Buster Cluck

I had a lovely day in Houston, spending it with my friend. I got to the airport in plenty of time, and then everything went south.

I boarded the plane at around three. Takeoff would be at 3:40 for an early arrival of 6:55. But we waited at the gate for quite some time. They amused us by doing the safety demo and handing out the customs cards. Then we were told there was a problem with the lavatory, so we would be down to only two for this flight. Fine, I probably won’t need to go. Then they announced that the wall by the lavatory looked weak. They eventually determined it wasn’t structural, so it wouldn’t be hazardous to fly. Unfortunately, there was some worries about the weather in Edmonton, and they would need to take on more fuel in case we were diverted to a different airport.

These delays wouldn’t have been so bad, but I didn’t have a lot to entertain myself. I had run out of movies on my iPad, and was trying to use the United Personal Device Entertainment system. But the network kept going out, so I was only able to watch a minute of movie at a time.

With that, we were able to leave the airport and head to the runway. Ha ha, no. We did do that, then we stopped and turned back. The flap around the lavatory was not correct, so it would need to be repaired. Or we would need to get a new plane. Back to the terminal.

After awhile they decided to let us off the plane to stretch our legs. That wasn’t a good sign. Stay in the area because they want to be able to board us quickly. I got off and went to relieve myself, then I started to plug in devices; I had used a lot of phone power waiting. Then, five minutes later, they asked us to come back, where we seemed to needlessly wait in line. Eventually we got back on.

With the plane repaired, we just needed to wait for a new cabin crew. I guess the previous ones had been on duty for too long. They came on, and preparation started. A bit later, there was another apology and one of the stewardesses announced that she was illegal. I assume she didn’t speak French and therefore couldn’t steward to Canada. She exited the plane. I have no idea if they got a replacement or are we flying with below the standard number of stewards. They showed us the safety demo again.

The plane finally took off at 8:18.

I am looking forward to what problems they have had with my luggage.

2015-10-26 23:19