I woke up yesterday in Washington, DC Dulles, VA at my hotel, where I was told we were going to get 1-2 inches of snowfall, starting around 3pm. By the time I went to bed at 0100, that had been upped to 5-6 inches. Well, imagine my surprise when I wake up at 1000 and start singing:
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we’ve no place to go…let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”
Sure enough, it was snowing at that hour and it wasn’t just baby snowflakes, but very large, well developed ones. Of course, what does that mean for an airport?
DELAYS, DELAYS, DELAYS
But, sure enough, as I watched my company flight tracker, my flight left its previous city on time and was even scheduled into DC on time. How shocked was I? Of course, with the snow, I did was anybody would have done, and suggested that my crew leave 20 minutes earlier, JUST to make sure we got there safely, and had more time to get food, JUST IN CASE!
So, right before boarding, the flight was put into a GDP, due to rain at JFK, which is the norm. Heck, somebody sneezes and they go into a GDP. (For those not in the industry, a GDP is a ground delay program, which is what happens when air traffic control decides to stop airplanes at their departure point, not releasing them for takeoff until a certain time, due to weather, other traffic, or other reasons.)
Twenty minutes later, we were cleared to board, and did just that. Not had to do with just a mere 44 people on the flight. Of course, with snow, you have your usual deicing, but with this being the first storm of the season, it can be 
kind of hectic. Not only that, another flight had come back to the gate a second time for deicing, so they had a little priority than we did. So, we sit at the gate, with the door close (which means we were getting paid) and waited for an hour for it to be our turn. Of course, we deice for about 20 minutes and were just ready to push completely back, when the Dulles Airport authority decided the ramp behind us was ready for snow removal, and lined up the plows, grinding push-back traffic to a halt. Of course, this is no easy feat, considering the width of the ramp area between the B and D gates at IAD.
Of course, I’m watching from the back of the plane, and timing it at about 10-15 minutes per pass, and counted about 6 passes needing to be made. Do the math…
After they finished, we were able to push back and made a fairly quick taxi out for takeoff, and right before being cleared onto the active runway, the F/O came back to verify that the wings were still not contaminated, but of course, they were. Sitting there waiting for the ramp to be cleared, along with the heavy snowfall, allowed the snow to build up again, and that meant another deicing.
So, once we went back to the gate, that’s when the crazy started. Nobody was mad, upset, or pissed off. They all understood, but of course, the questions about connections starting flying…literally. The only concerns I had was taking a man off who just didn’t want to go, and trying to get my two real misconnects off the plane. Had we not gone back to the gate, I would have just left it alone, but why tease them with going if they didn’t have to…especially with the storm heading that direction.
Of course, many people fly my airline because it is cheaper than using their national carrier and/or the alliances of other airlines can’t get them there as quickly. One gentleman was flying with his wife on Emirates, between JFK and Dubai. Of course, my airline has no agreements with that airline, so they are on their own. Of course, with it being weather related, no airline will be responsible for anything.
I asked him when his flight was, and he said 2300. OK, so he has 3 1/2 hours to claim his bags, make it one terminal over, and check in, with time to spare. No running involved. Yet, he asked every other FA on the flight about his connection, and got the same answer from each of us…we even told him to CALL the airline to see if his flight was operating on time, to which he replied, “I don’t have the number.” Of course, he did, but he wanted to be a pain…I saw him on the phone several times and each time I went by, I assured him he would make his connection after we deiced, since it is only a 47 minute flight between the two airports.
During initial decent, I was cleaning up for a bumpy ride through the clouds, and he stopped me again and asked, “Can you get us a car to take us over to the Emirates terminal?” I just stared at him and had to think about the appropriate answer. Of course there wasn’t one, so I just stated, “Sir, the customers sitting in the first two rows have a connection in 1 hour and 15 minutes after arrival and they aren’t getting a car. Unfortunately, due to weather, the airlines aren’t responsible for anything because it is out of our control. At this airline, we don’t have any cars or other transportation to get you from point A to point B. We are a low-cost AIR carrier and having cars isn’t part of our business plan.” I smiled and then told him, “You have 3 1/2 hours Sir, you will have more than enough time to make your flight.”
Yet, my short connections were just as happy as can be and were so understanding, and I, along with a friend at our RES office, did our best to give them as much information as possible and have other options. Of course, I always wonder after somebody like that leaves, if they actually DID make the flight.
