[QUOTE=m907;36357556]This is standard operating procedure for AA. Their policy of rolling delays is designed to maximize the aggravation to customers.
If I were OP, I would have rented a car and driven after it was delayed til 5 PM.[/QUOTE
Rolling delays make it hard to switch to driving. If I knew at the first delay it would go as late as 5PM, good chance we switch to the car. But by the time I know it'll be that bad, driving isn't gaining me anything, and there's the flight/drive back to think about too. At least we're on the usual RJ for the trip back so hopefully no giant meltdown again. I've done this trip a million times both flying and driving, and I still prefer flying it. It's never as smooth as a drive as it should be.
Originally Posted by
jayer
Were you on 1895? Seeing how another A319 followed shortly thereafter, albeit on time, how many people were finally on the plane when it flew? It does look like one came back to DCA later, as a redeye, and the other as an early flight this morning.
Yeah, 1895. We had less than 20 on the plane. 4 in first class, 4 of us in MCE, a few towards the back. A flight attendant said something about how they were expecting ~38 passengers, but we weren't even close to that.
As a final kick in the teeth, AA decided to put our bags on the other A319 flight so we got to wait around another 30 minutes for that.