Published: June 26, 2008 02:35 pm         

AROUND THE TOWN: Flying can be a real headache

If you are flying this summer when you check your bags ... check your patience as well. My sister and I flew to New York for a long weekend and it was pretty much a hassle from start to finish.

First of all, while browsing through the magazine and book section of a kiosk in the Nashville airport, I hear this voice say, "May I help you?" Before I look up, I recall thinking that never had anyone asked me if I needed help while visiting one of the small kiosks. I look up and it is my friend Julie Thompson, public relations director at Cumberland Medical Center.

We laughed and I said, "Hey, are you headed to Texas?"

"Not first," she replied. "The airlines canceled our flight to Dallas Fort Worth and put us on a flight to New York and then on to DFW. Maben and Jordan drove out yesterday but Cameron (a freshman at Stone Memorial) had ball games so we are flying out today to meet them, but we are already going to be really late."

She asked where I was going and I told her the Big Apple. "I wonder if you are on our flight?" I asked.

Turns out she and Cameron were on our flight to NYC. So, as a result of the airline canceling that flight and a couple of others, our flight didn't take off until an hour later than it was supposed to as airline workers were trying to accommodate passengers who couldn't get on other flights due either to less than full loads or weather. We finally arrived in NYC, late, but we arrived.

Sunday, on our way back to LaGuardia, I told Kim I hoped our plane could take off before the storms hit the New York area. The weather was calling for severe storms in the afternoon and our plane was scheduled to leave at 12:55. We get to the airport, check in and the departure lists says we are scheduled for an on-time departure.

We board the plane, taxi out to the runway and sit. And sit. And sit. The pilot first says they have closed one of the runways due to weather so we are eighth in line for take-off on another runway. A while later he announces the second runway has been shut down and it may be an hour before we can take off on the third, but yet still open, runway.

The flight attendant comes on and reminds us that it is an active runway and we are not allowed to get out of our seats unless it is an emergency. Now, personally, I wasn't that upset. I had much rather be sitting on the runway than flying through a violent storm. However, it would have been nicer to be sitting in the airport where one could get up and/or use the restroom if need be.

After sitting for quite some more time, the pilot comes on with, as he says, "more discouraging news." The tower had just shut down the last runway. We were hosed. Long story short, we ended up sitting on the tarmac for two and a half hours before taking off. Once the last runway was closed, the area became inactive so we were at least allowed to stand up or use the restroom.

As I said, I had a book, didn't want to fly through a violent storm, so I was pretty okay particularly once we were allowed to get up if need be.

However, I felt so sorry for a young couple across the aisle from us. They had a four-year-old boy, an 18-month-old toddler and she was eight months pregnant. Both boys were sick and the youngest one cried continually. At one point when his crying took on more of a scream, she looked over at me and said, "I am so sorry."

"Hey, I replied, he is just doing what most of us feel like doing!"

Looking out the plane windows, all you could see was plane after plane lined up on the runways with hundreds of passengers held hostage by summer storms.

Ironically, once the tower cleared us for take-off, we barely had time to buckle up. The pilot came on the intercom and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been told to start our engines and I am assuming that means we are close to departure."

Sure enough, it seemed like seconds later we were airborne and headed back to Tennessee.

The moral to this story is: if you are flying this summer, expect delays as airlines try to save fuel costs and fill up the flights, take something to snack on and a book or puzzles or hand-held video games to keep yourself busy because chances are you will be delayed coming or going or perhaps even both!

• • •

Congratulations to South student Hogan Herring. Herring will compete in the national Drive, Chip and Putt Contest in Orlando during Labor Day weekend and it will be televised on the Golf Channel. Herring, a third-grade student at South Cumberland, won the regional and state DCP to qualify for the all-expense-paid trip to the nationals. He is the eight-year-old son of golf coach Randy and Kim Herring.