#AirportProblems

I left my house at 4 a.m. Monday morning, bright an early, to catch my flight out of SeaTac at 8. My plane was a little late leaving because there was frost on our wings, but that's no big deal, I'm all about airline safety. I had a small 2 and a half hour layover in Chicago O'Hare before continuing onto Paris which was just enough time for me to call my parents, grab some dinner, and charge my phone.

Of course, here's where the fun begins! When my flight is scheduled to begin boarding (4:35 p.m.), the front desk announces that maintenance hasn't finished running their tests and we will be experiencing a slight delay. Hey, that's cool- I'd rather them make sure my plane is fully functional before I fly transatlantic. 30 minutes later, it is announced that my plane is unsafe to fly (boo) but they found us another plane that can be boarded almost immediately (yay). Unfortunately..... for some reason that plane could not be flown to Paris (it might have been broken too). The front desk announced that they were finding us a new plane (3rd time's the charm, right?) but it looked like we wouldn't leave until 9:30 p.m. Keep in mind, this is a four and a half hour delay from my original departure time.

Dinner vouchers were given out. $12 of airport food is always delicious. Most of the passengers on my flight were rerouted to other flights because of their connections, but there were still many people sticking it out for the later flight. It is confirmed that our plane has landed from London and is being quickly refueled and checked before moving to our gate. The flight crew and pilots have arrived and the morale around my gate is pretty positive, given the delay. The plane boarded lightning fast and we were all seated before 10 p.m.

I've been in Chicago for nearly eight hours now, so I'm eager to sleep on the flight. I'm frantically texting my friends and family goodbye as the flight attendants begin the pre-flight procedures. I wait for them to tell me to turn off my phone, but they never do. We sit 45 minutes at the gate.

Then, we hear an overhead announcement. My pilots, because of this delay, have gone over their legally allowed hours in the cockpit and cannot fly the plane. We have passengers, we have a working plane, we have flight attendants. We don't have pilots. Awesome.

There are looks of sheer exhaustion, disgust, and anger on everyone's faces. American Airlines put me up in a fancy hotel outside the airport (and the nice consierge gave me a suite!) as well as $24 additional dollars worth of airport food vouchers and a boarding pass to Paris on a flight that leaves at FIVE O'CLOCK THE NEXT EVENING. Well, looks like I've gotten a complimentary vacation in the Chicago suburbs courtesy of American Airlines.

(I am writing this post from the comfort of my fancy hotel bed as I try to think of ways to fill the time before my flight.)