Holiday Flight Delays

Happy New Year's Eve

 And the errors piled up at nearly each stage of the flight home from Baltimore last night. 

Loading Baggage after
the Passengers are on-board
Baltimore, MD
December 30, 2025

Southwest definitely did not shine in the darkness. 

As the day got later, so did our flight. When we left for the airport our flight home was 8 minutes late. The incoming flight from Detroit was delayed. I could see that on Flight Tracker, but 8 minutes is almost nothing. 

Then the delay kept getting longer as Chris and I were enjoying a glass, or two, of wine at the bar near the gate. We went from an 8:20 PM door close to an 8:51 PM door close, to a 9:03 PM door close and then later. So we went for a long walk to keep ourselves moving. We did finally get aboard the jet and settled into our seats and then, because we were on the right side of the plane I could tell the problems began. People were still boarding as 9:20 PM passed, an hour after the original scheduled departure, but then baggage carts rolled up to load baggage. I knew we were going to be a lot later. 

The pilot and crew tried to keep us apprised of what was going on, but Chris and I had a birds-eye view of the baggage being loaded long after the announced push-back time. 

Well, once the baggage was loaded and the cargo bay secured I thought that we were good to go. So did the crew as the main cabin door was finally closed. 

Nothing happened. No engine start, no motion. 

We sat. The captain finally advised us that the tug to push the jet back from the gate wouldn't start because of the cold. 

After sitting for the better part of another hour, the jet finally moved and the engines fired up. 

In the flight tracker, it says take-off was 10:18 PM, but that was really gate push back. We taxied forever, like we were in Denver or Houston and not Baltimore. Take-off was not until about 10:37 PM. 

Once airborne the flight was smooth and the night was beautiful for sightseeing. We saw the coast of the Carolinas again out the window. At night it was highlighted by the lights. Landing at PBI was a bit different as we came in from the ocean and flew over the city. We enjoyed looking at there Christmas lights, but were anxious to get off the plane and into the car headed home. 

We arrived home a few minutes after 1 AM. Ugh. A very long day. We had welcomed the arrival of New Year's Eve. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL