Today I lived an air travel nightmare

I’m in Peoria, IL this week on business. Flew from Bham to Chicago to here. Everything was fine until we boarded the puddle-jumper at O’Hare for what should have been a quick flight down to Peoria.

First thing I noticed was the air was for all intents and purposes not working. I mean, you could put your hand up against the vent and feel a little cool air. But that was it. I figured it would improve once we were airborne. Well, it didn’t. And to cap it off, we sat at the terminal for an extra 20 minutes before taking off.

The plane was already taking on the aroma of the visitors field house at your typical high school football stadium and we were not even airborne yet. Then when we land in Peoria, the captain comes over the intercom to tell us they are “short-handed on ground crew” so we’d have to wait a short while before he could get us to the terminal. So there we sit there on the tarmac waiting. It was in the mid-80s today in Peoria.

The “short while” turned into 40 minutes of hell. People were losing their shite, kids were throwing up, and the a/c still wasn’t doing shite. It was like going out to a parking lot with no shade, getting in your car, and sitting there for 40 minutes with the windows rolled up. The smell on that aircraft was incredible. The mix of sweat, body odor, and at least two kids who threw up everywhere was strong. I travel via air usually 7-8 times a year. I’ve seen some crazy stuff. But what I experienced today was on a whole other level.

FWIW, I flew American on this trip. I won’t be making that mistake again. If Delta can’t get me there, I’ll drive.