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Edited on Thu Feb-22-07 12:13 AM by TomInTib
I was on Delta out of JFK at 8:34AM on the 14th.
The storm was passing thru and allowed certain windows of departure.
We nailed one pretty quickly and boarded.
Push truck showed up and proceeded to do nothing but spin its wheels on the ice.
The pilot came on and informed us that Delta only had one push truck equipped with snow chains.
One.
Who would have ever guessed that there was a storm coming?
Push truck finally showed up.
The push bar broke.
So they took it to the garage to fix it. Instead, I suppose, to swap the snow chains to another push truck.
Finally got us out on the tarmac (the only reason that we were leaving was because the flight was LAS/LAX and the crew was based in Los Angeles - Delta would not have to overnight them in NYC).
There were exactly two (2) de-icer trucks on the Delta terminal.
The storm was blowing through and the windows of opportunity were fleeting.
So the de-icers finally showed up.
And discovered that it was time for a (Union) break.
By the time they got back to our plane, the weather had gone to heck.
So when the weather got right, they came back.
And the truck on the port-side wing ran out of de-icer fluid.
And then the weather went back to hell.
Another window and the de-icers come back.
Port-side nozzle breaks.
They fix it and finally de-ice us.
We motor maybe 50 yards and stop.
Captain comes on and tells us that they have forgotten to load bottled water. Evidently, there is some FAA regulation regarding Xamount of bottled water per passenger.
So they finally onload the water and we wait for another window. And wait for the de-icers.
10.5 hours on the ground due to ineptitude.
Took me 22 hours to get from NYC to Las Vegas.
And Delta lost my bags, to boot.
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