I got the JetBlues

Last Friday, Benjy took his first trip on a plane. My co-clerk, Lynn, was getting married in New york on Saturday. The trip there was great, and we had a wonderful time seeing friends on Friday and Saturday. Benjy even enjoyed the wedding and stayed up till 10 p.m. because he is a dancing fool. The next day, we paid for it.

At 7 a.m., the baby woke up with a fever. Our flight was scheduled for 5:15 p.m., but because of the vicious Nor'Easter blowing through the area, I called to change to the 12:15 flight (a short 15 minutes after the wind advisory was scheduled to begin!). We got to the airport and took off in bone-shaking, eyeball-popping turbulence. About an hour into the flight, somewhere over Pennsylvania, we thought we were home-free. Then the pilot announced that "a part of the plane" had malfunctioned during takeoff, at which point I figured he was telling us to call our families and tell them we loved them. But no. It was merely the plane's de-icer that had malfunctioned, which meant that we couldn't land anywhere rainy/icy. The nearest available runway was sunny, beautiful Columbus, Ohio!

We landed there about an hour after we were supposed to land in Pittsburgh. On the plane, they had told us they might be able to find us a plane from Columbus to Pittsburgh. But it turns out that was just a pretty little dream someone had. Because in fact, all they had was a bus. For which we waited an hour before even boarding. And once on, we waited another hour before even beginning the trip. Three-and-a-half hours later, we made it to Pittsburgh. 12 hours door-to-door. Driving would have taken 6 and a half.

Did I mention the baby had a fever that day? Did I mention the drive to JFK through puddles of water the size of Shea Stadium? Did I mention that the bus took a detour, since the freaking interstate highway between Columbus and Pittsburgh was closed, thus causing us to wend our way through picturesque Mingo Junction, Ohio, not to mention 10 minutes in West Virginia. Did I mention that several times the bus suddenly pulled over to the shoulder, since the side cargo doors kept popping open for some reason? Did I mention that Jetblue gave us a car seat for the baby to use on the bus ride, which was impossible to anchor since the bus had no seat belts?

Still and all, it did turn out our original flight got cancelled, which would have left us in New York for another day with a sick baby, with no guarantee of even making it out on Monday.

Let me note for the record that I have no problem with the decision to land in Columbus. This may be obvious, but some passengers (once safely on the ground, natch) were whinging about how "I talked to my buddy in Pittsburgh, and he says it's totally not raining at all there---we could have just landed there, if only we had a pilot with some balls, etc." Look, the pilot had no qualms about taking off in 40 m.p.h. winds because he knew the plane (and his ability to control it) were still well within acceptable tolerances; I tend to trust his judgment on the whole question of "how best to avoid having your flight surfaces ice up with potentially catastrophic consequences".

I do secretly want to return to Mingo Junction, however.