The Rerouted Skytress

Do you remember the day the Atlanta Airport had a severe power outage? I do. I was stuck on the runway for seven hours. Yep, this is another Skytress story I couldn’t make up if I tried.

So, we had just landed in Atlanta. It was the last leg of a three-day trip. The Washington D.C passengers were actually pleasant on this flight. Everyone was excited because we landed early. At least I know I was. I had backed up my trips and I was ready to get some rest before my next trip the following morning.

I was sitting next to the 3-left door on the Airbus-321. I had a great view of the runway and of the airport out of my Skytress window. I noticed we landed on the “good” runway. Yes, it’s much quicker to get to the gates when we land on the “good” runway. I knew we were going to park at a “good” gate, too. We were coming in near the middle of the concourse. I was on a Skytress high from all our good fortune. Then we slowed down on our taxi-in. The Captain powered down the engines. Uh-oh. The Captain called our Skyter In-Charge. Double Uh-Oh. The Skyter In-Charge called the rest of us. He informed us there was a power outage in the airport. The Captain wasn’t sure how long we would be parked. I wasn’t too concerned at this point. I’ve survived power outages before. The Captain informed the passengers about the power outage. He told them they could turn on their electronic devices. As soon as he made the announcements, I walked through the cabin with headsets for the passengers. I’ve learned in a situation like this, if people can watch something or listen to something…they are less likely to complain to the crew. My preemptive measure definitely helped. You can bet, I was very relieved we were on an aircraft that had in-seat monitors. I felt for my fellow Skytresses and Skyters that were on aircrafts that didn’t have any.

Information came in slowly about the power outage in the airport. We were told there was a fire on the C-Concourse that caused the power outage. Jetways couldn’t be moved to allow passengers to deplane or board aircrafts. Everything was at a stand still. My crew and I had limited supplies on board the aircraft. However, we conducted another beverage and snack service. Passengers were understanding if we didn’t have their preferred beverage or snack. They could see airplanes weren’t moving outside. So, they settled in their seats. After all, the Captain informed us we were the first aircraft in line to taxi to a gate once we were released to do so.

The Captain made an announcement about two hours into our ground stop that we were going to move the aircraft. No, we weren’t going to a gate like we had hoped. The aircraft behind us had a medical situation. Our aircraft needed to move so the emergency personnel could get to them. Unfortunately, now we would be the last aircraft in line. I confess. I wished we could have said we had an emergency, too. Jumping back to the front of the line sounded pretty good to me.

Our Skyter In-Charge and I were the senior people on the crew. We had our fair share of experiencing long hours stuck on a plane filled with passengers. We could tell the younger Skytress and Skyter were on the edge of snapping. They were tired from working a three-day trip. The ground stop was dragging on too long. Little things were getting on their nerves. The Skyter-In Charge and I made a plan to kill everyone with kindness. Especially, our fellow crew members. It started to work. The junior crew members told us they knew we were holding it together. So, they would too. Thankfully, that was one less thing we needed to worry about.

I did text Ron to let him know what was happening. He turned on the TV to see if he could find out any information. He texted me back with bad news. The airport was a mess. Passengers had been evacuated from the C-Concourse and we standing outside in the cold rain. The roads into the airport were jammed. He looked on the computer to see how much time I had before I went illegal for my trip the next day. He told me he would continue to check on me. I told him I would keep him updated on things at my end, too. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to update him on for a very long time.

Five and a half hours into the ground stop, the Captain called to inform us our lavatory tanks were filling up. Unfortunately, the lavatory trucks wouldn’t be able to get to us for awhile to dump the lavs. He told us he would make an announcement to the passengers. Awful news always sound better when it comes from the Captain. The Captain told the passengers about our lav dilemma. He told them not to flush the toilets until they were completely filled. Everyone chuckled. My crew and I became the official fluid monitors. It was a hysterically humbling job. Eventually, we couldn’t hold any more fluid in the tanks. The lav truck came….to dump the lavs on the tarmac. Yep, you heard that right.

We did see some airplanes taxing while we were parked on the runway. We learned, however, taxing aircraft was a logistical nightmare. It was an extremely cumbersome process. Planes weren’t taking off. Passengers needed to be deplaned from airplanes parked at gates with unusable jetways. There were numerous planes that didn’t have gates that needed to be deplaned. Passengers that were evacuated outside from the concourses needed to renter the airport securely, too. Six and a half hours after we landed, we got the clearance to moved to the gate area to deplane.

We didn’t taxi to an actual gate. No, an area was corrine off so aircraft could pull up outside a stairwell that lead up to the concourse. Air stairs were brought up to the aircrafts for passengers to deplane. Ramp agents assisted passenger with their luggage down the stairs. Another group of Ramp Agents had flashlights to direct passengers towards the stairs in the dimly lit airport. Seven hours after landing, I made my way down the stairs with all my luggage. It took me a second to get my bearings. We were outside A-Concourse at gate 27. My crew and I climbed the stairs up into the concourse. My crew headed to the crew lounge to catch the employee shuttles to the parking lot. I was the only commuter on my trip. I headed down the concourse to make my way outside to the hotel shuttle area.

Of course the escalators and elevators were not operating. So, I trudged down the escalator stairs to the train level. Several Skytresses were descending in front of me. The trains between the concourses weren’t operating. So, we followed the flow of passengers down the hallway to the next concourse. I couldn’t believe what I saw when we arrived at the escalators passengers normally rode down from airport security to the trains. The escalators on one side were being used by the wheelchair attendants to carry passengers up in wheelchairs. Once the attendants got to the top, they would slide down the small metal area next to the escalator with the empty chair to repeat the process. The able-body people climbed the escalator steps on the opposite side.

It was a very slow process ascending the stairs. People had to stop with their luggage to catch their breath before they proceeded up. My three crew bags were packed for six days of flying. My winter coat was making me sweat. My arms were becoming tired from carrying my bags up and down the previous flights of airport stairs. The Skytresses in front of me were as tired as I was. The constant stopping and picking up the luggage was becoming arduous. I wished I had taken the escalator that went to the T-Concourse. There were fewer steps. There was, also, a landing area in between the escalators. I was positive there was less people using that escalator, too. That escalator would have allowed me to exit the airport. I tried not to look up at all the steps I still had to climb. Somehow, this made the climb less daunting. My two small crew bags kept sliding off my shoulder. A woman behind me asked me if she could help me with my suitcase. I told her I could manage. My suitcase was reinforced with steel. It was heavy without clothes in it. It was now packed with six days of clothing. I didn’t want her to lift my heavy suitcase. She explained she didn’t have any luggage. She really wanted to help me. Before I knew it, she swept my suitcase up. She ran up the stairs zigzagging around slower people. She placed my suitcase at the top of the escalator and waved to me. She then disappeared before I could thank her. She was an angel. At least she was to me.

I started to walk towards the hotel shuttle area. A young soldier stopped me for assistance. He had missed his flight to Germany. He hadn’t flown much and wasn’t sure what to do. I tried to help him by pulling up information on my phone. Unfortunately, he needed an actual agent to help him with his flight. Sadly, it was now very late in the evening. I couldn’t find an agent to help the young man. I directed him to the USO area. I hoped he could at least find a place to rest until the morning ticket agents arrived for work.

One good thing did go in my favor. The hotel shuttle driver pulled up as soon as I went outside. He told me I missed the mass exodus of passengers from the airport. He said parking lot shuttles and hotel shuttles were having difficulty getting to and from the airport. He explained people were walking down the middle of the streets surrounding the airport to get to their cars or to be picked up. He said he had never seen the likes of it before. I was grateful I missed that fiasco.

I called Ron when I arrived at the airport hotel. I updated Ron on my adventure out of the airport. He and I laughed about the whole ordeal. My first two flights on my trip the next day had cancelled. Thus, I was legal to fly my trip. We agreed the next day would be much better. My Heavenly bed truly felt heavenly when I finally climbed into it.

The next day I rode to the airport with a hotel shuttle filled with pilots. We swapped stories about the previous day. Everyone had a bizarre experience with the power outage. The one consensus, though, was the walk up the escalator to exit the airport was excruciating. Yes, each pilot was traveling with the heavy-reinforced steel crew bag. They didn’t have an angel whisk their bags up the escalator steps for them. Yes, I was truly blessed by my angel.

I flew out of the C-Concourse on my first flight. We were flying to Gainesville. I sat in the gatehouse and talked with one of my Gainesville passengers. She had been in the C-Concourse the day before when the concourse was evacuated. Her story was fascinating. We both agreed we were looking forward to a much better flying experience that day. I’m not sure how her day turned out once we got to Gainesville. Unfortunately, my quick turn to Gainesville and back to Atlanta wasn’t quick at all. Nope, it took us twelve hours. We had a mechanical when we landed in Gainesville. I told Ron all about it after we landed back in Atlanta for our unscheduled layover. One day I will tell you all about that Gainesville trip, too.