"How did it come to this?", I think as I take my first ride on a small 9-seater charter airplane. We are trying to get back to London after our Caribbean holiday. There are not a lot of flight options in the Islands. A LIAT (Leeward Islands Air Transit) flight was to take us from British Virgin Islands to Antigua where we would then board a large British Airways overnight flight to London. The LIAT flight was delayed due to the plane being broken and stuck in some other exotic location like Barbados.
You would think we'd have no problem being stuck an extra day in the sunny beautiful islands if we missed our connecting flight. But in reality we were ready to be back "home" with some clean clothes.
After a delay of 5 hours, the airline decided it would be cheaper for them to put us on a private chartered flight to make our connection than to put the affected people in a hotel for 2 days until the next flight to London.
The airline agreed to charter only one plane. Problem was there were 11 of us needing to make the next flight connection and only 9 seats on the plane. The agent relayed the bad news to us and stated they were going to have to choose who didn't get to go and they weren't sure who it would be. Luckily the problem worked itself out as 2 teenage girls volunteered to stay behind with another family they knew so long as they could retrieve their bikinis from their luggage.
The airline agreed to charter only one plane. Problem was there were 11 of us needing to make the next flight connection and only 9 seats on the plane. The agent relayed the bad news to us and stated they were going to have to choose who didn't get to go and they weren't sure who it would be. Luckily the problem worked itself out as 2 teenage girls volunteered to stay behind with another family they knew so long as they could retrieve their bikinis from their luggage.
Chris, Lexi, and I were the first to board. We were told a volunteer was needed to sit up front with the pilot as there were only 8 seats in the back. Chris agreed to play "co-pilot". We had a good laugh at him sitting in the cockpit and told him to please not touch anything. He got settled in and asked the official pilot if there was anything he should do. "Don't touch anything" was the reply.
I thought the ride would be bumpy but it was actually the smoothest flight I've been on. Even the take-off and landing were very smooth and Chris had the front-row seat to it all.
I pulled out my iPad during the flight and started writing this blog post. Next thing you know the hour-long flight was complete. Now that's the way to travel.
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| Chris in his special seat |
I thought the ride would be bumpy but it was actually the smoothest flight I've been on. Even the take-off and landing were very smooth and Chris had the front-row seat to it all.
I pulled out my iPad during the flight and started writing this blog post. Next thing you know the hour-long flight was complete. Now that's the way to travel.
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| Barbara, Lexi, and co-pilot? |
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