deltaA colleague and I went to North Carolina earlier this week for a presentation.  Our flight out of Milwaukee on an unnamed airline (hint: see pic at left) left at 2:30ish and we had a connecting flight in Atlanta.  We were supposed to arrive in Charlotte around 9 p.m.  Well, thanks to bad weather in the area, we landed somewhat on time but due to the weather-related backup on the ground, we ended up sitting in the plane on the tarmac (with the terminal in sight) for over 2 hours.  People were cranky, kids were crying and we all just wanted off.  The guy in the seat to my left simply stared at the back of the seat in front of him, just like Puddy in one of those classic Seinfeld episodes.  Periodically he’d pull his old-school flip cell phone out, I think to try to figure out what the deal was since my seat partner to the right and I were on our Blackberries non-stop.  Once we got off the plane and collected our luggage, we called the hotel for the shuttle and was told to watch for a white van.  Well, after seeing 28 white vans go past, none from the hotel we were staying at, my colleague called the hotel back.

They FINALLY sent someone to come get us and it’s now almost midnight.  The hotel staff was very kind to us, setting us up with pizza and beer given that we hadn’t eaten since lunch, unless you count the crappy cracker-like cookies and small cup of soda the airline serves these days.

The flight home was no better.  After a delay leaving Charlotte, we arrived in Memphis with just minutes to run across the terminal to catch our connecting flight.  Again, no dinner.  At least if we would’ve been flying Midwest Airlines, we could’ve gotten some fresh-baked, warm chocolate chip cookies!