Delta and the JFK conspiracy...

Everybody loves to fly, right? Think about it: what used to take weeks, months, or days can now be accomplished in a matter of hours thanks to engineering and aviation. Well, before we continue with this story, we want to definitely say that we still prefer flying to sailing.

Our day Sunday started with a nice, breezy trip through the ticket counter and security at Charlotte airport. That whole process probably took 20 minutes. Our flight to NY took off right on time and we even landed a few minutes early. We then expected a five hour layover as our flight to Dublin did not leave until 7:30. This is when chaos ensued.

At about 6:30, waiting patiently at our gate, we were informed that there was a mechanical problem with our plane and it would be delayed about a half hour. Not more than ten minutes after that, they announced that it would be delayed until 11:00 PM. At this point there was a loud grumbling amongst the peoples and Delta replied that they would give us a $7.00 per person meal voucher (which, incidentally buys a ketchup packet at JFK). As the droves headed off to the food court and we were in line to receive our voucher, the time was updated to 9:00 and then to 8:35. At this point we decided that we would eat a quick meal with the rest of the lemmings and come right back. After stuffing our faces with chinese food, we returned to the announcement that the plane was once again delayed...

At this point, I will stop the play by play and let you peruse the Delta updates that I kept receiving on my phone. Here they are in all their glory:

[13:35 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK 7:30PM Gate 14
[18:40 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 8:00PM Gate 14
[18:45 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 11:00PM Gate 14
[19:15 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 9:00PM Gate 14
[19:20 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 8:35PM Gate 14
[20:35 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 9:00PM Gate 14
[20:45 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 10:00PM Gate 14
[22:10 EDT] DL 0112 13Jul departs JFK Now 10:15PM Gate 14

Being the beacon of patience that I am and with the help of my loving, optimistic, polyanne-ish wife, I was thankful that we would board before 10. The somewhat funny thing about the whole ordeal is that we learned the plane needed a battery - ??? - seriously, what kind? I had some AAA's in my bag...

Anyway, we got on the plane before 10 and then we waited some time for a couple of passengers and then waited longer as they didn't show up and they had to remove their bags from the plane. Then things got better when we found out that we were 1 of 80(ish) planes waiting to takeoff. SO, much to our joy, we took off at 12:03:30 AM (yes, I know exactly what time).

It gets better: they actually made the "7 hour" flight in "5 hours and 45 minutes". Brilliant! Why can't they do this all the time. So, we showed up in Dublin four hours later than planned and the lovely interns from World Harvest were still there to meet us. And off we went to Greystones for the conference...

The moral of the story: God is good, we're safe, we got here, and we love it. Thanks for your prayers. And, for the record, we slept really well Monday night!


And here is a picture of us after sleeping roughly 2 hours in 36 hours...lovely, huh?