Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Unusual flying experience

Did you ever have the kind of day where every single thing that theoretically could have gone wrong didn't? I flew to Ithaca today, on the last flight into town, arriving at midnight. My flight had FOUR legs, and involved switching airlines. If the weather was bad or there was any other kind of delay in Duluth, Detroit, Columbus OH, Philadelphia, or Ithaca, I'd have missed my flight and probably been late for the event I'm here for.

But every single flight left on time, from a gate right close to the one I'd come from, and every flight arrived 20-30 minutes early. My first two flight attendants were not just nice and pleasant and competent--they were superb. And the second two were nice and pleasant and competent. Three of my seats were window seats with no one next to me. The other one was a window next to a chemical engineer my age who was really fun to talk to--that flight zipped by even faster than the shorter legs. And the sunset was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

So a day that could have been a nightmare turned out to be a dream. And now it's time for me to go to sleep.