That day, we took a bus up to the Iao Needle and then took the coastal drive up to our hotel on Ka’anapali Beach. We spent the next few days on the beach and shopping. I loved Maui! We also went to a Hawaiian Luau, which was great! But unfortunately this great trip had to come to an end. We picked up “Speedi Shuttle” in front of our hotel to take us to the airport. We had a really entertaining driver. We picked up another nice family at the Marriot who were going to ORD. They were on our flight to LAX and I became good friends with one of their daughters. We had a nice conversation with them to the airport driving along the Maui coast during sunset. We arrived at OGG around 7:30pm and it was dark, but the airport was about 10 times busier than it had been Thursday morning when we flew in. We put our bags through the agriculture check and checked in. My mom and I got our boarding passes and I had the dreaded SSSS on my boarding pass. I had no clue what this meant at the time but I would find out later. My mom went through security and I went after her, the TSA agent not noticing to SSSS. So I went up to the main terminal without having my b/p stamped. We went to the food court and my mom got some clam chowder and I had a ham sandwich. Then we walked down to a crowded gate 7 around 8:30pm. I watched a NW DC-10 to SEA push back and takeoff while we were waiting. Boarding began around 8:55 for a 9:35 departure. After zones 1-7 were called I heard “Now boarding Zones 1-8 for flight 292 to Los Angeles”. I showed the gate agent my b/p and I got stopped and explained the concept of the four S’s on my b/p and that he had to call up a TSA rep. To search me. He was nice about it and the TSA agent showed up in the gate area. My backpack with an Airways magazine and my homework and CD player was getting searched while everyone else was onboard the aircraft ready to leave. Finally at about 9:20 I boarded and got some glares from some fellow pax. But hey it wasn’t my fault!
April 17th, 2004
Delta Airlines Flight 292 OGG-LAX-ATL
Boeing 767-400ER N827MH ship 1803
Depart OGG- 9:35pm
Actual- 9:31pm gate 7
Arrive LAX- 5:34am
Actual- 5:18am gate 58A
Depart LAX- 7:35am
Actual- 7:35am gate 58A
Arrive ATL- 2:32pm
Actual- 2:10pm gate T-02
Seat 33D
It was finally time to leave. I got comfy in 33D, one of the best seats in the house because there is no row in front of row 33. We pushed back a few minutes early and watched the safety video. Right after that, we taxied about 200 feet for a rolling takeoff out of Hawaii. I was sad that I was leaving and tried to see the islands as we climbed. It was a smooth climb despite the strong winds outside. We reached 28000 when we got a strong tailwind of 104mph., giving me a new inflight speed record of 654mph! The movie tonight was Whale Rider but I chose to do some homework and sleep. The flight attendants passed through with our meal for the night consisting of Delta snack mix and a cup of Sprite. The seatbelt sign was on for most of the flight even though it wasn’t very bumpy. I did some homework then walked around a bit and had a nice conversation with the girl that I had met on the shuttle to the airport. I went back to the galley and talked to one of the friendly f/a’s on the flight. I returned to my seat and fell asleep for a little while. Pretty boring redeye flight. After about a 15 minute nap, we were descending. It was the fastest descent I’ve ever had. We descended over the Pacific and before I knew it we touched down on 7R in LAX. We had arrived in from the ocean side of the airport! (Thats rare isn’t it?) We taxied in quickly and deplaned. We left our carry-ons on board as we were continuing on DL292 to Atlanta.
In LAX, everything was dead until 300 souls deplaned from Maui. About half of the pax went to Mcdonalds for breakfast and the other half went to a little bakery in the terminal. I went to the bakery and ordered a “Wake Me Up” which is a croissant with ham egg and cheese. It was good but didn’t really wake me up. I said good bye to the girl I had met who was on the 6:40 departure to SLC. I fell asleep on the ground in the gate area until boarding began. I boarded again in Zone 8 and went back to 33D. I think we pushed back on time (I was dead) and taxied to 25R. I saw Qantas’s Wanula Dreaming 747 taxing to TBIT. What a great livery! We were #3 in line and we took off back to the east coast. Smooth climb over the Pacific until we turned around towards ATL. The f/a’s came around with the drink service and I had the usual Sprite and pretzels. But wait! What is this! A full can of Sprite! Amazing. I asked what the occasion was and she replied “It’s a long flight. Plus I like you” I’d never talked to her before. I did my homework for the first half of the flight until we hit some turbulence over Texas. I fell asleep then until we were crossing the Mississippi-Alabama border. My 764 adventure was almost over. I started talking to the guy in 33C and he was telling me stories about all of his missed flights and delays in ATL. By then we had begun our descent to 26R. It was a long descent compared to my last one. It was a nice sunny day in Atlanta when we touched down hard. The pilot really wanted to let us know we were on the ground! Even the f/a’s were cracking jokes about captain Pete’s hard landing. Oh well. We had a short taxi into T02 and deplaned. I’m really going to miss the 764. I can’t wait till I get back on one.
Well well back in ATL. My mom and I were dead tired. We went over to Burger King for lunch/dinner and then took the tram over to Concourse B where our flight to Richmond would leave at 5pm. We had a long wait(it was 3pm) so I wandered around the concourse and to my surprise, one of my good friends was eating with his family at Popeye’s! I sat down and talked to them and found out they were on flight 1935 with me to RIC! Trey(my friend) and I walked around some and went back to B24 and sat with my mom and the rest of his family. Boarding was to start at 4:35 for the 5:05 departure, but the 4:28 flight to MSY was still at the gate at 4:30. Thats when the gate agent announced the plane was late out of Chicago O’Hare and the new departure time was 5:30pm. Along with that he also announced the flight was overbooked by 5. One college student went up and after some talking with Trey and his family, me, my mom, Trey, and his mom got bumped off the 737-200 flight to the MD-88 flight that left at 6:42pm. We only got $200 Delta Dollars but thats better than nothing. We said good bye to the rest of their family and walked over to concourse A. We got to gate A29 around 6pm and saw our plane getting ready for boarding when the gate agent announced that this flight had also been overbooked. He was offering $400 Delta Dollars along with free dinner, a free nights stay at the Sheraton, free breakfast and a seat on the 8am departure to RIC. It was a great deal but we just wanted to get home. The only problem was that no one wanted to stay. Everyone was on board at that time except for us 4. There were three seats left on the plane. The agent was searching for a solution and then finally got us a seat (a connecting pax was on a late flight and wasn’t going to make it).
April 18th, 2004
Delta Airlines Flight 2156 ATL-RIC
MD-88 N912DL
Depart- 6:42pm
Actual- 6:43pm gate A29
Arrive- 8:17pm
Actual- 8:21pm gate B1
Seat 37A
I was on my last leg. I walked down through the cabin all the way to the second to last row. I climbed into seat A next to a college student from North Carolina and the college student who had been bumped from the 5pm flight. I looked out the window and I had a nice view of a big white engine! Trey was stuck all the way in the back in 38B. We pushed back and the engines started. I swear I was going to be deaf by the end of that flight. The engine also created a vibration throughout the back of the cabin. We taxied out to 27R and the engines roared up right in my ears. My mom and Trey’s mom were enjoying seats near the front, far away from the engine. We climbed to our cruising altitude and I finished my homework. Along with the nosie, its very cramped in the back. Oh well at least I got a seat. The f/a’s came around and I got the usual Sprite and pretzels. I talked to the college student next to me who went to Atlanta to play baseball for the weekend. He was nice but scared of flying. I talked to him for a while to get his mind off the flight and soon enough we began our descent. I heard the engines power up and power down on approach. Very smooth approach and smooth touchdown onto the bumpy runway 20. I was home! Well almost I still had an hour drive home. We taxied to B1 where we parked but the engines and seatbelt sign remained on for about another minute. Eventually they turned off. I helped some people get their carry-on’s out of the bins and I was the last one off the plane which would return to Atlanta in the morning. I was still vibrating as I thanked the pilot who had an English accent. I walked down to the baggage claim with my mom and Trey and his mom to pick up our bags which had arrived on flight 1935. We hopped on the shuttle bus to the long term lot and we were off the Williamsburg.
It was a great trip I won’t ever forget. Great job DL and AQ! Bad job Maui TSA
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