Day 2: September 14, 2007 Friday

We left the hotel in N.Y. and went to the airport by shuttle. Upon arrival we were told that there were no immediate flights available to Ireland, but that they did have one that went out of Atlanta. Brenda booked us on that flight and we waited half and hour for the departure.
Our plane was scheduled to leave at 4:30 p.m. While we were waiting, they changed the departure time to 5:15 p.m. When Brenda asked about this we were told that that we wouldn’t have time to make the connecting flight, so she cancelled our reservations.
While she was doing this, they again changed the departure time back to 4:30 p.m. By this time Brenda was a wee bit upset. She again tried to book us on that flight, but was told that there were no open seats left. Ha! By this time she was livid.
The attendant would not even try to assist us; he told Brenda that she had to clear the problem with airline officials. She raced to the office, & after a long wait and much stress she got us clearance. The official told her that it could all have been handled at the gate.
There I was, waiting at the gate for Brenda to return. People were boarding the plane, and our luggage was already on board— but still no Brenda. Finally, she came racing back— all winded and on the verge of a heart attack. We still had to race up the ramp to board our plane before it took off.
We did make it, we took our seats, and were off. At least, that’s what we thought.
When our plane approached the runway & we were finally ready for takeoff, our pilot shut down the engine and announced that we were delayed because of severe storms in Atlanta. He said we were going to keep our place so that we would be ready when clearance for takeoff was given— in 2 hours.
When the weather in Atlanta finally lifted, and we got clearance for takeoff, we had a medical emergency on-board and had to return to the gate— another hour’s wait.
We eventually took off and landed to another missed flight. There were about 40 to 50 other passengers in the same situation.
So now we’re in Atlanta without our luggage or any clean clothes. The airline let us know that we could get a special rate at the hotel & furnished us with a ditty bag containing a cheap hair brush, toothpaste and toothbrush, & a shimmy shirt to sleep in.
Before leaving for a hotel we got lunch to take with us. I ordered sweet & sour pork, which I love. We waited half an hour to board the shuttle to take us to our hotel. Upon arrival, we were told that they wouldn’t give us a discount without a voucher from the airline.
When Brenda and I got to the room I tried to eat my dinner, but it was so spicy and hot that I could barely eat it, even after drowning it in duck sauce.
By this time we were pretty tired & decided to call it a night.

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