My 1980's movie plot trip!

Ok, here's the scenario: I am suppose to leave Portland at 3:15 Sunday, arrive in Arcata at 5:40pm, and Monday at 9:00 am I have my interview for the credital program. Seems easy enough.


What happened instead was my flight leaving Portland was delayed and arrived in Redding (a layover between Portland and Arcata). Then after being delayed again the plane took off. Now my first clue that we were in trouble was when the passenger sitting next to me noticed how the one of the tires on the plane looked flat as we were taxiing down the runway. My second clue was about ten minutes into the flight the landing gear opened and closed. (And let me just say I have flow a lot in my years, but I have never felt a plane shake like it did as when they just decide to open and close landing gear doors that fast.) About twenty minutes into the flight the pilot announces we have to circle the airstrip while the coast guard is doing a rescue. Twenty minutes later, the plane begins to descend, landing gear is down and everything. But with a few thousand feet to go, the landing gear retracts and we take back off into the sky. The pilot tells us that the fog was too thick to land. Then after circling again for another half and hour the pilot announces we are going back to Redding because our landing gear has a problem and can only be fixed in Redding.

The funny part: As we land in Redding the flight attendants are telling us to "be nice to the ticket agents regarding getting flights because they have a tough job!" (And really, is there NOT a job that deals with people that isn't stressful?)

So, now the whole plane is sitting at the airport. There is only one rental car place open and they are telling us they have no cars. The airline says they are going to bring buses from Arcata to pick us up but they won't be here from five hours! At this point it is 8pm, which means the buses won't be in Redding till 1am, which means I won't be back in Arcata till 5am because it is a four hour drive. So I decide to get a bite to eat at a Chinese restaurant with Abbie (Hi Abbie!) and some people I met on the plane! That's when the airline announces that the buses are not coming! The airline would follow this with "The next available flight is 5pm tomorrow!" (Not good!!!)

Soon the car rental place realizes they have vans they can rent out. (Really? What kind of genius is that that you NOW realize you have vehicles to rent! LAME!) So with a team of passengers we rent a van to do the 299 drive, and I drove! So after driving back to Arcata and taking other people home (My own "Little Miss Sunshine", and I fell like Grandpa!) I made it back home late night/early morning, and made it to my interveiw a couple of hours later.

So you bet your ass I am demanding my money back from the airline!