They told us to go to the service counter, where they got most of the people on the first plane to Dayton at 6:20. They also gave each of us 21 dollars in food vouchers. We walked over to the food court in Terminal 3 between Concourses H and K (American Airlines territory). We had to walk so far because half of the food places open in the entirety of O’Hare were there. These were a Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts, and a McDonald’s. It turns out that even the massive Chicago O’Hare International Airport shuts down from midnight to 2. Even TSA. No announcements, and not much noise. Maintenance workers and janitors work to clean and fix everything before the next day. It’s so quiet you can hear the escalators and the moving walkways operating, and there are people stretched out everywhere on benches and couches. I wandered back from the food court to Terminal 1, Concourse C (back in United Airlines territory), where I sat down with everyone else in our group near Gate C7, our last known departure gate. They didn’t have a gate for the 6:20 flight when they gave us the boarding passes, so we had to wait for them to put one up. We aren’t the first people to spend a whole night in O’Hare, we aren’t the first people to have a 14.5 hour layover at O’Hare, and we certainly will not be the last. But it wasn’t so bad because we were still sort of on Beijing time. Actually we are more in limbo with respect to time zone, but either way we are equally capable of either staying up all night or sleeping until boarding time.
When they finally announced the boarding gate it was Gate C8, right near where we were sitting. We started boarding on time around 5:45. By 6:20 the 56 of us were all boarded and ready to go, when the pilot informed us that the ground crew had forgotten a couple of bags and we needed to wait five minutes for them to be loaded. Shortly thereafter, the baggage handlers drove up with two loaded trailers and everyone’s luggage. Half an hour later we did the safety briefing, and they finally pushed us back from the gate. The pilot came on the intercom and told us (in words to the effect):
“Yesterday when the plane arrived, the pilot reported problems with the steering. They were supposed to have fixed it last night, but it seems that they didn’t. So they’re going to tow us back to the gate, and we’ll decide what will happen after that.”
We all ended up disembarking, and were just beginning to lay siege to the service desk when we were informed that they were giving us a new plane at once. Arrived now at Gate C5, we discovered that we were being given the plane from the Albuquerque service. I really hope they got another working plane before their boarding time. Our entire extra flight was moved to the new plane: number, crew, passengers, and luggage. We reloaded, re-completed the safety protocols, re-left the gate, and finally made it off the ground. We arrived in Dayton around 11:30 or noon, retrieved our luggage, said our goodbyes, and headed home.
I got home, unloaded my luggage, and sat down on the couch with a book, intending to spend some time reading. I ended up falling asleep after a few hours, and managed to stay asleep for over 12 hours. I think we’re all happy to be home. It’s odd, but every time I go outside I notice the big, blue, smog-free sky. It was also initially somewhat odd to be somewhere where everyone speaks English either very well or as a first language. Everything is monolingual, and there are no Chinese characters anywhere in sight. Also, it’s nice to have American TV again, and American Internet, even though the TV has so many more commercials. I’m just glad I haven’t run into any political stuff yet, because once I do I’ll never hear the end of it until after November.
When they finally announced the boarding gate it was Gate C8, right near where we were sitting. We started boarding on time around 5:45. By 6:20 the 56 of us were all boarded and ready to go, when the pilot informed us that the ground crew had forgotten a couple of bags and we needed to wait five minutes for them to be loaded. Shortly thereafter, the baggage handlers drove up with two loaded trailers and everyone’s luggage. Half an hour later we did the safety briefing, and they finally pushed us back from the gate. The pilot came on the intercom and told us (in words to the effect):
“Yesterday when the plane arrived, the pilot reported problems with the steering. They were supposed to have fixed it last night, but it seems that they didn’t. So they’re going to tow us back to the gate, and we’ll decide what will happen after that.”
We all ended up disembarking, and were just beginning to lay siege to the service desk when we were informed that they were giving us a new plane at once. Arrived now at Gate C5, we discovered that we were being given the plane from the Albuquerque service. I really hope they got another working plane before their boarding time. Our entire extra flight was moved to the new plane: number, crew, passengers, and luggage. We reloaded, re-completed the safety protocols, re-left the gate, and finally made it off the ground. We arrived in Dayton around 11:30 or noon, retrieved our luggage, said our goodbyes, and headed home.
I got home, unloaded my luggage, and sat down on the couch with a book, intending to spend some time reading. I ended up falling asleep after a few hours, and managed to stay asleep for over 12 hours. I think we’re all happy to be home. It’s odd, but every time I go outside I notice the big, blue, smog-free sky. It was also initially somewhat odd to be somewhere where everyone speaks English either very well or as a first language. Everything is monolingual, and there are no Chinese characters anywhere in sight. Also, it’s nice to have American TV again, and American Internet, even though the TV has so many more commercials. I’m just glad I haven’t run into any political stuff yet, because once I do I’ll never hear the end of it until after November.
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