Phx to Miami

We are departing on this trip with heavy hearts as my dear brother in law passed away on the 20th. We seriously considered cancelling the trip. After talking with my very considerate sister, she encouraged us to go on the trip. She indicated that she would schedule Bruce's funeral for after we return. This will also enable anyone from out of town to make travel arrangements.

We were flying from Phoenix departing at around 3 PM. We got to the airport in plenty of time and relaxed in a very small American Airlines lounge. This gave us time to discuss several upcoming remodeling plans.

We made it to Miami without a hitch.

We had about an hour and a half between flights. We made the long walk to our gate-the Miami Airport is very spread out.

We boarded in a timely manner thinking that we would nake an ontime departure at 10:10 PM. We quickly settled into our seats for the long flight to Santiago, Chile. We then waited and waited and waited. The Captain finally made an announcement that liquid had spilled in the cargo hold and as soon as a crew got it cleaned up, we would be on our way. But we then waited and waited and waited. I check our flight status online only to discover that or flight had been delayed until 12:30 AM! At about midnight, the Captain announced that the liquid in the cargo hold was actually coming from the bathroom. He then explained that we would have to deplane and switch aircraft. We packed everything up and deplaned.

The replacement aircraft was not at the gate so we waited some more.

The plane finally arrived passengers deplaned, a crew cleaned the plane and we were finally ready to board.

But again we waited and waited and waited. Finally we departed sometime between 1:30 AM and 2:00 AM.

Bob and I both got a little sleep on the plane .Read more