I’m in Pittsburgh tonight for an early business meeting. It was a much longer trip than expected. My flight took me through Philadelphia and was on schedule, despite the bumpy ride that Tropical Storm Alberto supplied. My initial connecting flight wasn’t scheduled to leave Philadelphia until late so I did a little surfing at RDU airport before my flight took off. Thanks to my work I was able to discover a flight leaving a mere twenty minutes after my flight arrived. It was a close window but perhaps I could make it and save hours of travel.

I disembarked from the plane only to see the connecting jet at the gate all cranked up and ready to depart. Fortunately, a few minutes of observation showed the plane was just arriving! I had time to go through airport security again before checking in at the earlier flight. With a ticket in hand, I was thinking I was pretty slick.

Except I wasn’t. The plane was halfway to the runway when we heard the pilot cut the engines. A ground stop had been initiated “due to the weather,” we were told, and we weren’t going anywhere. A few fits and starts here and there had us wondering if we’d soon be airborne but it was not to be. The 50 minute flight turned into a 2:30 minute flight. At least it wasn’t just us: there were fifty or so planes surrounding us on the tarmac, each just as screwed as we were.

Air travel. It just doesn’t get any better than this.