We arrived with plenty of time to get on our 5:20pm flight, however, a security breech prevented us from boarding on time. We watched the departure change to 6pm then 7pm then 8pm then security made everyone evacuate the airport!
We were still holding onto our dozen donuts that we were taking home for breakfast for the kids. People were offering us $3 a donut but we were being optimistic about getting out of New York on the 30th!
Our flight was the first to be allowed back into the building to go back through security and directly to our plane at about 10ish.
After we all boarded the plane started to back away from the departure gate when the electricity went out (twice). The pilot started it back up quickly then apologized to all of us for the 'electrical anomaly'. I was so tired by this point that I started to doze off when he came back on to apologize about the firetrucks that have surrounded our plane in response to the black smoke (I assumed it was a result of the 'electrical anomaly'). He preceeded with hope about the error being corrected. Curt warned me not to take my shoes off. I later learned that he thought we were going to have to make a run for it. Fortunately we didn't have to run but we did have get back off the plane after about 4 hours of mechanical attempts. I'd much rather this scenario than flying that great distance across the ocean with an 'electrical anomaly'!
We were given a room at the flea bag motel (aka the Ramada Plaza) near the airport. There wasn't another Delta flight scheduled out of JFK to BUD for a couple of days but luckily they brought one in the next evening for all of us. We left the airport between 2 and 3am with our same seat assignment for the next evening at 5:20pm.
Eventually we started getting delirious from the drama and exhaustion. When they told us we couldn't get any of our luggage we just giggled. When the Ramada bus pulled up and the doors didn't open we just giggled. The icing on the cake was when a bus load of us packed like sardines pulled up to the hotel and the doors didn't open again, Curt shouted out, 'the Delta mechanics must have been here!' The whole bus burst out laughing - even the non-English speakers! It was even more funny when our breakfast voucher wasn't enough for the breakfast but only for toast and coffee. What an ordeal....
After security on the 31st, Curt hit the Life is Good (how ironic) store and bought a new outfit including boxers and socks! Maybe Delta will reimburse...
We arrived home on November 1st to three very happy kids (and three very happy dogs and one very hungry cat). It was good to be home again!
