Ok. Tucson flight was delayed a bit. John Ackerman who was at the DCC with me was on the same flight and got an SMS from ORBITZ saying that DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) was stormed in. We boarded a bit late but then all got on the plane and gout onto the tarmac. And then we were informed that there was a ground hold for DFW, and that we could not leave. So the pilot waited on the tarmac so that he would be first if anything happened. And it did, but in the short time between the airport being reopened at DFW for pilots to fly into and starting the engines up the airport was closed again. So we were waiting for about 90 minutes in total in the Tucson heat (30+ but with A/C on) waiting for the flight to DFW

The flight was great for all except for the last 20 minutes which got bumpy. And wet. Really wet. I guess it was a 10 minute taxi to the gate in DFW. When we got there we were told that it would be a little while to exit as the gate was changed at the last minute and that the agent was still on the way. This took a little while.

My connecting flight to LA was also late, but it was boarding as soon as I walked to the gate. But this time it was about an hour after I boarded to when we took off. 30 minutes of that was waiting in a queue to take off at the runway.

The flight was fairly good, flying over Phoenix again. And Roswell.

At LA when they landed they said I needed to report to the agent at the gate. Here I was told that I ‘was in the process of being rebooked to Auckland via Sydney’ and that I should go to gate 41. I was at gate 48. In between the two I decided that I was not going any further than Sydney since Auckland was only a stopover for me to visit a friend. And I had been traveling long enough on this trip. And besides, I was not feeling totally well in all of this, having food poisoning overnight during my last night in Tucson.

So in LAX I rang my mother and asked her to ring appropriate people and let them know of my change in plans. My laptop was out of battery power so I did not even have the phone number for my friend from New Zealand who I was staying with. ARGH! This call was just before I boarded. All in all I was on the ground for about 60 minutes in LA. I just had enough time to make this call, get my booking to Sydney and go to the loo.

Then in Sydney I was quick through customs. But my bag did not come out. Once most people had their bags a Qantas person asked what my name was. He then informed me that my bag was not on the flight. Baggage information took my details and that was that. They gave me a WWW site to keep track of things. Then customs just coped with the fact that I had things to declare in my lost bags and just sent me on my way. Too easy.

I was home in under two hours of landing, including waiting for bags and waiting for a train and asking about what is left on my flight.

Ahh, yes. The flight. I think I still have a segment available. The Qantas Ticketing person said I was finished on the ticket. The Qantas WWW site is not so sure. That is what I will believe.

Oh, And I almost forgot. I found out at the baggage information that I was re-booked to NZ, even though the person in LA was told I was not interested in going further. The first thing the baggage person did was call Operations and let them know that I was not taking that flight since they were concerned I was holding the plane up. ARGH!!!