Flying east today...

... and NOT off to a good start! Writing from Sacramento Airport right now. Hubby and me were supposed to have been on a 6:30 flight to Salt Lake. It's 8:21 so obviously that didn't happen.

First problem:
Apparently the TSA randomly tags passengers for "extra security inspection" as boarding passes are electronically issued at the kiosks. Mine was one of the tagged boarding passes. Typical.

But the people at the security checkpoint missed the tag entirely and cleared me. I passed thru both the metal detectors and the x-ray machines with no problem, so the security folks sent me thru the security checkpoint to the gate.

When I handed my pass to the agent at the gate, however, it was declined. Thence followed a series of concerned phone calls from the gate desk to the security folk.

Long story short, within a short while two separate security people arrived at the gate to "handle" me. Said "handling" included a full body frisk and handheld metal detector pass, and a thorough inspection of my carryon luggage (and I do mean thorough.) As this happened it became apparent that the process of "handling" me was holding up the plane; we were literally the last to board! Kinda... embarrassing.

Second problem:
After I was publicly frisked at the gate (laughing here; I actually handled it with a smile) we boarded the plane and sat for a few minutes before the captian announced a "right engine" test. That lasted five or ten minutes at full-bore, deafening blast. Then the captain came BACK on the PA to announce that there was an oil leak and it was being "investigated by mechanical personnel." Five or ten minutes after that we were told that the situation required further investigation and that it would require deplaning and the relocation of our plane to another gate.

So we disembarked, at which time we realized that we were definitely going to miss our Salt Lake connecting flight to Baltimore/Washington International.

The ticket agents were having to rebook almost an entire plane of folks with connecting flights at this point; I really felt for them. We were nearly first in line but we still waited about 30 minutes to get to the desk because it takes so long to rebook connecting flights. We were told that the ONLY option available to us for arrival today was a 12:55 flight (fully EIGHT HOURS after we arrived at the airport; aargh!) with an east coast arrival time around 11:00 p.m -- fully six hours later than we were originally scheduled to land. We'll still have about 1.5 hours of driving after arrival before we get to the hotel. Can you say, "LONNNNNG DAY"...?

I'm already feeling sooooooooooo "less than fresh" since I've been at the airport since 4:00a.m.; you can imagine the frustration I'm sure. That part is more manageable, however, than the feeling that I am stuck inside an airless, overcrowded tin can (the terminal) with a bunch of very fragrant and impatient others. The guy next to me must have just finished an onion sandwich on onion bread which he seems to have washed down with onion juice.

Help!

We received meal vouchers for food during our layover time and the gate personell were perfectly nice and helpful and all, but it sure is a nuisance to have to spend one entire day sitting in an airport. The far worse outcome, of course, would be a quick and explosive death due to the hydraulic fluid leak that was discovered in the right engine. That plane still sits on the tarmac and the people booked to Salt Lake ONLY are still awaiting news about whether they can board or will have to rebook on other flights.

Please keep fingers crossed for the rest of my itinerary! I'm feeling doomed right now. Doomed, I tell you... and reeking of onion perfume.