Stuck in Memphis!

[skonopa]

This royally sucks! I am getting seriously pissed of at Northwest now. First, the flight to little rock was delayed because the Memphis airport was shut down due to bad weather (from watching the news here, there was even a tornado that touched down in town. When that plane finally arrived at Little Rock at around 5:15 or so, I was thinking, "Good, I should still be able to make my connection, especially since it was most likely delayed as well." Go figure that they end up spending another 45 minutes farting around on the tarmac trying to get the engines started on that plane, thus as a result, I ended missing my damn connection to D.C. On top of that, Northwest refuse to aknowledge that the delay was due the fact that they couldn't get their damn engines started, thus I now have to waste another $70 to stay the Holiday Inn here near the aiport, not to mention that I had a very important meeting/demonstration that I really needed to get to at work tommorrow. On top of that, the service in that restaurant was so piss-poor. I've seen them completelly screw up the order at a table next to mine, plus the guy at another table near mine never even got his food! It also took them a good half-hour to just bring out my check! Needless to say, I did not leave a tip.

After such a smooth flight into Hope, and two long days there, I was really looking forward to get hom and rest. Now, being tired, I have to put up with this crap. I knew I should've taken the train instead. I am so glad I don't have to do this travelling crap on a regular basis.

Sucks that such an awesome pilgrimage had to end on such a sour note such as this for me. Still the pilgrimage itself was awesome and worth all the hassles to get out there to attend.

[J.4knee]

We're stuck in Dallas we feel your pain!

[fini]

Steve,

That sucks! Coincidentally, we are right now in Memphis, staying downtown! I'd invite you over, but we're beat, too. Had a great Fathers Day dinner at Silky O'Sullivan's on Beale Street. Great music, too!

I hope things work out for you tomorrow.

[LarryC]

You must've had the same plane I did! Mine was supposed to leave LR for Memphis at 11:30 a.m., actually arrived after 12:45 and left at 1:05 p.m. -- after they had some guy climb up on a ladder to start the left engine.

It got worse from there: al though they held the NW Airbus to DC/National for us, it had to return to the gate because the APU failed, so they "secured" it and it took off w/o a functioning APU, after LOTS of weather delays. At least they transferred my luggage (NWA soils my luggage with oil and stuff worse than any other airline!!).

We were on the plane for over 6 hrs. with only sugary beverages and trail mix (NO MILK OR SNACK BOXES!!), and I hadn't had lunch. Got in at 9:00 p.m. instead of 5:30. At least I'm home....

[skonopa]

You must've had the same plane I did! Mine was supposed to leave LR for Memphis at 11:30 a.m., actually arrived after 12:45 and left at 1:05 p.m. -- after they had some guy climb up on a ladder to start the left engine.

I think it was! It was the left engine that they were trying to start. However, I was sitting in a middle seat on the right side, so I could not see anybody that climbed up on a ladder to start the engine.

[cyclonecj]

Same story here..... My 45 minute flight from Little Rock to Houston took 6 hours. After 1 hour of circling Houston, we were diverted to Corpus Christy for fuel, sat on the runway for 2.5 hours, finally made it to Houston where we waited almost an hour for a gate. I finally got a flight out of here at 7:15am, but there are no hotels, so I will be sleeping in the terminal tonight.

This makes two years in a row for me!!! ...... Last year I was stranded in Chicago.

[colterphoto1]

Ouch, sorry to hear of the travel nightmares. I don't know if the road warriors did any better. Dr. Who and Jim Turner got caught in traffic in Kentucky for three hours for the unloading of a semi that had tipped over. I think they left Hope at 4 am and finally arrived in Shelbyville around 9 pm. And they were in Jim's huge truck pulling a trailer!

[Coytee]

Since Mike & I drove back averaging darn near 80 all the way, cloud cover with only a few sprinkles of rain... I should probably shut up, lest I get tarred & feathered.

Our trip went so fast in BOTH directions that on the way home, we were heading into Nashville (about 3 or 4 hours east of Memphis) and I got on the phone to call a restauraunt in MEMPHIS to find out where they were so we could eat. I totally zoned out that we had passed through Memphis several hours earlier.

Same thing happened on way to Hope. We were at Little Rock and it "felt" like we should have only been in Nashville.

So some of us roadies did ok.

Oh... When we pulled out of the Hotel in Hope, IBslamming was loading his truck up. We hit the road (again, doing about 80) and he went back in his hotel.

Don't you know that perhaps 30/60 minutes later I had some headlights in my mirror. Seems he is NOT afraid of his accelerator pedal! He smoked on past us like we were tourists on the side of the road with a flat tire.

[picky]

Geez, guys. I'm really sorry to hear of all of your travel woes. I know how that can be as I used to travel for Ford a lot, years ago. I'm almost ashamed to admit that Verna and I had an uneventful drive to Jackson, Mississippi yesterday. Despite some really hard downpurs, we made it from Hope in just over 5 hours. I sure hope all of your situation improve real quick.

-Glenn

[Guest " "]

maybe next year Klipsch can video conference the event over the internet. I think the technology is called WebXing.

[colterphoto1]

maybe next year Klipsch can video conference the event over the internet. I think the technology is called WebXing.

It sure wouldn't come close to being there, making the friendships, taking in the sights, and smelling the smell of fresh cut plywood.

There's nothing I like better than the smell of fresh cut plywood in the morning!

Michael

[Daddy Dee]

Steven,

Sorry to hear about all the trouble traveling back. Time for a letter to the NWA CEO. "It's not our fault that the engine wouldn't start" is the most original airline excuse I've heard.

It was good to meet you this weekend. Hope you get back to work and caught up o.k.

[Daddy Dee]

Steve,

That sucks! Coincidentally, we are right now in Memphis, staying downtown! I'd invite you over, but we're beat, too. Had a great Fathers Day dinner at Silky O'Sullivan's on Beale Street. Great music, too!

I hope things work out for you tomorrow.

Gregg,

Glad you guys made it to Memphis in good order and found your way to Beale St. That's a great way to celebrate Father's Day!

Travel safe on the rest of your trip.

[cyclonecj]

I finally got home.......

I spent the night OUTSIDE the Houston terminal (yes, they threw everyone out) watching it downpour all night. It let up this morning just long enough to let us out. As we were approching SFO, we got an announcment that Houston was totaly shut down. I also heard it was on CNN.

EDIT: A friend just called me to ask if I was still stuck. She heard that Houston is so bad they are calling in the national guard.....

CNN report

[J.4knee]

Whew..!. we finally made it home too. I feel like I have not slept since the mid 80's.

[Daddy Dee]

I finally got home.......

I spent the

night OUTSIDE the Houston terminal (yes, they threw everyone out)

watching it downpour all night. It let up this morning just long

enough to let us out. As we were approching SFO, we got an

announcment that Houston was totaly shut down. I also heard it

was on CNN.

EDIT: A friend just called me to ask if I

was still stuck. She heard that Houston is so bad they are

calling in the national guard.....

CNN report

In what universe did putting people out of the Houston terminal make sense. That would be one miserable way to spend the night.

[cyclonecj]

Dee: It did not make sense. But there were at least 1000 people stranded & some were getting very obnoxious & loud, so the police were called. The terminal was cleared & all of the terminal windows closed. By 3am everyone was gone & we were able to wander in & out. They re-opened at 4am, & the windows started to re-open by 4:30.

& yes, it was miserable, but there was a small group of us that hung outside & we actually made a good time of it. At 6am, the resturants re-opened & we finally got some food.

Did I mention that I had not had any food (other that the pretzels on the first plane) since 1pm the day before?

[skonopa]

Dee: It did not make sense. But there were at least 1000 people stranded & some were getting very obnoxious & loud, so the police were called. The terminal was cleared & all of the terminal windows closed. By 3am everyone was gone & we were able to wander in & out. They re-opened at 4am, & the windows started to re-open by 4:30.

& yes, it was miserable, but there was a small group of us that hung outside & we actually made a good time of it. At 6am, the resturants re-opened & we finally got some food.

Did I mention that I had not had any food (other that the pretzels on the first plane) since 1pm the day before?

Geez, that did suck! At least, I had a hotel room and dinner, although the service did suck at that restaurant.

Well, I finally made it back home myself. That whole thing was a fiasco from the beginning to end. It was one delay after another the whole friggan time! We boarded the aircraft in Memphis on time, and figured, "good" maybe I'll get home at a decent time. Nope, we sit on the damn tarmac for another hour while they try to figure out a route around the storms over Indiana. Finally took off a solid hour after the time we were supposed to have taken off in the first place. Got to Detriot at a little after 6, but no problem - the flight I needed to connect did not leave until 7:15 - even had time to grab some dinner. The aircraft arrived on time, but why are they not boarding? Turned out no flight crew for the D.C. leg of that journey, so here we sit at the gate waiting for a flight crew to arrive. A flight that was suppoed to leave at 7:15 did not actually take off until 9! Oh, and the delays did not end there. Ohh, noooo, we had to sit on the damn tarmac at Reagon National for another good half hour waiting for a damn gate to open up! I figure, might as well for for the full monty and have the interstate all backed up on the way home to Fredericksburg! Fortunatly, that was not the case, but still did not get home to well after mid-night! I ended up going in late to work today just from the shear exhaustion of that whole miserable ordeal!

But anyway, at least I am now home safe and sound!

[MarkBK]

Somehow it seems appropriate to quote Dylan to complete the thread title with a twist that matches your ordeal....

"Stuck in Memphis with the Mobile blues again!!....."

[customsteve01]

Well Caroline and I left Hope a little before noon and headed for Houston. The trip went well and I dropped her off at the airport around 5:30 so she could catch a 6:45 flight to Richmond. The weather was getting bad and something told me to stay close to the airport. I stopped by this little icehouse that alot of people here at work hang out. She called me from the gate and said the flight was going to be delayed, so I call the office to ask what was up. They told me that the crew was not in Houston yet but the flight sould depart around 8. I call Caroline and told her the news. She calls back around 8ish and says they are now telling them that it will leave around 9. I call work to confirm... They say the flight is still running and the crew should be in Houston around 9. Several more calls between Caroline and I and work and more and finally at 10:45 they cancel the flight. So I go pick up Caroline and we stop at Taco Hell for some food. On Monday she ends up getting a flight to Washington Dullas and renting a car to Richmond. She finally got home at 2 am Tuesday morning.

So even if you work for the airline you still get messed around.

Hey cyclonecj if I would have known you were stuck in Houston I would have taken you to get some food and gave you a place to sleep for the night and got you back to the airport in the morning.