The Best Worst Flight Ever (The Story of Flight 1439)

It started off like many winter days at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. Disregard the fact that winter wasn't due to officially start for another 10 days.  Saturday December 11, 2010 promised to be full of challenges what with a heavy snowfall on the way.  My shift started at noon and I headed upstairs to gate H10 at the Humphrey Terminal to work AirTran Airways flight 1439 to Orlando.  The flight was due to depart at 1:55pm.

The weather had gotten increasingly worse from the time I had left my home only 9 miles from the airport.  The steady snowfall had already started to wreak havoc on the flight schedules of each of the airlines at both MSP terminals. More and more flights were being delayed and delayed substantially.

We received word that the inbound aircraft for this flight was delayed and there existed the possibility that the inbound flight would cancel due to the weather conditions in the Twin Cities.

I attempted to keep the passengers in the gate area informed as to what was going to happen as soon as I received word myself.  The display boards showed an increasing number of flights canceling as the afternoon progressed.  We finally received word that the inbound flight from Orlando was on its way.  The flight was due to arrive around 6pm. But there was going to be a problem once the aircraft arrived. A problem which would not show up on any display board at the airport. The crew onboard was going to have "timed-out" and would be unable to fly the aircraft back to Orlando, if the flight took place at all. By this time the original flight crew for 1439 had returned to the crew hotel to await further instructions and would be contacted later, if needed.

I gave the good news/bad news announcement and the crowd took it fairly well.  But there was a backup plan.  There was going to be another aircraft arriving from Atlanta which we would use to go to Orlando.  With this established, I told the crowd to anticipate a departure somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:45 p.m.  

As time continued to pass, the display board showed that every outbound flight from every other airline at either terminal had been cancelled.  All, except for AirTran flight FL1439.  I don't know why every other flight at the airport had cancelled.  Beyond the fact that the Metropolitan Airports Commission could only keep one runway open at a time, I was kinda mystified as to how this day had developed in such a manner.  But we had not received word that the flight was canceling and thus my job tells me that I need to work the flight I had been assigned until it departs or is cancelled and the passengers are suitably rebooked.  

The inbound flight from Atlanta finally arrived around 6:15.  The Boeing 717 carrying the paint scheme of the Indianapolis Colts, through a corporate sponsorship deal, pulled into gate H10.  This would be the aircraft we would use to go to Orlando.  There was much anticipation by the 97 passengers when the aircraft arrived that we would be leaving soon.  After the inbound passengers deplaned, we quickly lined up all of the passengers and they boarded  in an attempt to leave in the small window of time which we would use during the light snowfall period we were in.  With all passengers onboard I went down to the cockpit to verify the passenger count with the pilot and give the "all clear" to 
the crew.  It was at this time that the pilot looks me in the eye and says these words, "It's broken.  We have to take everyone off the aircraft."  I thought he was just pulling my leg.  Turns out he wasn't pulling ANYTHING and the plane indeed would not be useable for this flight.

I run back up the jetway and prepared for the tongue-lashing that was to follow.  I felt so badly for these nice folks as now they were back to square one.  I did have one ace-in-the-hole.  Now that the flight delay was mechanical in nature and no longer just weather-related, I could give all of the passengers a free round-trip ticket to be used in the next 365 days.  

I settled everyone back into the seating area and told them they would be receiving 

the vouchers and they all felt better immediately.  I knew that we had one last chance to get this flight out today and that would be the last inbound flight into MSP for AirTran that day.  It was due to arrive at around 9 pm and we would use THAT aircraft to go to Orlando.

Now, I'd had a chance to get to know a number of these nice people.  About a dozen of them were on their way to Ft. Lauderdale to catch a cruise on the following afternoon.  The problem would be in getting TO Ft. Lauderdale.  I suggested that they rent a vehicle and pitch-in together and drive to Ft. Lauderdale and make the cruise in time.  I went onto the internet and made the reservation with one of their names as the primary driver and they would be set.  

When the inbound aircraft touched down in Minny, it needed to be "marshaled" in to the gate. Marshaling is what the guys holding flashlights are doing when the plane pulls into the gate.  But there needs to be three marshalers to do this safely and in the way the FAA would prefer.  Shortly before the inbound flight landed I received a call on the radio from a couple of our grounds crew members.  They had gone over to terminal 1 for something, probably something warm to drink, and when they returned to the ramp vehicle its doors had frozen shut.  It would probably be 30 minutes before they would get back to terminal 2 to meet this aircraft. With only two people available to marshal the plane into the gate I did the only thing I could.  I ran down the jetway, out onto the tarmac, found a couple of flashlights and helped bring it in.  No gloves, only a sport coat over my dress shirt, and in temps that with windchill were approaching zero.  After the plane stopped I ran back up the jetway, first to open the cabin door and greet the flight attendant and to warm up as quickly as possible.  When I got through the door leading into the terminal itself many of the awaiting passengers had seen my efforts and started to stand and applaud.  I was so humbled that I nearly hid behind the podium.  

When I caught my breath I said to the crowd, over the microphone, "If you've liked the service you got from me today, my name is Rod.  If you haven't liked the service you got from me today, my name is Bruce."  Everyone had a good laugh and then I said, a capable, "Let's go to Florida!" To which everyone cheered. The boarding began right after that.

Many of the passengers asked me for comment cards and took them with them as they boarded the aircraft.  The passengers then boarded the new aircraft after the new crew did their safety checks. I performed the "all clear" with the crew and as I did the seated passengers sent me off with another round of applause.  

It was nearing 10:30 p.m. when the aircraft door closed and I was frozen, exhausted but incredibly jazzed for the appreciation shown by these people. For the record some 17.1 inches of snow fell and the roof of the Metrodome, a building in which I once had an office with my name on the door, collapsed from the weight of the snow about 7 hours after the flight departed.

I received 15 comment cards, which led my manager, Irv Adams, to ask me if I had paid them to do so.  He was joking, yes, but I didn't blame him.  In the next year I saw about a dozen of those passengers when they were flying on trips when they used their free vouchers. What a great feeling it was to see them again because even while I couldn't recall them, they certainly remembered me.

It has been nine years already since this event and I think of it fondly and often, especially during the winter months. One of them actually met a gentleman on the cruise out of Ft. Laudredale whom she later married and has started a family with.  She even invited me to the wedding and I've met her husband and the kids in her travels since.  I'm still in contact with a couple of others  on Facebook to this day, one whom I saw only two weeks ago.  Hard to believe it has been nine years.


It was the best worst flight I've ever worked....so far.


...............I'm just sayin'.