Today is the day I head back to Europe. At least that was on the calendar.
The plan was to fly into JFK yesterday and catch a morning flight today to London. On AA.
The flight into JFK yesterday was 90 minutes late due to air traffic control staffing issues. Okay, not too bad.
This morning I head to the airport and look to see if my flight is on time. The arriving flight was early and everything was good. Surprisingly, the morning BA flight and the morning VS flights to London were both cancelled. But mine was on time.
We boarded on time and pushed back early. And then we stopped. And stayed. The pilot announced there was a slight maintenance issue and it shouldn't take long. Our scheduled departure time of 9:30 would be slightly delayed. And delayed. Every hour we were told it's almost done and got a message from AA with the new departure time. Finally at 12:15 we were told it can't be fixed and we would all have to deplane.
It was suggested that we hang around the gate for new updated information. Sure enough, we got messages that the new departure time was 5:00. I headed to the lounge figuring I might as well be comfortable. I had some lunch and then got the email that my flight was canceled. I headed towards the AA reps at the lounge and while waiting got a message I was rebooked on the 6:30 PM BA flight. So I had to talk to a BA representative. It's a shared Oneworld lounge so there was a BA rep there. She said I may not actually have a seat but was able to snag the last one in busness class.
So instead of arriving at 9:30 PM on Tuesday, I'll arrive at 6:30 AM on Wednesday. I contacted my hotel at Heathrow and told them to hold my room and give me a late checkout. (I'll be exhausted as I don't sleep on planes.)
So why the "When it rains...it pours" headline. Thunderstorms are expected in the NY area around my departure time.
Isn't travel fun?
Oh, I forgot to mention. The BA rep asked to see proof of my ETA.