Wouldyoubelieve that as my son's flight finally arrived in Hong Kong more than 2 hours late, as they taxied in from the runway he saw his connecting flight pulling away from the gate? The other two flights to the USA were already maxed out, so he's stuck in Hong Kong overnight. Alone.
Safety is the bottom line. It's WHY people wait for two hours on the tarmac to fly, while a tropical storm clears the airport they are headed to. It's why they finally land and while their flight is taxiing to the terminal they see their connecting flight pulling away from the gate...and get to spend the night alone in a foreign city...and face a 15 hour flight arriving a half hour too late for their next connecting flight so have to endure either a 9 hour layover or a 6 hour drive. Heh.
Eldest says us driving 6 hours to pick him up and drive him 6 hours home is over the top. And it might be, but we'd be happy to do it, and I hope even knowing we would is a balm to him right now. It's hard to be alone at a time like this. HE's trying to decide whether to wait 9 hours for the connecting flight, or to rent a car and drive home.
You are probably right, Alan. He went ahead and set up a Hertz rental, but also didn't cancel his flight. Hertz says if he decides to cancel there will be no penalty. All good.
He has no transportation, wasn't planning to spend more money, and he's not the casino type. (The hotel voucher they gave him was for a hotel/casino.) But he got some sleep at least. 6pm there is 6am here, so he began to get back on our schedule. The jet lag is going to be a killer.
He is FINALLY on his way home!! Even his delayed by 18 hours flight left an extra hour late! But we need to cut the folks in Hong Kong a LOT of slack, given the horrible week they've had with a Cat 2 followed by a TS!
Well, I may have spoken too soon about flights out of Taiwan and Hong Kong. It appears that Eldest's plane is sitting on the tarmac waiting for Tropical Storm Pakhar to settle down a bit where it's supposed to land. Sigh. About an hour delay so far, it seems.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2108446/no-8-storm-signal-issued-pakhar-bears-down-hong
BTW, the elder Grand in the photo out front is his daughter! :-)
Wouldyoubelieve that as my son's flight finally arrived in Hong Kong more than 2 hours late, as they taxied in from the runway he saw his connecting flight pulling away from the gate? The other two flights to the USA were already maxed out, so he's stuck in Hong Kong overnight. Alone.
ReplyDeleteSafety is the bottom line. It's WHY people wait for two hours on the tarmac to fly, while a tropical storm clears the airport they are headed to. It's why they finally land and while their flight is taxiing to the terminal they see their connecting flight pulling away from the gate...and get to spend the night alone in a foreign city...and face a 15 hour flight arriving a half hour too late for their next connecting flight so have to endure either a 9 hour layover or a 6 hour drive. Heh.
ReplyDeleteEldest says us driving 6 hours to pick him up and drive him 6 hours home is over the top. And it might be, but we'd be happy to do it, and I hope even knowing we would is a balm to him right now. It's hard to be alone at a time like this. HE's trying to decide whether to wait 9 hours for the connecting flight, or to rent a car and drive home.
Better to wait; he isn't likely to be in any condition to drive more than a short distance.
DeleteAlan
You are probably right, Alan. He went ahead and set up a Hertz rental, but also didn't cancel his flight. Hertz says if he decides to cancel there will be no penalty. All good.
DeleteA night in Hong Kong? How utterly fine!
ReplyDeleteIt ought to be possible to make a little adventure out of it, methinks.
DeleteAlan
He has no transportation, wasn't planning to spend more money, and he's not the casino type. (The hotel voucher they gave him was for a hotel/casino.) But he got some sleep at least. 6pm there is 6am here, so he began to get back on our schedule. The jet lag is going to be a killer.
DeleteHe is FINALLY on his way home!! Even his delayed by 18 hours flight left an extra hour late! But we need to cut the folks in Hong Kong a LOT of slack, given the horrible week they've had with a Cat 2 followed by a TS!