For some reason, no airlines fly directly from Boston to Greensboro, NC so I had to fly through Atlanta. This is where all of the trouble was caused. (I didn't post about this one, but I also got stuck in Raleigh-Durham, NC the week before, due to a weather issue. They tried to fly me home through Fort Lauderdale, WHICH IS THE WRONG DIRECTION, in case anyone is geographically challenged). Anyway, when I got to the airport my flight was not delayed. I was scheduled to leave for Atlanta at 5pm. The plane coming in ended up being a few minutes late, but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately they announced a weather delay around the time we should have been taking off. Apparently there were some thunderstorms in Atlanta and we needed to wait. We ended up waiting about an hour and then they began boarding the plane. So we all get on the plane and they announce: 'One of the brakes is overheated. We have to call a mechanic, wait for him to get here, and then wait for the brakes to cool off.' Surprisingly this all takes only about 45 minutes and we pull away from the gate at around 7pm.
We start to taxi through the airport and I am engrossed in a book I just bought called "The Imperfectionists" (which is fabulous, by the way, I highly recommend it). About an hour later I look up and realize in horror that we are still on the ground. The announcement: 'There is a ground stop in Atlanta due to the weather. They are not letting any planes take off. Fortunately that means that all of your connecting flights are delayed as well. We will now be pulling back to the gate."
We arrive back at the gate and they say we will be getting an update from Atlanta in an hour so everyone gets off the plane. At this time we learn that we were the last scheduled flight out of Greensboro that night and so all of the restaurants have closed. Awesome. If only I hadn't planned on eating dinner during my two hour layover in Atlanta... About every half hour they inform us that we will be updated on the ground stop again in half an hour. Finally, at 9pm we re-board the plane and actually take off this time, HURRAY!
The flight to Atalanta should take about an hour. At 10:45 I realize that we have been flying for way too long and then the announcement comes: "We flew all the way to Atlanta and attempted to get permission to land and discovered that they have closed the airport. We tried to re-route to land in Savannah, but due to the air traffic with Atlanta being closed and all they were unable to accommodate us. We will be heading back to Greensboro and when we get back on the ground this flight will officially be canceled. You will need to see a re-booking agent about getting a different flight out tomorrow. Flight attendants please prepare for arrival."
Aside from crashing and everyone on the plane dying, I'm pretty sure that this is the absolute worst thing that could happen on a flight. We land back in Greensboro and the brilliant flight attendant makes the following announcement: "Since there's still about an hour left in the day we could still go to Atlanta tonight. Please stay on board until further notice." [ARE YOU KIDDING ME???] And then: "Actually the pilot has reached his maximum flying hours for today so he will not be able to take us to Atlanta tonight. We will see what we can do about getting a different flight crew." [PLEASE LET ME OFF THIS F---ING PLANE] And then: "Actually you should probably get off the plane. Please see the re-booking agent about getting a different flight out tomorrow."
As it turns out Delta is significantly better at re-booking a canceled flight than Jet Blue. Just some travel wisdom for those amateur passengers out there. Also, North Carolina is cursed. You can get there, but you cannot leave. Avoid this state at all costs.
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