Mechanical Problems in Flight -

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Glasgow Airport

Mom had me set the alarm for 6:30am - early! We didn’t have to be at the terminal until 8:15am. We got up and got ready and finished packing. Yeah - my laundry does not fit in my suitcase. So I started trying to reorganize it some more by shifting some stuff to my carry on and mom put some of the guide books in her carry on too.

Still, even with it the fully expanded the suitcase looked like it was going to burst at any moment! So we decided to try to buy a duffel bag at the airport and put my tripod bag and dirty laundry in it if possible.

The hotel got us a porter to help us across the street to the terminal building with all of the luggage. He even went over ahead of time and got a cart to use. We really needed 2 carts but we made do. We got over to the terminal building and mom stayed outside with all the luggage while I ran inside and went up to the luggage store on the second floor. I wanted to buy a duffel bag and a suitcase belt, but their credit card machine wasn’t working and I didn’t have any more pounds sterling. I did have €40 left though and that was just enough for the duffel bag. Yikes! That’s almost $60US!!

Anyway I went back out and grabbed a second luggage cart. We pushed the heaping luggage carts through the construction zone that’s between the main terminal and the terminal where we have to go to check in with Aer Lingus. I repacked my tripod and dirty laundry into the duffel bag right there in the terminal lobby, I had to take the tripod out of the outer case and then it all fit perfectly - yay!!

We were literally 2nd in line to check in and all of the emergency exit row seats were already taken. It turns out that the Glasgow to Dublin flight had lots of off duty airline personnel on it and they grabbed all of those choice seats. So we ended up with aisle seats in the same row across from each other because they wouldn’t let us have a window and an aisle in the same row, they said it wouldn’t be fair to split families up. Huh - that excuse didn’t even make any sense, but I know better than to argue with the ticket counter agent.

We were really early! We were the first ones at the gate area and we even poked through a lot of the shops along the concourse. Eventually the gate area filled up and was packed to overflowing. The plane was completely full. I did get to check my e-mail for abut 10 minutes while we were waiting at the gate. We loaded up and took off in record time - the plane had come in late and a flight that was leaving after us took off before us, but we still were pretty much on time at Dublin.

Dublin Airport and Mechanical Problems with the Plane

When we got to Dublin we followed the maze of signs for in transit passengers eventually coming out into the departure terminal. We grabbed a few more gifts at the shops on the way though and a couple of egg mayo sandwiches as I was hungry. Mom got one too even though she said she really wasn’t very hungry.

We got to the B gates (we were B31) and you clear US Customs in Ireland (Just like in Aruba!). That was very cool. However we hadn’t been given the forms to fill out, so we had to step aside to fill them out. Thankfully we didn’t have to go to the end of the line again. We cleared customs and finally got to the gate about an hour and ten minutes before departure time and boy was this gate area packed! Every seat was taken and most of the floor space was taken up by people sprawled out all over too. So we went around the corner and sat at another gate so we could eat our sandwiches. We got back to B31 and just stood around and waited for boarding to be called.

We were all boarded and ready to go at least 10 minutes early. We started to taxi away from the gate and I was tired so I dozed off. I woke up to an announcement that there was a problem with one of the planes engines - an air handler - and we would be returning to Dublin. It was super cold in the plane; people were wearing their winter jackets. I’m not sure if that was due to the air handler problem, but maybe. I looked at my watch and we had been flying for about an hour at this point, but we landed at Dublin within about 20 minutes or so, so we must have turned back well before the pilot made the announcement. We landed about 3:15 to 3:30 and they had us stay on the plane while the technicians tried to fix the problem. This was exciting in a bad way!

I called Steve and Jeff to let them know we were delayed and mom called the limo company several times finally talking to Colleen who was our driver. We sat there about 2 more hours I think before they announced that the problem was fixed and after refueling we would be continuing on to Boston. It seemed like we were sitting there forever! Anyway we eventually took off and had an uneventful and warmer flight to Boston. For the amount of time (over 10 hours) we were on the plane we could have been going somewhere much more exotic! By this time I was just so happy to be off the plane and back home!!!

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Comments

[Sharing the Journey]

Not a flyer!
I would have been off the plane the second that they announced that there was a problem with the engine. Glad you made it home safely.

[D MJ Binkley]

Where are you?
Michelle, You have not posted a blog in ages. Where are you and what traveling are you doing? You should write again! Happy holidays, MJ