Scarborough's nine hours on the runway

I think of this moment often when I read Delta’s statements suggesting we were free to come and go as we pleased while stuck on their plane. I suppose someone at corporate headquarters thinks a Type A guy like myself stayed on Flight 693 nine hours for the joy of skipping breakfast and lunch, being crouched in a middle seat sitting next to animals and humans, and watching little rat dogs drop turds on the same bathroom floor I would use next.

The Crown Room? Who needs the Crown Room when I can have all this for free? Maybe they thought our plane was filled with Buddhists and Uncle Chucks.

Everything’s Zen? I don’t think so.

Finally, we got the good news. The weather had broken, we were getting de-iced and we would soon be escaping Fort Apache: LaGuardia.

“The pattern is clear, Ghost Rider.”

Thirty minutes later, the pilot came back on the intercom. We all knew it had to be bad news when he began by telling us that this was the worst day in his 19 years at Delta. The weather had cleared but now our plane was grounded for mechanical reasons. We would be towed back to the gate and it would be stuck in New York for two more hours.

I thought of my uncle and smiled.

What’s the use of worrying? No use. I didn’t even let the sight of our bags being taken out of the cargo bay below bother me, as the passengers were told (after nine hours of hearing how lucky we were) to get their carry on bags and get the hell off the plane. I even smiled serenely as the Delta rep lied to my face and said told me we would be reboarding to take off in a few hours

As I ran over to grab my first meal of the day—a cheeseburger in paradise—the inevitable news hit. Our flight had been cancelled.

I finished my cheeseburger, drew in a deep breath and let out a laugh. What else could I do? As Uncle Chuck told me 28 years ago, worrying wasn’t going to get me home a second sooner.

How right he was.

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