So Close (to the gate) Yet So Far
Long day into night is the best way to describe an incident that happened to me a couple of years ago.
I had attended a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada and was returning home along with a lot of other Phoenicians. I was looking forward to take the quick I hour fly and then be home.
I was scheduled to leave on an America West flight around noon. A buddy of mine, Steve, was scheduled to leave on Southwest about an hour later.
When we arrived at the Las Vegas airport both of our flights showed they were on time, even though we had both talked to friends in Phoenix and heard the weather in Phoenix was nasty: rain and wind.
Steve and I said good-bye to each other and went our respective gates.
When I got to my gate, all of the sudden, my flight had been delayed for two hours due to weather in Phoenix. I called Steve by cell phone to see how his flight was doing and he too was delayed.
Time went by and after about two hours, Steve called me from his gate and said he was boarding his Southwest flight. Even though my America West plane was sitting at the Las Vegas gate and was suppose to leave about an hour before Steve’s, I was still waiting to board. Out of curiosity, I asked him to call me when he landed so we could compare arrival times.
While those of us waiting for the �weather� delayed America West flight to leave Las Vegas, Steve called about an hour and a half later after getting off his plane in Phoenix. As us passengers on America West were still being told to stay in the boarding area because we could board at any minute. We were told this same line about every 10 minutes.
Finally, after waiting for about four hours, my America West flight finally left Las Vegas. We landed safely in Phoenix and yes the weather was terrible, at least by Phoenix standards. Once off the runway, the plane was sent to a �waiting area� because there wasn�t a gate available for us. Annoying, but no big deal. I thought, this can�t be to long of wait because America West had 30 plus gates in Phoenix. Boy, was I wrong.
After sitting in Phoenix a few hundred yards from a gate for an hour, I started getting impatient for the following reasons:
� America West had plenty of time to plan for us, we were already hours (!) late arriving.
� America West could have pushed back another plane from a gate pulled up let us out, we were home, and then put the other plane back at the gate.
� Southwest had a flight from Las Vegas come in and land and the people off the plane in Phoenix, why couldn�t America West? So don�t tell me it�s weather related.
So sitting on the tarmac for an hour waiting for a gate doesn�t seem that bad, frustrating but not that bad. Well, it continued. The flight attendants told us we couldn�t get out of our seats because we might move at anytime. Hour after hour went by, not an exaggeration, so I decided to call the media. I called a local talk radio station, Channel 12 TV station and the Arizona Republic and told each my situation.
Finally, after 8 hours from our original arrival time, we pulled up to a gate in Phoenix. At that point we had been sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix for over 3 hours. The delay I can handle, but the waiting on the tarmac for over 3 hours once we landed in Phoenix was totally unacceptable. Remember, during those 3 hours we were told we couldn�t leave our seats and the flight attendants couldn�t serve anything because �we mighty move toward the gate any minute�. That was true, we did move in about 200 minutes! And don�t forget when we were in Las Vegas we were told for hours on in that we couldn�t leave the gate area because we might board at anytime.
Anyways, when I got to baggage claim a reporter for Channel 12 met me and did a story about America West�s screw-ups as the first story of the night. I was glad because this was a Thursday and on right after the TV show ER that was (and still is) one of TV�s most popular shows.
In the morning, I woke up and went out to my driveway to get the Arizona Republic and found myself quoted in a story on the front page.
So my point is that airlines try to blame weather for delays, which I understand. It�s when the airlines don�t plan for situations like mine that happen frequently.