College Times

Issue date: 1/7/10 Section: Blogs

George Clooney made it look so easy and luxurious to fly on an airplane in his latest film, "Up in the Air."

I hate when movies lie.

Having the pleasure to head back home to New York for the holidays, my vacation was hampered from the moment I arrived at Phoenix Skyharbor International Airport.

My first mistake? Deciding to fly Northwest Airlines. You see, unbeknownst to me, Delta Airlines bought out Northwest Airlines.

Interpretation: Me driving around the airport trying to find the right terminal because none of the signs indicate which terminal is for Northwest. It wasn't until the second go-around that I finally read on my ticket (in about size 5 font) the little detail about Delta.

My second mistake? Actually getting on the plane. To be fair, I was fully expecting weather delays, seeing how I was flying to upstate New York - not the most weather-friendly place in the world. But, no, there weren't weather problems, there were mechanical problems.

Interpretation: Me boarding the plane, the pilot informing the passengers over the loudspeaker that they are going to "fix" the problem. Two hours later, still grounded, the pilot informing very hostile passengers that we will be de-boarding the plane and re-boarding a different one.

Fortunately, once I finally did arrive to my destination, I was ready to forget about my horrible flying experience and let my vacation begin.

Christmas with the family, a few get-togethers with some old friends, and a quick trip to NYC later, and it's time to fly back to warm and sunny Phoenix.

My short term memory obviously failed me because I had this absurd idea that I would have smooth sailing from here on out. After all, I was flying Continental this time - what could go wrong? Not to mention, what are the odds of mechanical problems happening on both my flight from Phoenix and my flight back?

Apparently, very high.

Granted, this time it was only about an hour-and-a-half sitting on a grounded plane and Continental offered passengers complimentary DirectTV for the entire flight - which, by the way, wasn't much of a consolation, but I'll take it nonetheless.

So, lesson of the day: drive. Even if it will take about 70 hours both ways and add another 4,600 miles on the car.

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