My parents have always been generous about taking our family on trips, and 1988 was no exception. We were scheduled for a trip to Europe in the summer and were saving money and travel points for that, but my parents decided to take us to Florida to see our grandparents. We made the trip over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
The trip down to Florida went relatively smoothly until our first landing, either in Baltimore or Washington Dulles. We landed so hard my teeth hurt. My mother (who is a classic white-knuckle flyer) was quite upset. We took off again for the second leg of our flight to Charlotte. We were on a Piedmont Airlines plane, probably a 727-200, and flying in decent weather, but there may have been downdrafts or other windshear we didn't know about. Our arrival in Charlotte was a "slam dunk" -- three hard bounces, the first of which tilted us so far to the left that everyone gasped. My mother was furious when we disembarked, so much so that she went to the customer service counter and demanded that our pilot be screened for drugs.
Our second flight, CLT-MCO, was fine. I don't remember a thing from it, other than that we arrived late in the evening and still had to drive two hours south to my grandparents' house.
On Monday afternoon conditions were quite pleasant as we drove back to Orlando. Our first inkling of trouble came when we checked in at the skycap's station.
Skycap: "Where are you going?"It was about 4:00 PM. We entered the ticket area and found an absolute zoo. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people milling around and waiting in ticket lines. Our flight was indeed cancelled, and so had been all of the northbound flights to Charlotte throughout the day. We were in big trouble.
Dad: "Newark."
Skycap: "No, you're not."
Dad: "We're making our connection in Charlotte."
Skycap: "You aren't going anywhere. Charlotte's fogged in."
We had lots of luggage, I believe seven bags total. Dad took off running with a shoulder bag and left the rest of the luggage with my mother, my sister, and me. I remember I carried two extra bags, for a total of one over my shoulder and one in each hand. My mother and sister were similarly loaded. There were no skycaps around and we had to move so we lugged all of it ourselves.
Ticket Agent: "What is your destination?"
Dad: "Newark."
Ticket Agent: "How many?"
Dad: "Four."
Ticket Agent: "I can get you on an Eastern flight to Newark, will you take it?"
Dad: "Absolutely. When does it leave?"
Ticket Agent: "It leaves in five minutes. I'll call the gate but you need to hurry."
Everything going to Newark and La Guardia was cancelled. Piedmont was pouring customers into Eastern's system. Eastern was overwhelmed. My father was told that an announcement would be made shortly. After an hour they did make an announcement.
Eastern had decided to get as many people moved as possible. They couldn't possibly get everyone on their single remaining flight of the evening, so they decided to bring out the big one.
They would shuttle an L-1011 down from JFK, and fill every seat using a lottery system. Everyone else would have to wait until tomorrow. It was 7:00 PM.
I was an anxious kid. I wanted to get home so I wouldn't miss classes on Tuesday. I don't know exactly what my logic was, but I panicked at the idea that we wouldn't get home that night. My parents were upset but not as much as me. I was anxious, tired, and hungry.
We tried to get in line for a restaurant, but there was an incredibly long line (of course) and we were still waiting for more information, so we schlepped back to the gate and had snack food instead.
Of course, it's about 3 hour flight from JFK to Orlando, so the plane didn't arrive until close to 10:00 PM. They had to refuel the plane and do the normal maintenance checks. Boarding began at about 11:00 PM.
You might think I'm exaggerating or using a cliche, but I swear it's true. My family was the LAST seated, in the VERY BACK row of the plane (we took smoking section seats even though we are not smokers), in the middle section, with no recline. After we were seated there were calls for anyone who was still willing to give up their seat for some poor soul still waiting at the gate. I don't know if there were any takers, but that plane was chock full when we finally left the gate at about 11:30 PM.
And of course, it's about a 3 hour flight from Orlando to JFK, so we didn't arrive until nearly 2:30 AM. Did I mention that we were headed to Newark?
We arrived at the International Arrivals building at JFK at just after 2:30 AM. Most of the people on our plane dissipated quickly. We found ourselves down at the baggage claim area early on a Tuesday morning, one of the least-traveled days of the week. The place was a ghost town. There was nobody there to tell us about ground transportation. We had a ground transportation voucher from Piedmont, but there were no taxis outside. Finally, we went to the only office that seemed to be open: the lost baggage office.
We got a cab at about 3:00 AM. The cab driver couldn't understand why we were going from JFK to EWR at 3:00 AM. When we told him what was going on, he shook his head. "Why didn't you just stay overnight? They would have put you in a hotel."
In reality, somewhere along the way we had been told that the hotels were already full.
We arrived at Newark International Airport at about 4:00 AM. It would have been a one hour drive from JFK to our home in Westchester County; now we had a 1-1/2 hour drive home from Newark.
We finally arrived home, thankfully with all of our luggage and with all four people healthy, safe and sound (albeit exhausted), at 5:30 AM.
After all of my fussing, I sheepishly told my mother that I wasn't sure I would be able to go to school in two hours.
"Go to bed. You're not going to school today."
Ahhhh... Finally, some good news!
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