Summer Travel is Gonna Suck!

If this past week was any indication, this summer is going to totally suck for flying. I had to fly home early this past week due to some personal stuff happening here at home but I scheduled out my normal flights and all that jazz. Getting to Memphis didn't pose any problem at all, just the regular Monday crap that I go through. The way back was an entirely different story.

Wednesday there were all these storms that were rolling through Atlanta and thats the main hub for Delta Airlines who is my current preferred carrier since they have a big presence in Ft. Lauderdale. Well I get on the flight no problem and so far things look like its only going to be delayed for about 5-10 minutes or so which is not even long enough to record on most tracking systems. Of course my wait wasn't that long, I ended up boarding the plane, taxiing to the tarmac and sitting there for about an hour because Atlanta wouldn't let in incoming traffic due to the storms. Oh lovely!! After we take off the pilots make up some time by flying a bit faster, I mean they've already burned a fair amount of fuel just sitting on the tarmac so burning a bit more by going faster isn't going to change things. Ahh here's where the trouble starts to begin.

Just like one of my flights that I took in Detroit, I land but then I have to wait to taxi to the gate. Of course we make all these stops along the way so that jets can take off and land since there are quite a few runways in our path to the terminal. I can almost see my gate and continually check the flight status of my flight home and notice that it says its delayed till 10PM. OK not bad I think I'm alright in terms of time but either way I hot foot it to Terminal A from Terminal B. I get to my gate and see that its deserted which isn't a good sign. I decide to see what zones have boarded and all of them have! Crap! I hate checking my bag but I wasn't the only one late so there was a few spaces still in the overhead bins. I was in Row 12 but my bag was in Row 25 so de-planeing will definitely be interesting.

Just to add a little insult on my trip home, I'm delayed a bit again because of the storms in Atlanta that affected my flight from Memphis. The plane is taxiing to the runway and the pilot informs us that we are currently number 19 for take off.... this just gets better and better! After about 20 more minutes, another small problem arises. The east bound flights can't take off because the storms are rolling in with a vengeance so they have to find a way to get the east bound flights out of our way so we can take off. Overall another hour was wasted taxiing until take off.

If that is a harbinger of what is to come this summer, I know I'm going to be in for quite a few nights in Atlanta this summer which would totally suck! Gotta stay positive though, if I'm lucky I'll always make it home on the weeks I'm flying away for work.