When all is said and done

There are great travel days, when everything goes smoothly, and then there are days like today. We were in no rush to get to the in Belfast, since we were staying so close and it is so small. I didn't pay attention, when Google calculated the directions, so we ended up going about 20 minutes out of our way. Despite the unwanted detour, we got the car returned and waited in line to check our bags. We were greeted at the airline desk, with a smile and "Where ya headed?" When we said London, we discovered that they had already closed the flight. Luckily, the very nice airline guy was able to get us checked-in and told us to run to the gate. Thank God we made it, so we could sit on the plane for 90 minutes, waiting to take off. As the time ticked away, supposedly waited for the fog to clear in London, I started getting worried that we might miss our connection.

We landed at Heathrow at 11:13. I immediately powered up my phone and hopped on United's app. Certainly, if our flight was delayed because of weather, this flight would be delayed, right? Nope. The app indicated boarding closed at 11:10. Determined, I told Kim to run to the gate, in case the plane was delayed. We discovered that Heathrow is no DIA. Although we arrived and were departing at the same terminal, it was ridiculously big. I'm guessing we ran a half mile, dragging our bags behind us. We arrived, sweaty and panting, to find the doors shut and the plane waiting to back up. Despite being denied, the friendly skies were able to get us on the next direct flight to Denver; three hours later. We grabbed some food and took a well deserved rest at the coffee shop.

Once we boarded, we were encouraged, when the pilot let us know that we would be landing a little early in Denver and would be taking off shortly. But we didn't. Some time passed, and the pilot announced that there was an issue they were resolving, and we'd be off soon. Next, the purser requested all passengers to verify we had a safety card and to let the flight attendants know, if we happened to have more than one. It was another 15-20 minutes, before the pilot's voice echoed through the cabin, "Folks, the FAA won't allow us fly unless all passengers have a safety card at their seat. I'm really embarrassed; we thought we resolved the issue, but the cards we found were for a different aircraft. You would think this would be an easy fix, but we just don't have copies of safety cards sitting around, so we have to have the maintenance folks come in and defer three seats, making them unusable." It seemed like that shouldn't take long, but two hours after we boarded, they finally "disabled" three seats (put signs on them with tape across the seat), and we were ready to take off. The guy next to me, originally from Kosovo but living now in London, asked me to explain the hold up. I grabbed my tri-fold safety card and said, "They don't have enough of these." He looked curiously at me and clarified, "No, why are we not leaving." I repeated myself, and we both shook our heads in utter disbelief.

We arrived in Denver 90 minutes late, with smooth sailing through immigration and customs. When all was said and done, it was a great trip, despite the clunky ending.Read more