The flight from Columbus to Dulles left on time and arrived early. It left me plenty of time to take the train over to C Concourse to catch my connecting flight. I wanted to get an early start on my holiday, and specifically picked early flights so as to avoid any travel snags, so all was working according to plan.
The screen at the gate showed an on-time departure. Sitting in C Concourse, I heard the United Airlines rep explain that we would be boarding in groups. And, then, with no warning or explanation, disaster struck. The flight, which was supposed to leave at 8 a.m., was delayed until 1 p.m. for “aircraft servicing.” Huh? How did the need for servicing come up so suddenly, and on an early morning flight? Wasn’t the need for “servicing” apparent more than 30 minutes before departure?
So now I’m stuck in the Dulles C Concourse, experiencing all of the soul-deadening elements of an aging American airport — lame food selections, cheap naugahyde seats, bad music on the intercom, a couple changing their baby’s diaper two seats over, and an unreconstructed hippie woman strumming a guitar in the waiting area. I guess I’m just lucky she didn’t say we should all join in for a “singalong thing,” or a number of us would have had to give in to the urging of our inner Bluto from Animal House.
How has Edward Snowden managed to do this for weeks now? The only good thing about this delay is that it will make the vacation all the sweeter — if I ever get there.
A forest of towering tail assemblies dominated the horizon when I looked out my airplane window this afternoon, while my plane was cruising down the tarmac of the Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
Webner House 