Flight to Orlando (yesterday)

I am writing this on my flight from Dallas to Orlando for my first visit to the Specialty Pharmacy Facility. It is currently 1215 Central time. Why is this important? Because I should already be in Orlando… My flight was supposed to leave DFW at 850 this morning. Everything was going great, we boarded the aircraft (Mike – you would have loved it, a 757), began pre-flight preparations and even closed the door. That was when the Captain came on the intercom to tell us our plane had been “flagged” by maintenance. Apparently, during landing an unsuspecting (I would guess) bird was “sucked” into the port engine thus causing enough damage that the maintenance crew “grounded” the plane. Now normally being delayed (even for work) is upsetting to me. However, when the engines, that are attached to and (more importantly) provide lift, become “questionable”, then I have NO problem being delayed.

We were immediately de-planed and returned to our customary waiting positions in the terminal. We received few updates, but what we did hear was they were trying to “repair” the engine. This was when I began to have visions of hurrying maintenance persons carrying spare parts and duct tape. I was starting to have less positive thoughts about this flight. Just then, a page came that told us this aircraft was indeed NOT flying today and they had found us (almost like running to the back room, checking inventory and dusting off an unused 757) a new aircraft. They instructed us to vacate Concourse A and proceed to gate 26 in Concourse D. DFW is a great airport with phenomenal Terminal Transit Trains, so this relocation took about 5 minutes. When we arrived to our new gate, there was a crowd of people by the AA desks…

After taking a new seat, we heard that the flight at this gate going to Cancun had been cancelled. The AA attendant announced it was cancelled because of mechanical problems. It began to seem like an epidemic. However, moments later she announced that the plane that was going to Cancun was now going to Orlando. This seemed to irritate a few of the Cancun passengers, so she clarified her announcement by stating that they plane was mechanically safe to fly to Orlando, but not Cancun. Hummmmmmm! I now have visions of the maintenance crew joking how there is “no way she can make it to Cancun, but might be lucky to make it to Orlando…go ahead and send it, they will never know”. Therefore, the attendant made the announcement to begin boarding. Ironically, boarding went much better since everyone already knew where to sit!!!

Nonetheless, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t just right. So, since I was sitting across from the flight attendant (Mike-I managed to get aisle seat row 9 which is emergency exit behind First Class. Stretching my legs as I type) I asked her what made the plane safe to fly to Orlando and not Cancun. Surprisingly, she answered honestly. She said “money.” As it turns out, the Cancun flight simply takes a full plane to Cancun and (usually) a half plane back to DFW. On the other hand, the flight from Orlando goes to California and then on to Hawaii. So, the airline cancelled its least profitable flight so a more profitable flight could continue. Now, if I had been on vacation going to Cancun at this particular time, I would have been “pissed.” However, since I needed to go to Orlando, I believe the Airline made a responsible and cost effective decision to scrub the Cancun flight and give us their plane. Which, at present is functioning fine and completed its journey if you are reading this post?
That’s it for now. I went to Dealey Plaza on Saturday and will post my thoughts on that later. Dad, you will really enjoy that post…Later.