From Atlantic to Pacific, gee, the traffic is terrific

[austin_dern]

[ Sorry I'm late. Pinball league night spun out into post-league games and then a diner visit. ]

Our flight got delayed a little bit, nothing too out of the ordinary, although we couldn't help noticing the flight to Philadelphia Horrible did a call of ``we might be able to make a window they have if everybody boards right now'' before we got on our plane to substitute Charlotte. But the flight took off reasonably near on time, and if it seemed to putter around forever the Charlotte airport before pulling up to a gate at least we had ... exactly enough time to get our bags, run to a bathroom, and run to the departing gate for our connection. They'd put us in the back row, just ahead of the bathrooms, but then a flight attendant asked if we'd be willing to sit in the exit row. Sure we were. We took in the directions for the exit row and read over the information cards, and they had just sealed the cabin doors for takeoff when they announced the flight was cancelled. Weather, would be as much as we heard, and that through the rumors that pass through the populations of cancelled flight. Also the velcro holding the first part of the exit door emergency release came unstuck, and the plastic cover dangled pathetically from the cabin wall.

We joined an infinitely long queue for US Airways's customer service desk, although they passed out slips of paper with the Secret Number to call for rebooking, and we got the option of waiting for a standby flight several hours hence or rebooking for the morning. I thought our chance of getting a standby flight, considering everyone in the world was ahead of us, was low and settled for the morning, when we'd be able to get ... well, 7:45 am was too morning and we got the 11:19 instead. Then I asked about hotels.

Because the flight was cancelled for weather reasons and not maintenance they wouldn't give us anything, but, the phone service gave me the number for Travalliance (or something with a name like that), which is supposed to help stranded travellers find low-cost hotels. They got us a reservation in a near-enough hotel, although they (Travalliance) wanted a code. Apparently part of the deal is that airlines supply interrupted-flight codes (or something like that) so Travalliance can properly bill the relevant airline for the discounted hotel room. The Travalliance person told us that yes, the airline would so give us a code if we pressed them. I was skeptical but agreed to try, and got nowhere with the US Airways phone line; they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. We waited in the remaining customer support line for hours and got to someone who said they barely understood what we were asking for but there wasn't any kind of code they could possibly give out. So far they haven't charged my credit card more than the discount rate I was quoted; if they do, I'll dispute the charge and let US Airways, Travalliance, whichever hotel it was we were in, and the Visa Corporation fight it out.

Finally and very worn out, especially from the futile line wait, we went to the airport's Burger King and got some veggie burger meals, with Hershey sundae pie desserts to soothe us at the end of a long and annoying day.

Well, except we had to actually find baggage claim, where we learned we could not claim our bags as they were going on to Charleston we hoped. We got to the hotel instead, then, and were delighted that it had a cushion-padded shelf by the window where someone could sit or, if small enough, sleep for the night. I looked through the Charlotte-area tourist attraction flyers but saw nothing for the Carrowinds amusement park; it did cross our minds we were awfully close to this park without being able to go to it (among other things, it's closed for the season). They didn't have any flyers. The hotel room also didn't have any shampoo; I had to go down in the morning and get some from the front desk. It was in these horrible plastic bags, like you get catsup at at Burger King.

We were able to sleep in late enough to take the edge off being tired, although also so late that the continental breakfast was down to remnants. They were even out of coffee, if you can imagine. And I needed forever to work out how to make the waffle maker work. But at least we had rested and were on our way to the airport, unlike our 11:19 flight.

Trivia: The Paducah Daily News reported that Leonidas Grover of Newtown, Indiana, was killed in bed by a meteorite on 14 January 1879. It's not clear if this was a hoax. Source: Rain of Iron and Ice, John S Lewis.

Currently Reading: On The Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way The World Looks, Simon Garfield.

PS: A bit more about Thomas Hobbes, since I've learned more about him and his mathematics. First mathematics post since the last roundup.