My All-time Worst Flight
My All-time Worst Flight
DC to Rio de Janeiro via Charlotte on US Airways Flight 800 - Departing May 14 and again on May 15, 2010
When we arrived in Charlotte, the board announced that the Rio flight departure would be delayed one hour due to weather on the previous leg. After we boarded, we sat there for another hour while they *changed a lightbulb* in the cockpit. After about two hours in the air, we were finishing dinner when the captain announced that their navigation system was broken and they would have to return to Charlotte for repairs or for a new plane. So, we headed back north. After another hour or so, the captain said that they had fixed the navigation system, and that we were turning back south again. Unfortunately, the excess flying meant that they would not have enough fuel to reach Rio, so we were going to stop in San Juan to re-fuel. Se we head south again. After another hour or so, the captain wakes us all up to announce that some genius had suddenly figured out that the crew would be flying too long without rest. The flight was now "illegal" according to FAA regulations. I guess that this genius had been asleep for the last five hours. Otherwise it would not have taken him (has to be a "him") all this time to figure out the problem. So, the genius says that the only option is to return to Charlotte and try to rustle up a new crew. Why they could not fly a crew to us when we were almost to Puerto Rico was never explained. So, we head north again for about two hours to return to Charlotte. We arrived back at Charlotte at about 5:30 AM - over six hours after we originally left. We sat in the gate area for another 5 hours while they tried to assemble a crew. After we took off again, we learned that they had come within a few minutes of canceling the flight entirely due to difficulties completing the crew. We finally arrived in Rio over twelve hours after our scheduled arrival time, and with an additional six hours of air time under our belts. US Airways did not even have the decency to credit us with the actual miles flown.
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