When we arrived at the airport, my friend's caution rang true. I didn't know this, but the airport is packed full of people at 5am. The security line was winding around and around. We were cutting it too close. After some security line changes while nearly biffing it on the floor and making the train say "you are delaying departure", we made it to our gate.
One problem. They had "downsized" the plane. Aka - they overbooked the flight. We, along with 15 other lucky passengers, would not be getting on the flight. We were directed to the ticketing line. While standing next to a United Airlines advertisement that said "#1 in seat availability", I heard the ticketing agent say on the phone "How much can we overbook the flights?" Yep, suspicion confirmed. They don't "downsize" planes. Luckily there was a way to still get to Hawaii that day, just 5 hours later.
We boarded the first plane to LA and sat, and sat...and sat. The pilot came on. "So, we have a mechanical problem. Basically it's like 'Let's make a Deal'. If the problem is door #1 or #3, we're good. If it's door #2, we have a problem. I'll let you know in 10 minutes."
In that 10 minutes I got a nose bleed and had to crawl over my seatmates without gushing blood on them. Back in my seat with a lap full of bloody tissues, the pilot spoke again,. "So... it's door #2. There's a 50% chance it's not a big deal, but the FAA requires that we allow you to get off the plane after sitting here an hour. So feel free to leave. You may also want to leave and get some food because we don't have enough on board for everyone".
What? How do you not have enough food for everyone? Did they downsize the fridge? It didn't matter because 5 minutes later she spoke again. "We are going to have everyone get off the airplane and we will put you on a different plane".
We all left and headed to our new gate. As we were walking down the ramp I heard a mom say to her child, "It's OK. We're going to have a fun day no matter what because we can choose to have fun!". The kid's reply: "I'm not so sure Mom..." My thoughts exactly.
After 30 more minutes of waiting we boarded our 3rd plane (yes, we're still in Denver at this point). And there we sat, and sat...and sat. The same pilot came on. "So...we have a mechanical problem with this plane as well. The autopilot is not working. I've been flying for 20 years. I don't need an autopilot".
3 minutes passed. "So according to the big handbook, we are not allowed to fly without a functioning autopilot. We will be needing to fix it before we leave."
While sitting on the plane, I glance over to my previous gate. Gate B42. The plane we had been sitting on was now pulling out of the gate about to depart with other passengers. Blast!
We finally left, and barely made our connection in LA. On our flight to Hawaii we sat in the back of the plane, next to the bathroom on a plane full of nervous ironman athletes. Yeah...you get the idea. And my poor friend had to sit next to man who didn't bring anything, and I mean anything, on the plane. He talked her ear off while she tried to give him the hint she wasn't interested. He didn't get it. Must have been an extrovert.
So, I never have that great of luck with traveling. But Hawaii. Was. Awesome.
As seen below:
DAY 1:
DAY 3:
(Great banana handoff)
DAY 4:
(My breakfast every morning)
DAY 5:
(Macadamia nuts on pizza? I think so!)