Wednesday, December 03, 2008

All day and all of the night...

So my wife and I arrived early at Newark Liberty International Airport for a five pm flight back to LA, because that's how we roll.

And then the flight was delayed an hour.

No reason was specified.

An hour later we were told in an announcement delivered by the most unintelligible person in the terminal that our plane needed a new part, and it wouldn't get there until tomorrow... BUT they were flying another jet from JFK to Newark, and it would arrive in a half hour.

An hour and fifteen minutes later the unintelligible lady announced that our plane would not be arriving for another hour.

An hour and a half later we were told that the plane was still waiting for takeoff clearance. So we waited. And waited. A very angry lady made her way up to the counter and gave unintelligible lady a piece of her alcohol-soaked mind. Other frustrated passengers chimed in, letting the F-Bombs fly!

Happily, the Mrs. and I kept our cool. I was a bit cooler, but my lady kept her cool.
I've learned not to let this type of thing bother me. If a plane is broken I'll wait until it's repaired. I'll just hang.
But I must admit it is fun to watch the passengers grow stir crazy as they boil over while sitting it out going on and on about the Passenger's Bill of Rights, while they keep screaming into their cellphones to update people waiting for them, sharing their misery with the outside world.

At one point I wondered if I'd died and wound up in the afterlife.
It probably looks like an American Airlines Terminal, right?

Twelve hours later we were home and dry.

Here are some quick sketches made during the wait...



5 comments:

max said...

A golden opportunity for sketching.

Dorota said...

It happened to me to at the same airport, 6 hr wait. Not fun. But sketches fun. Nice work.

max said...

That's one of the pluses of sketching, that if you're held up in a long queue or stuck in transit you can posiively enjoy yourself. I like th last one most.

Vince M said...

Definitely a golden opportunity, Max. I wish I would have made a few sketches of the angy mob though.

Yes Dorota Newark Airport is one of Dante's levels of Hell.

I also favor the last sketch, Max. It was also the fastest one.

Craig Mackay said...

So many great recent posts! I love them all, especially this one. The last sketch reminds me of Hank Ketchum's character design and spontaneity.