an OLD Old Timer (brand) pocketknife in my Shaving Kit that had been in there since I was in the Navy in 1981. My grandfather gave it to me. I was going back to visit my folks in Kailua-Kona and had already gone form Frankfurt to Heathrow. Since they make you do the whole series of checks again, I was going through the machines when they grabbed my bag and put it back through the machine.... 3 times! I said "It has already been through at Frankfurt" and the guy said, "Well, there is something in it." He opened the bag, reached in, looked and said "It should be right around ..... here!" and pulls out the knife.... It was rusted shut but I thought I was gonna have to immediately use the spare trousers I kept in there..... :duh

I won't bore you with therest of the story that we had waited for an hour for our luggage on a two hour layover only to find that it didn't get on the plane we were on but one later (Thanks Lufthansa - I mean we checked in at Frankfurt 3 hours early so that would NOT happen!) :rcard or that we were driven through Heathrow by a young guy that was training to be a Formula 1 pilot on one of the little Granny Carts (horribly embarrassing!) or that the doors were closed on the plane when we finally got there but they hadn't pressurized the cabin so they opened one door again for us or that the pilot announced that "Now that our last passengers have been able to join us we can depart now...":hmm (like it was our fault) or that at least the United flight crew on the Heathrow-LAX leg was great! (They said, "It is all OK. You are on the plane, have a bottle of water, sit back and relax. You made it." - I think that they saw my better half was about to :waterwork and I was about to go :martial on someone.....)

 

[Alison]

But the scissors rofl I can just see the headlines Stephan Whelan! International Terrorist gives Pilot a bad haircut! ( Just dont ask how many nailfiles I had taken off me after 911)

Just a thought on that, I wonder if those same security goons ever wondered what we used to slice lemons with :hmm Probably not! never mind your in safe hands rofl

 

[bdurrett]

Just a thought on that, I wonder if those same security goons ever wondered what we used to slice lemons with :hmm Probably not! never mind your in safe hands rofl

I always thought that they just bit a chunk off.... you mean they don't? rofl rofl rofl

 

[Alison]

I always thought that they just bit a chunk off.... you mean they don't? rofl rofl rofl

rofl You'll have to ask Freediver81 that one

 

[bdurrett]

rofl You'll have to ask Freediver81 that one

Well, like the old saying goes...

"One Tequila,
Two Tequila,
Three Tequila...

FLOOR!"

:friday

 

[octopus]

Houston. Shoes off. Belt off. Pocket knives and nail clippers not allowed. Treated like prisoner by staff.

Served metal cutlery on the plane. :s

Only in America.

 

[JMD]

Dude that's terrible, hope the rest of the journey is uneventful!

My flying story. We were sitting in the honolulu airport boarding additional passengers when I hear a huge clank outside the plane. Seconds later the pilot logs in to let us know there will be a minor delay before we take off. After about fifteen minutes a welding truck pulls up and they start lifting a large piece of metal off the ground and welding it back onto the plane. At this point my young mind is starting to panic so I grab a stewardess and ask what they are doing. She explained quite calmly that the cover to the life boats had ejected without reason so they were welding it back into place until they could fix the mechanism. I responded "what if we need that lifeboat". Obvioulsy frazeled from a hundred queries she replied "Honey, if we crash, in the middle of the ocean, at 500 mph, there isn't going to be enough left of us to need a lifeboat"

 

[sinkweight]

Here you go Stephen, Alison...

 

[Alison]

Yup! Thats airport security for you all hands and body odor :yack

 

[Amphibious]

They tried to take away my freediving fins at the local airport. they are the same lenght as my backpack, and I don;t like putting them in checked luggage because that handlers are so rough (duffle bag). they wouldn't let me on the plane because they thought I could hijack it with a Bat 30

 

[Erik]

. After about fifteen minutes a welding truck pulls up and they start lifting a large piece of metal off the ground and welding it back onto the plane. "

Oh...my....God!
LOL! Classic, dude, classic rofl
Erik Y.