The Waiting Is The Hardest Part
Not just a shout out to Tom Petty...Of course my Tom is stuck at DFW waiting to hear the next status of the first leg of his United flight to Paris. American just announced that they were cancelling all flights for the rest of the day due to weather in the area (severe Thunderstorms, Lightning, Tornado possibilities). Luckily for Tom he is extremely patient and calm. So it is that I may find myself in the next few hours paddling out to DFW to retrieve him only to do it all again tomorrow. The moral of this story is, pack your patience as you fly this spring break and be polite. The airline employees cannot control the weather and they want to get there safe and sound just like the passengers do.
Update AM March 19:
His flight made it out of DFW, one of only 30 to do so. They arrived in DC around 9:20 but were told there was not enough time to get their luggage onto The Last Flight Out of the night to Europe at 10:47PM. Tom said he did not care, that he would deal with the luggage issue later but the United people were steadfast in no letting anyone on the flight without their luggage and insisted Tom and others would have to fly out at their originally scheduled flight time, just moved forward a day to Today, (Wed). That flight does not leave until shortly after 5PM this evening and weather has moved into Washington DC now folks. At last check Tom was going to simply sleep on the floor in the airport and would not let me Priceline a room for him and has not answered his cell since 10:15 last night...maybe he did get on. Check back for updates as I get them.
Update Two
Tom is still in DC. He was on the phone with his "friend not girlfriend, mom" when I tried to reach him last night and/or this morning. He indeed slept on the floor and he says he feels really ripe and is off for a splash bath in the mens room and then to read and charge his phone. Perhaps a visit to the Boeing Museum in the airport and then lets hope an actual flight to CDG and Paris. A "nice British lady" at the United Counter gave him the last aisle seat on the flight and recommended the museum. More updates as they come.
Update three
4:30 eastern he is finally about to board the flight to Paris...I think I may take a nap now...hope he does too lol
Travel and Weather Updates
A great place to keep abreast of rapidly changing weather conditions is accuweather.
And as I have posted before, flightaware and the airlines own websites offer updates on arrivals and departures. Flight aware is particularly good if the flight has taken off but has not landed yet...they have a nice little illustration that shows just where the flight is in relation to its destination. It was there that I saw, Tom's United flight took off on time from Washington to Dallas, circled a bit and then was diverted to Austin where it sits presently.
We have a saying that rings true down here folks..."If you don't like the weather, stick around it will change" never more true than today. We had the A/C on yesterday and we will have the heat on by tonight as the temperature dips to the lower 40's.
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And In the End
We are still waiting to see if my son's flight goes the way of many others at DFW today...that is cancelled. As it is now they have moved it out to 4:30pm and the kid is probably going to be sleeping in the DC airport tonight. Or flying to Frankfurt or London and making multiple connections but this is part of the adventure of Spring Break travel. I will post pics of the journey soon.
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