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I was supposed to be in San Diego at this hour (1AM Monday), but I find myself sitting at my desk in my home in Virginia.  It isn’t because I didn’t spend enough time on an airplane to make it to San Diego, in fact I spent a total of 5 hours in a seat on a plane today (or make that yesterday)…actually, 5 hours spent on 2 planes.  The problem is that we didn’t go ANYWHERE! 

It all started at 1:15 or so when I left the house for the airport.  The normal 50-minute drive to Reagan National Airport took about 2 hours because of the slick roads and crawling traffic.  Anxious that I might miss my 3:59PM departure, I was relieved when I got to my gate at 3:30PM.  Not to worry, though, boarding was delayed by about 20 minutes. 

By 4:30, I was sitting in my upgraded seat in first class, wondering if the 30 minute delay would affect my 60 minute connection in Atlanta.  Time continued to pass until the de-icing truck finally got to our jet.  At last, we should be departing soon.  About 10 minutes after the de-icing, they announced that the runway would be closed for 20-minutes so that they could clear the snow and ice.  This forced a second de-icing visit, for which we had to wait until well after 6PM.  I was now assured that I would miss my connecting flight and would be lucky to catch the last San Diego bound flight for the evening.  After the second de-icing, the ground crew started to move our plane using the Tug.  We would finally be getting underway.  Suddenly, a lot of bouncing and bumping as the Tug started sliding on the ice and torqued the nose gear beyond its limits.  This forced a lengthy engineering review to finally arrive at the conclusion that the flight had to be cancelled.  So at 7:30PM, after having sat on the plane for 3 hours, we were de-planing and looking for options.

Wihle multiple flights to Atlanta had already been cancelled, Delta decided that they would have one final trip to Atlanta leaving at 8:30PM.  The Crown Room lady (bless her heart) got me another first class seat on this flight.  Well, as luck would have it, departure got pushed back to 9:15.  At 9PM, I was back on a plane sitting in first class.  The big question this time is whether we would actually get off the ground by the 9:59PM curfew for noise abatement rules.  The plane was fully loaded by 9:30 and ready to go…..except, (you guessed it) we had to wait to be de-iced.  Time continued to pass until it was 9:55PM.  The pilot informed us that Delta had decided to break the curfew and pay the associated fines so that we could get to Atlanta.  Only one problem…..still no de-icing truck.  Another hour passed and still no de-icing truck.  At this point, the pilot informed us that the crew had exceeded its allowable hours for the day and that (with no de-icing truck in sight) they were cancelling the flight.  So, 2 hours after getting on my second plane of the day, I was once again getting of the plane in DC without having left the taxiway.  To add insult to injury, when my suitcase came off the plane, it was soaked through.

I am have been rescheduled for a 6AM flight out of Dulles, for which I need to leave the house at 4:30 AM….a short 3 hours from now.  Off to bed for this insanely frustrated traveller!

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