Tuesday, June 24, 2014

ADVENTURES IN AVIATION...
Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Our departure from Calgary went off without a hitch, other than United's automated check-in kiosk not working to print our boarding passes... and an incredible number of checkpoints that needed to be passed for us to get through US customs and security. And our departure gate was changed twice, which I never would have known if I hadn't checked my e-mail using the free wifi.

Landing at O'Hare outside Chicago proved to be more problematic. A thunderstorm blew up at the airport just before we arrived, so first we spent 20 minutes or so in a holding pattern and then were diverted to the tiny South Bend, IA, airport for refueling and instructions. While we were there O'Hare was essentially shut down, but fortunately by the time we were refueled they opened it up to the planes that had been diverted, and we headed back to O'Hare by a somewhat roundabout route (the normally 15 minute flight took well over 30 minutes.) We landed roughly 2 hours late... right around when our flight to Rochester was originally scheduled to leave.

On the plus side, our flight to Rochester also had its landing delayed, and the gate wasn't far from where we got off the plane from Calgary. So we managed to catch our flight to Rochester in time to get home only an hour late. And we even had all three seats to ourselves. Unfortunately, while we were waiting to take off, I watched the baggage handlers load my suitcase on the plane - but not Ann's. So it was no surprise that when we got to Rochester, my bag was there... and she had to file a report to get her suitcase delivered tomorrow, when it was finally flown in from Chicago.

 All in all, though, it still went a lot better than my return trip from Alaska back in 1997...

 JMH
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