Great Ground Delay
 

Ok - there really is no such thing. But, I'm sitting here in the Qantas Club in Cairns, Australia. We were on board our flight to Sydney, when the captain came over the intercom wiht bad news - the baggage loader had run into the rear of the aircraft, and caused some minor damage. While we were waiting to hear from the maintenance crew, the FA's came through the cabin with magazines and complimentary cocktails and beverages. About 30 minutes after scheduled departure, the captain asked everybody to deplane, and your boarding pass would be good for $10 in food/drink in the terminal. Luckilly, I also have QF Club access, so the wait is even more enjoyable.

Kudos to Qantas for the handling of this situation (as long as I get to Sydney tonight!!). I do remember US carriers doing this kind of service long ago (when I was very young). I feel spolied, considering what us US based flyers are used to.

Absolutely concur!

BTW- Hopfully you had some time there to go do some diving at the GBR, my favorite undersea view.

My "best" ground delay was last summer at LGW. Flying CO BizFirst LGW-EWR with my wife after a week in London (without the kids) for our 10th anniversary. Got to LGW at 1pm for the 3pm return flight, only to be handed a letter apologising for a delay of unknown duration due to mechanical difficulties; more info would follow at 2:30pm.

Went to the Pres. Club, where they announced that a buffet lunch would be served at 2pm - just in time for the first match of the World Cup starting that day (Scotland-Brazil)!! Watching the World Cup in London was certainly the way to do it - even if 60% of the crowd were from USA.

They kept extending the delay, until 6pm, when they announced that the engine needed replacement, and we would not leave until 11pm - after the morning flight from EWR arrived and was turned around. Then, they gave each person 25 Pound vouchers for any food shoppe in LGW - we spent 20 total on dinner, and the remaining 30 buying candy for family & friends at a store that honored the vouchers.

CO topped it off with our choice of 20,000 OP miles or $800 voucher per person.