The distinct feeling of water in the air and the sights and sounds of Santo Domingo welcomed me home this evening, five hours after my scheduled arrival. Not too bad of a delay, considering the events of the day.
My day began at 5 a.m. when I arose to prepare for my travels. I arrived at the airport at 5:45, straight through the security and on to the gate by 6 a.m. where I was so early that the display screen did not even mention the departure. All goes well until we board the plane and the pilot announces they need to do an engine check. Sounds suspicious, especially when they subsequently report that the engine failed the test and that they would see "what they could do." An interesting response to the aforementioned failure... hmmm... Fortunately, they made the logical decision to have all passengers disembark since the plane would not take off for at least another 6 to 7 hours.
Frustrated as I regathered my once checked bags, I called the airline to reschedule. They put me on a 3:30 p.m. flight, the earliest they had. When I arrived at the counter to check again they offered me an earlier flight out of a nearby airport. I agreed since they were paying cab fare, not a moment too soon as they announced that the 3:30 flight was canceled. Turns out that the were supposed to use the very same aircraft for that flight. The hour taxi ride with a complete stranger was uneventful and I was able to fly now rerouted to Miami (instead of San Juan) at 11:20. Everything went smoothly on this flight... until the pilot began to insist we all sit down and remain in our seats. He repeated this request more than once, testily, despite the fact that not one passenger had stood. Odd, though who cared, at least I was finally at a different airport closer to Santo Domingo. At that moment 8 members of the airline staff boarded the plane, strutted down the aisle and turned to a woman across the aisle from me to demand, "Show me your identification." Satisfied that this woman was the one they wanted (for what, who knows...) they released the rest of us from the plane.
Thankful to have survived I headed directly for my terminal of departure to eat lunch, where I was greeted by a bird...
The following flight went smoothly enough, despite the fact they changed the gate, the plane and all of the boarding passes at the last minute. We even arrived earlier than intended. So, I really cannot complain about my odd, but interesting day.
