The Weekly Wrap: April 6, 2025

Flying is always a bit of chaos. First, you have your own logistics of planning, packing, and getting places. On top of that, you're at the whims of weather and the airlines. I thought, when I booked my ticket for the conference I attended this week, that my direct flight to Minneapolis would be the least of my problems. No connection? No problem!

I was wrong. So very wrong.

Things started to go badly before I even left home. Several hours before my flight was due to take off, I got a notice about a delay. Fine. It happens. I dilly-dallyed a bit and then was happy to see an update that the delay would be shorter than planned. So, I wrapped things up and headed to the airport. Security was a breeze, I grabbed a tasty lunch, and I chilled at the gate. The inbound flight arrived late but still earlier than the original delay.

Then things took a turn. The gate agent announced that there was a maintenance hold. I am a jinx for these when I travel solo. About 75% of the flights I've had in the past five years end up on some sort of maintenance hold. The longest one took two hours to resolve which ended in my unexpectedly spending the night in Dallas because I missed my connection. I figured this couldn't that bad. DCA has a full maintenance shop. I know this because my University has an aviation maintenance training program in one of the hangers.

Then the waiting started. The waiting with almost no updates from the gate agents. What little they did share gave no updates about timelines or the level of concern. But then, what luck!, everything was resolved. About two hours later than planned, we boarded the flight. We even taxied... to what what I like to call a timeout area. Then we got the news, there was another maintenance issue. Back to the gate we went where we even had to deplane. 

At this point, our entire passenger group was bouncing back and forth between the gate and the customer service desk trying to get any sort of information or find alternative travel. I've had great experiences with American's customer service in the past. Not this time. My fellow passengers were all calmly asking questions. We were stonewalled, ignored, and rudely dismissed. One man next to me was yelled at for asking a simple follow-up question. It was insane. American kept saying they couldn't do anything unless the flight was cancelled. And the wouldn't even help people who had connections to make. I have never seen or received such snippy service. 

To make matters worse, we couldn't really leave the gate area for long because we didn't know if we would be boarding in 5 minutes or 5 hours. 

Nearly two hours after we deplaned, we got word that the maintenance issue was fixed.... but half of our crew timed out. We were all once again cooling our heels waiting with zero updates. Every time they opened the jetway door, we all sat up straighter hoping for some action. Finally, seven hours after we were scheduled to leave, we were allowed to board again.

After taxing to the end of the runway, we suddenly turned off. Now, I fly out DCA a lot. I know what is normal and what is not. The diversion we took that ended with us parking by the maintenance hanger was not normal. But there was no announcement. We sat around for 15 minutes. Then, we inched back on to the taxiway. Finally, an announcement from the pilot, "Flight attendants... [too long of a pause where the entire aircraft inhaled]... prepare for takeoff. [collective exhale by everyone on board]."

7.5 hours after we were supposed to leave, we were finally underway.

Oh, and then we landed in near white out conditions.

So, yes, when the first leg of my trip home offered a cheap upgrade to first class, I took it.

I will be writing a strongly worded letter to American and I won't be letting things go until I receive some compensation (at the very least some free Wi-Fi codes). I don't mind delays when they need to fix maintenance issues or replace a timed-out crew. I put safety above all else. What I mind is the surly and unreasonably rude customer service. I saw no behavior that warranted treating passengers with such disdain. 

What was the worst flying experience you've had?

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• Learning to recycle from ancient builders. [WaPo - gift link]
• It's probably not the worker but the job that's the problem. [Culture Study]
• Language is an incredibly thing. [@Merriam-Webster]

• All about OTC pain killers. [Life Kit]
• Shotgun weddings and the Vietnam War draft [Very Special Episodes]
• The bad paperwork of longevity. [Good on Paper]
• Looking at the possible upsides of tariffs. [Planet Money]

• Look at this book! [@shaperorarebooks]
• A lovely look at the fashion of Eid. [@islamicsocietyofbaltimore]
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot kept being suggested to us, so we finally got around to clicking "play." It's loosely (very loosely) based on a true story about a newbie war reporter in Afghanistan. I really enjoyed this one. It had one of those casts where people you know keep popping up. I like that it found the humor in all of the the drama and chaos. [Amazon Prime]
• I love limited run series. Zero Day shows why they are way better than series that go on for seasons and seasons. The short duration means there's tighter writing and storytelling. I love that they went unreliable narrator. You never quite know what is real or not. This one had an astounding cast. I will watch Connie Britt and Joan Cusack in anything. [Netflix]

• Since I was at a conference for most of the week, I did a lot of eating out. One dish I did make before I left was chicken shawarma with potatoes. This was a sheet pan meal that was pretty quick to make and had delicious results. The addition of cinnamon in the spice mix was so good. The only comment my husband had was, "More garlic." Done. [Eating Well]
• I also made a quick dinner of fancy tomato sandwiches. These would have been better with a farm fresh heirloom tomato, but our store didn't have those in stock yet. Don't skimp on the fried onions, they bring an essential sweetness that really rounds out the dish. We served this with a side of roasted carrots. [Real Simple]