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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > June > 03 > Entry
the things I’ll do for books…just plane crazy
Book Expo America happened this past week in New York. It is the book publishing event of the year and when it is held in New York City, the center of the publishing industry, it is a mind-boggling extravaganza.
This afternoon I returned home from the convention. I flew out of New York and made my connection in Washington. My flight arrived in Dayton ahead of schedule. It was an uneventful trip.
How I wish I could say that about my flight to New York this past Thursday. It was a trip into the darkest worlds of airline despair. Let me tell you all about it……
My flight from Dayton to Chicago was running behind schedule-yep, I flew west to Chicago to get to New York from Dayton—it doesn’t make much sense, does it?
We were informed after we boarded the plane that O’Hare in Chicago was a bit congested so we sat on the runway in Dayton for quite awhile.
By the time we got to Chicago we were over an hour behind schedule. We were assured that the planes there were all being delayed so we shouldn’t worry about missing our connections.
I began to fret and I scurried across O’Hare to get to the gate for the New York flight. When I got there I came upon a scene of sheer pandemonium. The gate was jammed with people. You could feel the tension.
After a few minutes I deciphered the situation. Apparently the 3 o’clock flight had been cancelled. There were over 100 people trying to board my flight on a stand-by basis. Eventually, 20 of them made it on board. They were the unlucky ones.
The plane to New York was slated to arrive at LaGuardia Airport at 8:40. By the time we took off we were running quite late. The plane, a Boeing 757, was packed to the gills.
I had a window seat. A sweet little old lady dropped her seat back on top of my knees as soon as we were airborne. I started reading an advance copy of the new memoir by Connie Schultz.
After about an hour the beverage service began to creep down the aisle. Free soft drinks—5 bucks for beers, wine, etc.
The cart pulled up to my row and the flight attendant asked the fellow across the aisle what he wanted to drink? He asked her if she had any pretzels? She said, “no, our new airline policy doesn’t allow us to give out pretzels on flights of less than 2 hours.”
The guy was pleasant but he was also a bit tweaked. He asked her if she thought that was a reasonable policy? He only wanted a package of pretzels, for pete’s sake.
She was cool about it but you could tell that she was steamed about having to explain this lame cost-cutting measure for the umpteenth time.
She spoke to him in a voice that was clearly audible across several rows of passengers. We heard her say: “Sir, I know how you feel. Our CEO got paid 39 million dollars last year and you can’t have a pack of pretzels.”
While I found her frankness refreshing I started to get a bad feeling. We had been flying east. Then the plane started veering. Before we knew what was happening, the plane was headed back west, into the sun.
Eventually, the captain spoke over the intercom to explain that we were 270 miles from New York but the summer air traffic was so thick that we were now in a holding pattern until we could get clearance to land at LaGuardia.
Full plane. A big plane. They can’t justify giving us a few pretzels but they were cool with flying this behemoth around in circles burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel. Penny wise-pound foolish.
I counted. Five times we veered back into the sun and headed west again. The captain finally came back on the intercom. He said that he thought LaGuardia was going to let us land but they never did. At least 12 planes were hung up in the holding pattern. He said that he was also talking to the airport in Cleveland about possibly landing there.
That was disturbing. We kept flying in our 100 mile circles. I began to worry about the fuel situation. Hours passed.
The captain finally came back on the intercom and told us that we only had twenty minutes of fuel left and that they were trying to figure out what to do.
Most passengers took the news calmly. A woman in my row made eye contact with me for the first time since the flight began. She looked terrified.
We counted the minutes. Ten. Twenty. Silence from the cockpit. Thirty minutes passed. Still silence.
After 45 minutes the captain announced that they were trying to find a place to take us down. The flight attendants were nowhere to be seen. We were on our own out there in the cabin.
15 minutes later, the captain said we were landing in Philadelphia. We saw the lights below. We circled and circled, wondering if Philly was even aware of our sudden descent there?
We finally landed, running on empty. After a long wait the captain came back on the loudspeaker. He explained that the crew had been flying since 6:30 that morning. They had tried to land our plane at JFK and Newark. No luck. Now we were in Philly, and on our own. The airline would send buses to take us to LaGuardia.
About half the passengers claimed their bags at baggage claim and headed out to rent cars to drive to New York. The rest of us waited for the magic buses. We waited. And waited. Nobody from the airline could be found to explain where these magic buses might be. A woman from France stood weeping on the curb.
About 90 passengers stood there for over an hour as the buses for Hertz and Avis and Ground Transport spewed the fumes and circled around us.
At about 1:30 in the morning a guy came out and asked how many of us were there? He didn’t even work for UNITED AIRLINES. He was just some guy—-he would start to count people and somebody would ask him when the busses were coming and he would say: “Hey, you made me lose count—now I have to start all over again.” We stopped asking him anything as he made his laborious tabulations…one…two…three…five..hey stop interrupting!
Eventually the busses arrived. I got a seat in the back and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I felt my knees crushed again. That sweet little old lady from the plane was sitting in front of me again, leaning back.
When we finally arrived (by bus) at LaGuardia the airport was deserted. The busses had passed through Manhattan without stopping. We all had to take cabs back to Manhattan to get to our hotels and homes.
The sun was coming up over the island of Manhattan. I had passed through the void. Book Expo was just a few hours away.
The things I’ll do for books…..I’d rather be here, than in PHILADELPHIA.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: booms and busts
Comments
By vick mickunas
June 4, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
Barbara…Book Expo moves around. Next year it is in Los Angeles. I think I’ll stick with risking airline roulette again. Fool me once. Fool me twice. Fool me thrice. A fool and his money are soon parted. I paid a lot for that “bus” ticket!By Barbara Delaney
June 4, 2007 2:44 PM | Link to this
Vick, what a nightmare! That ranks right up there with those people who were forced to sit on a runway for seven hours with no beverage service and locked bathrooms. Some of them were calling 911 from their cell phones. How terrifying to think that pilot had been flying for so long. Next year perhaps you should rent a Prius and take two or three days to drive there in a leisurely fashion.By Page Turner
June 4, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this
BRUTAL! You never know what to expect when you get on a plane anymore. When I enter security, I just hope they spit me out on the other end intact, and on the same day. I hope the books and their publishers appreciate what you do for them!