On Christmas Day we headed off to Boston in search of Massachusetts’ oldest bar, the Warren Tavern. What we thought was going to be a routine three night hop turned into a saga. We sensed something wasn’t quite right when we entered the Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport terminal. The line at the Southwest ticket counter was as far as the eye could see and everyone seemed to be loaded down with luggage. Thankfully, we spotted an open kiosk, grabbed our boarding passes, and scampered off to Gate B2. The next clue that something was amiss were the people: strewn all over the B Pier; sleeping on the floor; huddled up in little groups; and generally things looking like a refugee camp. Thankfully, at boarding time someone took the mic and announced they were our captain and that he had some really good news. The good news was that we had a captain, a first officer, a crew, and a plane. At the time we didn’t consider that particularly good news, more like the bare essentials for a flight. We’d come to learn in a couple days that was actually extraordinary news. The captain went on to say that on the downside we all needed to move to Gate B15 and that the plane would be towed there. We didn’t at first understand why the plane was being towed and not driven there…like how it got to Gate B2…but then we realized the pilot was with all of us and not on the plane at the controls . By the way, it took over an hour to have the plane towed the few hundred feet from B2 to B15.
When we got to Gate B15 we found the waiting area already filled to capacity with people waiting to board their non-existent plane to Syracuse. Both passenger groups crammed in and happily co-existed until an elf wearing a backpack playing very loud Christmas songs announced that the Syracuse plane would now be leaving out of Gate B11. That alleviated the overcrowding, but it was still another hour before we’d find ourselves onboard…already two hours late for departure…where we sat…and sat…and sat. After 40 minutes waiting at the gate the captain announced that we were still missing 20 bags and that he was going back out to find them. He came back in a few minutes and about 10 minutes after that we were thankfully pulling out of the gate and heading to Boston. Oh, did I mention that the trip to Boston was a surprise Christmas gift to Yolie? She didn’t even know where we were going that morning until we first arrived at Gate B2 some four hours prior to take off! Stay tuned for Part 2…
James
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