{"id":18414,"date":"2010-12-27T17:03:17","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T21:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=18414"},"modified":"2010-12-27T17:03:17","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T21:03:17","slug":"re-thinking-your-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/re-thinking-your-delay\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Thinking Your Delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my qualifications for writing about travel is the fact that I am a pilot myself.\u00a0\u00a0 Although I hold a commercial license and have flown passengers and cargo commercially, the vast majority of my experience has been as a general aviation pilot.\u00a0\u00a0 For those of you who do not know, general aviation is pretty much everything that is not commercial or military.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That means virtually all of those little piston powered, propeller driven aircraft you may see in the skies from time to time.<\/p>\n

While most of my time is in rented aircraft, I actually did own my own airplane for just over a year.\u00a0\u00a0 My goal was to fly it as much as possible, maximizing the number of hours I could accumulate in pursuit of a career as an airline pilot (a career I eventually declined, but that is another story).\u00a0\u00a0 From my home in Denver, I flew my trusted Grumman Cheetah<\/a> on adventures from Alaska to the Bahamas.\u00a0\u00a0 Along the way, I had a considerable number of delays.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that when your commercial flight is delayed or canceled, you merely groan and try to find a seat on the next scheduled flight.\u00a0\u00a0 When the airplane is unable to fly due to a mechanical breakdown, the worst case scenario is you have to wait until the airline can find a replacement aircraft.<\/p>\n

Now imagine the plight of a general aviation pilot.\u00a0\u00a0 While many envision the luxury of a private jet, the aircraft I fly have more in common with an original Volkswagen beetle in size and comfort.\u00a0\u00a0 People asked me if it had a bathroom, and I would reply that it certainly did, right behind the bedroom.\u00a0\u00a0 It took some a few moments to catch the joke.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although my longest non-stop flight was over seven hours, a leg of four to five hours was more common.<\/p>\n

Comfort aside, there was also the issue of reliability.\u00a0\u00a0 My particular aircraft was a 1976 model, and nearly every part had been replaced during the thirty years that preceded my ownership of it.\u00a0\u00a0 When there was a mechanical problem, I had to find a mechanic to fix it.\u00a0\u00a0 If that meant canceling the entire trip, that is what I had to do.\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, it also meant that I paid for the parts and labor out of pocket as well.<\/p>\n

Finally, there was the weather.\u00a0 A modern jet aircraft is equipped to handle almost any weather short of a thunderstorm or blizzard conditions.\u00a0 An entry level general aviation aircraft is far less forgiving.\u00a0\u00a0 Few small aircraft have anti-ice equipment installed, so all moisture must be avoided anytime the air temperature is near or below freezing.\u00a0\u00a0 If snow is in the forecast, I cannot fly.\u00a0 Even a thin layer of early morning frost on the wings required that I point the aircraft towards the sun and wait. \u00a0 I held an instrument rating, which allowed me to fly in the clouds, however I avoided even a modest storm that would not even delay a jet aircraft.\u00a0\u00a0 Flying in or around the mountains was only done in ideal conditions, and never, ever at night.<\/p>\n

While you have your choice of roughly 500 commercially served airports in the United States, we general aviation pilots have over 5,000 different airfields to choose from.\u00a0\u00a0 That means that when I had to divert due to weather, I was just as likely to find myself in Lamar Colorado or Las Vegas, New Mexico rather than any airport that you ‘might have heard of.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If the storm lasts a few days, we might get to know nearly everyone in town while we wait it out.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, that might be what\u00a0 I miss most about traveling by general aviation, the sheer unpredictability of it.\u00a0 (The absence of the TSA is a close second). \u00a0 I came to relish the delays as an excuse to explore some place that, an hour earlier, I had never even heard of.\u00a0\u00a0 I toured a fish hatchery in South Dakota, explored Sandusky, Ohio, and ate with the locals at cafes in many town’s who’s names I have since forgotten.<\/p>\n

I am thinking of this now, as so many people’s travel plans have been snarled by snow bound cities though out the east coast.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you are one of these delayed travelers, take my advice:\u00a0 let go of your previous itineraries, leave the airport, and enjoy an extra day or two wherever they are. \u00a0\u00a0 Home, work and family will still be waiting for you at your destination when the weather clears.\u00a0\u00a0 Your airline will waive the change fees, allowing you to rebook your travel at your convenience, not theirs.\u00a0\u00a0 Take in a museum, treat yourself to a unique meal, and have a drink with some of the people who live and work around you. \u00a0 If you are in a major city, avoid the roads and use the subways or other public transit.\u00a0 Most importantly, get out of the airport, and start to imagine how you will look back on the next few days of your life.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no doubt you will remember it for a long time, so you might as well make some good memories, instead of just hanging out at the airport, waiting for the flights to resume.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my qualifications for writing about travel is the fact that I am a pilot myself.\u00a0\u00a0 Although I hold a commercial license and have flown passengers and cargo commercially, the vast majority of my experience has been as a general aviation pilot.\u00a0\u00a0 For those of you who do not know, general aviation is pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRe-Thinking Your Delay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/re-thinking-your-delay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Re-Thinking Your Delay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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