Blood pressure rising in Boston
I have decided that Boston is
joining Frankfurt on my blacklist of airports.
In order to connect from a domestic to an international flight, you must not
only exit security, you have to walk down a sidewalk outside. I had the
pleasure of doing this in the rain. Then, I had the pleasure of being detained
by the TSA and having them try to send my things off with a confused Italian
teenager. When I boarded the plane, I thought my annoyances were over…
Just as all the passengers completed boarding, and we were
about to push back from the gate, a severe thunderstorm hit Boston Logan
International airport. The wind was so strong it was rocking the plane back and
forth. Next to us, two Aer Lingus cargo bins blew off the loading machine and
began sliding down the tarmac towards our aircraft. Two vans were able to park
and stop the bins from hitting my plane.
After waiting for the weather to calm down, we were finally
ready to take off. The rain had stopped but the runway was still wet. As we
began to lumber down the runway, a very strong crosswind caused our planned to
begin skidding and crabbing down the runway. The plane was shaking and making a
horrible noise as we slid for about 100 yards. I didn’t know if we would be
able to stop on the runway or if we would slide into the grass or into the
water. Luckily, the pilot was able to stop the plane, sideways on the runway,
and we were able to taxi around and join the queue for the runway once again.
While we were waiting, two other airplanes also had to abort their takeoff
because of the crosswinds. On our second try, we took off without incident.
Once in the air, I enjoyed the comforts of Lufthansa’s new business class
seats, ate a good meal, and then slept for a couple hours. I arrived in Munchen
ready to enjoy the day!
