I've had a few aborted landings. 3 on the same flight, which is the better story.

We were traveling DEN -> BOS on a UA 757 and were put into a hold outside of BOS due to a big winter storm that had kicked up. International flights were given priority (according to the pilot, whom I spoke to after landing) and when it was our turn we had the runway in sight but were called off due to snow plows on the runway. On our second attempt the runway was within sight but we were again called off due to a plane not taxiing off the active runway fast enough.

At that point we had exceeded our hold fuel (or whatever the proper term is) and diverted to Bangor, Maine. We sat on the ground there for quite some time before the crew determined that we were not going to make it into BOS that night. I don't really remember the exact reasons, but I seem to recall it had something to do with the FAs going illegal. UA doesn't have a gate, nor crew at Bangor, so we borrowed someone's gate and were not able to get luggage off the plane (although the co-pilot pulled someone's dog off, less it freeze over night!)

So, we spent the night in Bangor and boarded late the next morning. However, we ended up spending quite a bit of time sitting around waiting because just before boarding a small plane skidded off the runway and it took the airport staff a couple of hours to pull it out. We probably should have diverted elsewhere, but the storm wasn't looking like it was going to come that far north and Bangor has a great runway (again, according to the pilots.) But, the storm did follow us up the coast and socked us in.

I have some great pictures of the storm - The airport hotel's pool was not drained of its water and was a solid block of ice. The co-pilot was out inspecting the plane and used a broom to clear the snow out of the engines. The first tug that attempted to push us back couldn't because there was so much snow around the plane (it had not been plowed) so a second, bigger tug was used.

Finally, upon take-off there was some funny chatter between the cockpit and the tower about us overstaying our welcome (coming from the tower) and hoping to never return (from the cockpit.) That also happened to be one of the best take-offs I've ever experienced. I've experienced holding the brakes and spinning up the engines, but this was done to an extreme. I guess the pilot *really* wanted to ensure we got out of there. It was great.

During our approach into BOS it was ordinary but over the last few thousand feet we picked up some wind sheer and the plane started really rocking back and forth. At one point my heart jumped as it looked like the wing was going to dip into the ocean (not really, but man it was really moving!) So, after all of that we ended up doing *another* go-round. The plane ahead of us didn't report anything and neither did the plane after us in terms of cross-wind. It was like our flight was cursed.

Upon our 4th landing attempt we made it in to much applause from the cabin. The upside of all of this was the amount of time we spent on the ground. In Bangor specifically, the pilots opened up the cockpit and my buddy and I got to spend an hour or so asking him about flying, the 757, etc. I've never had more confidence in the pilots that fly these big planes than after talking with that co-pilot.

As we deplaned in BOS UA reps were there handing out $100 certificates!