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Arrival in Paris
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The trip here to Paris was anything but routine. I was supposed to leave on American Airlines from Cincinnati at 5:45 p.m. yesterday. But American has had to cancel thousands of flights over the past 3 or 4 days to check a wiring bundle in the landing gear or their MD80s which make up around half of their fleet. I was going to fly on one of the little Brazilian Embraer tube jets to Chicago, where I would connect to a British Airways flight to London. In London I was to arrive in Terminal 4 but then fly to Paris out of Terminal 5. The latter has only just opened and is supposed to be state of the art, representing the future of air travel, able to seamlessly process tens of thousands of travelers a day and speed them on their way. In actual fact it has been a notorious fiasco. Thousands of passengers have missed flights and/or lost luggage. The backlog is supposed to take weeks to clear.
Considering all that, I decided to travel in my suit. That's not the most comfortable way to fly, but I figured there was a good chance something would go wrong and I might get separated from my luggage and I wanted to have the appropriate attire to speak on Saturday. As it turns out that was an appropriate decision.
On arrival at the airport, I was told my flight to Chicago was delayed 90 minutes due partly to all the canceled flights but also due to inclement weather in Chicago. I waited nearly two hours before finding out that my flight had finally been cancelled all together. The American Airlines agent with whom I spoke kindly said she would try to get me on the direct Delta flight to Paris, which in fact she was able to do. She assured me that my suitcase would be taken directly to Delta to be put on the flight. I double checked that at the Delta counter as well, to make sure. That agent also confirmed that they would take care of my already-checked bag.
We should have arrived in Paris in mid-morning, saving me some time over the American Airlines itinerary, but the unusual events had not ended. Somewhere after the point of no return over the Atlantic, the captain came on the intercom to ask if there were any medical personal on board. A while later he came on again to inform us that there was a medical emergency and that we were diverting to Shannon, Ireland so that EMT personnel could treat the passenger who was by this time laying flat on the galley floor at the back of the plane.
We arrived in Shannon on a very direct landing path. The Emergency responders came aboard with more medical equipment and started to work, finally taking the suffering passenger off the aircraft and to a hospital. We spent about two hours on the ground, with some of time taken simply to finish paperwork. Apparently any use of a piece of onboard medical equipment must be documented.
We finally arrived in Charles de Gaulle airport around noon, still a bit ahead of schedule from what my initial itinerary would have been. Unfortunately my suitcase did not arrive with me. I have extra clothes for one day, so I'm hoping that it will turn up tomorrow.
One last interesting event happened that held me up in the airport 45 minutes or so. An abandoned suitcase somewhere in the terminal led to a bomb scare. So doors were closed and a security perimeter set up. Several hundred passengers, including me, were confined to the baggage claim area until we heard a loud bang which I assume was the bomb squad blowing up the suitcase. I'm not sure what the theory is behind blowing up a suitcase suspected of holding a bomb, but that seems to be a frequent response. It's better not to forget your suitcase in a Paris airport....
I picked up a small car that came equiped standard with a GPS system, which should help me find my way around. It did get me right to my hotel in the Opéra district in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
Tonight I'll have dinner with one of the Church members living in Paris, and tomorrow afternoon we'll have a Church service here for the first time in several years, to which I'm really looking forward. And hopefully I'll get my suitcase back.
Latest Comments (3)
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hey dad!! (reply)
Apr 14, 2008 18:15 EST by fmeeker
wow, that sounds like quite the adventure!! I wish I could have been there with you!! And I will definitely keep you in my prayers! I love you lots!!
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Excitement enough (reply)
Apr 14, 2008 16:59 EST by maryhendren
Hi Joel,
It seems impossible that so much happened in one flight--even a medical emergency forcing the pilot to land at Shannon. Not surprising that the assurances about your baggage didn't prove true. Thankfully you were not caught up in the T4 situation.
Regards,
Mary
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Suitcase (reply)
Apr 13, 2008 11:16 EST by txmorgans
Hopefully that suitcase they blew up wasn't your lost one!! ;o) God willing, all will settle down and your trip will go smoothly from here on. It seems, as Passover draws even closer, Satan is pulling out all the stops and throwing darts at us all - non-stop. Be safe and be well.
Take care,
Brian, Suzanne Morgan and family
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