Would you believe...

On a clear, sunny Thursday E and K (and, of course, e) dropped me off at the airport about 6 PM on their way out of town, headed to Palos Verde where K's mother lives.  The security line moved quickly, and I was glad to see my flight 1270 showed as on time.  Hopeful, I sat at gate C2 to wait.  Before long came the news of delay due to mechanical issues; the 7:25 flight was now estimated to depart at 9:00, though the gate agent warned that could change.  I decided to wait it out, and waiting is what I did.  Before long, the estimated arrival changed to 10:30, at which point I stood in line to be placed on the stand-by list for a flight due out at 9:10.  I waited a bit, watching the monitor along with other passengers, and soon saw I could get a boarding pass for flight 2725 to Oakland.  However, we heard that plane was also delayed and not due till 11:30.  So back to the first gate I went, standing in line again for another boarding pass for my original flight; there were lots of seats available since many of us had changed to 2725.

About 10:30 boarding began and things looked good.  But then the pilots announced they just had been re-assigned to a Chicago flight, and new pilots would be on board soon for us.  Indeed we had a co-pilot in 15 or 20 minutes.  When a pilot walked on after a bit longer, cheers erupted!  Finally we would be on our way.  As we pushed back from the gate, from my window seat I saw a ground crew person cross his arms, as if to say "stop."  The plane stopped, and the pilot announced they saw a fuel leak from one of the engines and while a small drip is normal, they wanted to check this.  And who could complain about that?  Back to the gate.  After 10 or 15 minutes of revving the engine, the plane was declared out of service, and the flight attendant said they were trying to find us another aircraft.  So we deplaned and I headed once again to the counter to see this time about a morning flight.  After just a few minutes, while I was still in line, news came that a plane had been found at gate C17. So off we went, down that long corridor with two moving walks, if you know Sky Harbor.  (By the way, E and family were in PV by this time.)

A new gate agent announced he had been on his way home when called back to work our flight.  We didn't show him much sympathy, I must say.  He had  paperwork to do, he said, so we might as well sit down.  I think some passengers (who had been last to board) wanted to be at the front of the line, but the agent soon had a list of us from earlier and we were called in groups of three to board according to our original numbers.  Once again we were on a plane, waiting this time as the passenger count on paper and in seats disagreed.  But FINALLY we pushed back at 1:10 AM, on our way to Oakland.

I believe the gate agents and crew did their best to get us on our way.  They were calm, friendly, tried to keep us informed.  But mechanical problems must be dealt with.  Weather was also given as a reason for delay, but I didn't see how that fit, though my knowledge of routes is limited.  Maybe the powers-that-be did not want us to think their planes are in poor shape so they blamed weather, an uncontrollable factor.  I will continue to fly Southwest.

We landed about 2:50, and I was in bed by 3:20.