My indirect encounter with the ash cloud

After living in the US for nine months straight, I was looking forward to going home to London. I always have fun in college with my friends, but this was the longest I had stayed away from home at a stretch. I was going to fly with US Airways from Kansas City to London Heathrow with the connection at Philadelphia. My sister was flying back on the same day but her connection was at Chicago and she was flying with American Airlines. Everything was fine when we were in Kansas City. My sister and I both couldn’t wait to be on our connecting flights to London. Oh, the irony of it! Little did I know that it will be two whole days of waiting and then I will be able to board the flight to London.
When my plane landed in Philadelphia, I looked for the screen that would tell me the gate I’m supposed to go to. I saw that my flight had been cancelled, and my stomach just dropped. I felt hot and cold at the same time and I rushed towards the gate to find out what was going on, hoping all the time that there was some mistake. I reached the long line at Customer Service and the passengers in front of me were visibly upset. It looked like it would be a couple of hours before I found out what was wrong. Meanwhile, a new worry was eating me up. I could not stop thinking about my sister and I realized I didn’t have any means of contacting her. She could call me on my phone from a booth but how would I let her know about my flight cancellation? I felt like crying, but I had to be strong. I was trying to stay hopeful that I would find another flight. A few minutes later, a US Airways official came to all of us standing in the line to inform us that we need to get our baggage and to call a number to rebook our flights. She told us about the problem of the ash cloud in London and that there won’t be any flights going to Europe. I was even more horrified when she said that there might not be any flights going to Europe for a few days. Furthermore, they would pay half the price for us staying in a hotel as the ash cloud was not the airline’s doing. True enough, but neither was it the passengers’ fault. Her statement made me mad, especially when I saw that a British Airways flight headed to London was not cancelled. But, I couldn’t dwell on that for long; my luggage was waiting for me.
Upon reaching the Baggage Claim, there was another queue; however, it was mercifully short. Another passenger was standing with me and I was extremely grateful for the company. Talking to him stopped me from getting overwhelmed and the last thing I needed was a full-scale panic attack. Flying has never been something I have enjoyed particularly and I felt like I was having a nightmare. I had to wait for my luggage for about an hour and my mind was plagued with thought after thought. How would I let my parents know about my flight? Should I wake them up at this hour and ruin their sleep by adding this worry to their minds? Should I wait till it is morning and then tell them? Should I go to a hotel or just camp at the airport? What if I can’t find a flight for many days? Should I go back and stay with my host family? The questions were endless and I had to reassure myself constantly. I let my best friend, who was staying with my host family in Arrow Rock, Missouri, know what was going on. My host mother called me and she enquired as to what happened. I gave her the number to rebook my flight and she managed to get me a flight in two days. I was a little calm after that but I didn’t know how serious the ash cloud situation was and how long it will take for the skies to clear up in London. I was praying that somehow my sister could reach home and if not, then she would go stay in a hotel and have access to the internet.
After a while, I managed to get only one of my two bags. I went to the Baggage Claim desk to ask for my other bag and they advised me to come back in a day or two to look for my bag. I didn’t know what else to do. Now that I knew that it would be two days before I got on a plane, I decided that it would be better for me to stay in a hotel and get some sleep. I called a number, provided by the airport staff, and I managed to reserve a room in one hotel. They had free shuttle service to and from the airport and they picked me up in the next twenty minutes. By this time, it was almost midnight and the night’s events were starting to catch up with me. After I got to my room, I switched open my laptop and I sent an email to my dad letting him know what happened and that I had no idea what was going on with my sister. I also sent her an email asking her to let our dad know where she was. I fell asleep quickly after that.
I woke up to face a whole day of doing nothing along with the worries firmly implanted in my head. Fortunately, one of my worries was gotten rid of as soon as I checked my email. My sister had arrived in London on time and she was safe at home now. I felt unbelievably relieved. It is really difficult to be in a situation where you are worried about another person knowing that there isn’t anything you can do to help them out. I can’t deal with feeling helpless. I passed most of my day chatting to my mom and my sister in London and to my aunts and my grandparents in India. While I chatted with them, I felt less sad and everyone was doing their best to cheer me up. My mom kindly offered to talk to me until I fell asleep. But, she had been upset enough already and hadn’t slept properly for two nights. I didn’t want her to stay awake just because there wasn’t much for me to do in the hotel room. I couldn’t go out because it was raining the whole day and there wasn’t much to see regardless. The hotel was in a more remote area and I didn’t think it wise to be wandering off in a place that was new to me. I killed some time by watching TV and when it was late enough for it to be acceptable to sleep, I went to bed.
I woke the next morning happier because I would be at the airport and I felt that finally, I would be at the place where I should be at. It was the first time that I was looking forward to going to an airport. Once I got there, I found out that my bag was probably already in London. I still had nine hours of waiting left. I read a book, ate Chinese, wandered around in the airport and spoke to another passenger who had faced a similar situation to mine. Her plane left a few hours before mine did and that made me feel a little less anxious and more hopeful about my flight taking off too. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until my plane took off that I relaxed completely.
During my stay at the hotel, I realized that my sister’s plane had landed without any difficulty and if I had left Philadelphia when I was supposed to, my plane would not have encountered any problems either. Most other airlines had not cancelled their flights to Europe; yet, US Airways had done exactly that. This made me feel quite enraged. I would always want the airlines to take measures that would ensure the passengers’ safety. On the other hand, I don’t know if the US Airways needed to take as much precaution when the other airlines were still running their flights. It seemed as though they had gone a little overboard in their attempt to be cautious. The ash cloud warning was between the hours of 1am and 7am. My flight was supposed to reach London around 10am approximately. US Airways would have had a couple, if any, flights that would have reached Europe during that time frame on that day. Hence, it seems unreasonable that the airline would have reacted so strongly to the situation, especially as they were the only ones to do so in Philadelphia. One would expect that they would have done more to find out about what was going on. The airline officials did not know what was happening and their lack of knowledge and hospitality made the passengers feel hopeless and stranded.