A breif background... I am about 2K miles away from Diamond on Delta. My crystal ball is showing a slow down in travel in July and August. So I decided that a quick turn to the west coast is in order to make it to Diamond and be done. I booked a ATL-PHX-ATL overnight trip for pretty cheap (not MR worthy, but cheap enough for me to decide to take it for the status).

This brings me to tonight (or last night I guess). I have made a few of these overnight turns before, except it was to SEA. The 7:20pm flight out of ATL is the same plane and crew that makes up the 10:55 return. When I booked the PHX run, I assumed the same. WRONG.

We start boarding. I am sitting in FC enjoying the preflight cocktail when the captain comes on over the PA saying that one of the "packs" is inop and there will be roughly a 45 minute delay while they work on it. I think, "Whatever, this is the same plane back to ATL, so I'll be fine... I hope." So whip out the computer and start to do some checking. Nope, the return plane to ATL is coming in from DTW.

So, I ended up missing the return (by an hour and a half) and I am now sitting in PHX waiting to get on the 6am flight back. So the lesson to all of the noobie MRunners (like me)... IF you attempt an overnight turn, make sure to allow enough time for delays if your plane is not the one returning the same evening. There is nothing worse than explaining to the agent why you were only planning on being in PHX for 50 minutes and then having to sit in baggage claim for 3-4 hours until you can get on the plane again.

All of this when I tought I was getting good at this MR thing too! Hope you enjoy a chuckle out of my misery tonight.