Taking Flight
Round and round she goes, where she stops…..Newark Liberty International Airport I hope! That’s right, as I type this week’s entry, I’m stuck in an all too familiar holding pattern above Newark Airport. I am writing from Continental Airlines flight 1191 on my way home from Boston and I can’t help but remember my flight from Miami three weeks ago. We arrived to the NY area 30 minutes early to find ourselves circling for well over an hour. We proceeded to land in Philadelphia, refueled and finally took a 20 minute flight to Newark. The plane arrived four hours late at 1 a.m. I was tired and maybe a little cranky, but happy to have arrived home safe and sound. Come to think of it, taking off and landing on time from Newark are a rarity. Two weeks ago leaving from Newark to London on Silverjet we sat at the tarmac for two hours before taking off! In the grand scheme of things, delays and holding patterns may not be my favorite aspect of traveling, but it certainly won’t keep me from boarding an aircraft.
My friends have heard me say something similar before. Basically, the instant I get tired of getting on a plane is the day I get a new job. I love to fly and I know this is a love my colleagues at Global Traveler share as well. I will admit, I prefer when the flight is an international one, but even on a domestic flight…even in economy…even the middle seat, there is something amazing and invigorating every time the aircraft sits on the end of the runway ready for take off. I always love when the plane picks up speed as it becomes airborne, knowing that there is a new adventure to come at the end of the flight.
Let’s take today for example: I woke up at 5:15 a.m., (let’s just say this isn’t my favorite time of the morning), but I got dressed and I was out the door at 5:45 with a car to the airport. I entered Newark Airport and was through security by 6:22 and ready to board at 6:55. At approximately 7:45 I took the photo below from my camera phone high above NYC and landed in Boston at 8:30 to start a day of sales calls. All this, even before the bell at the New York Stock Exchange had rung - not too shabby!
Good news! The pilot just announced our holding pattern should only be a few minutes more and we should prepare for landing, so I guess that is my cue to wrap this up. I know some of you have stories of delays and being re-routed to put my stories to shame, so please post them so I have something to read during my next holding pattern around EWR!
- Alex Young, Vice President and Associate Publisher
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I enjoy reading about your adventures in the air. Great picture from your camera phone. How
did you enjoy silver jet? I heard check in is really different. no standing on lines. is that correct?
Looking forward to hearing about more of your travels.
July 7th, 2007 at 10:37 am
To “Cly”: See our review in the April 10 eFlyer, which will maybe help answer some of your questions.
July 8th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Your story of delays reminds me of a time when I was flying from National/Reagan destined for Westchester. I arrived at the United gate at around 10am for a flight that should have departed
at 10:45. At 11:30, we were informed that our crew had not yet arrived. Needless to say, the 9
of us waiting for the flight were becoming a little upset. By 12:30, we were informed that the crew
was finally on their way. So, they decided to board us. We were boarded onto our turbo prop,
I think it was a jetstream, when we saw the pilot board the plane. We cheered thinking we would finally be on our way, but our excitement was short lived. 10 minutes later we were asked to deplane. Apparently, there was mechanical problems. It was already 1:30. We stood at the window looking at the mechanics working on the plane when we noticed the snow flurries. The storm set in around 3:00, and we knew it was going to be a long day. A few of us were able to get on other planes, but the rest of us were stuck. We started to notice that all the flights were being delayed, and finally by 5:00pm they were all cancelled.
I thought about how I had decided to fly to beat the storm, and realized that I would have succeeded if I had driven, instead. My friends picked me up at the airport, and we got to a bar just in time for the Superbowl. The Titans lost that game, a yard short of the end zone on the very last play. I knew just how they felt.