For anyone who flies on a regular basis, waiting in airports becomes standard procedure. I travel a lot and inevitably, I experience an occasional delay. Today I am stuck in an airport once again. And that wouldn’t be so bad, if it was a different airport. The Pasco, WA airport is small, and by small, I mean it’s got four gates and a ground crew of 3. There isn’t a restaurant. No shopping (unless you count vending machines) and the entire place can be circled in a period of 2 minutes. So basically the only thing left to do wait…along with the 30 or so others who are also awaiting a flight that is currently 2 hours late! There is the couple on their way to Hawaii with their mother…they’ve already missed their connection and are going to criss-cross the west coast in an effort to get to their tropical vacation 12+ hours later than planned. There’s the grandmother and her three-year-old grandaughter returning to mom’s house after a visit with dad. The three-year-old is not happy- she doesn’t understand why they can’t just get on any plane to go back to mom! She keeps repeating “I think its time for us to go.” I think so too! There is the couple flying to the Phillipines, who already had a marathon trip to get to their destination, and who now will have to endure additional flights to get home for the holidays.
Delays can bring out the best and the worst in people. Some chose to spend their time reading a good book. Others work, or at least pretend to. Some meet new friends, as the gentlemen in front of me who are now engaged in a card game. And some people chose to get angry, and take out their frustrations on the airline staff.
It doesn’t seem to matter how you spend your time….flight delays are always going to be frustrating and will never go away. The good news is…my plane has arrived from Seattle. Let’s hope we board and depart soon and better luck to all of us next time we fly.
