> So we got there and got to our gate in plenty of time, anyway. We were flying Southwest airlines, because they have a nice cheap flight from BWI to Albany, which is the closest airport to Williamstown. The major feature of Southwest is that nobody is assigned seats. Instead, you get a boarding pass according to when you get there, and they let you in in order of your boarding pass and you pick your seat. There were only 25-ish people on our flight, so it wasn't a big deal. We pick up our boarding passes at Gate 12, then get sent to Gate 8 to board. We board our plane, start taxiing away from the gate.... and then we TAXI BACK!!! "Odd," we all think. Apparently there was an Odd Light on the dashboard plane running thingy, so they had to get it checked out. We sat there for a while, and then they sent us off of the plane and back to the terminal. So we waited around the gate, and then got sent to another gate (13, I believe). We got food - we were hungry by that point. So we waited around for a while, then they said that they were combining 3 flights, but that we had to get on last because it wasn't originally our flight. So we're standing in line, and THEN we get informed that we're getting our own plane. So we go to another gate - 11 or something like that and get on a plane and finally take off and we're flying along and rising, and suddenly the engines get quiet and it feels like the plane is slowing down and I think "Oh my gosh we're going to die"... but we didn't, it was okay, and we got to Albany, NY... admittedly an hour late, but we got there nonetheless.

I enjoyed your account of your flight, Kiki. As one who flies a lot, I can tell you that it was really pretty normal. My record is getting bumped seven flights in a row. But I fly standby, which adds a lot of adventure to the whole thing. I don't know how much you fly, but your comment about the engines getting quiet makes me think that you don't fly a lot. First time flyers often mistake the normal sounds of the plane for disaster in the making. Wheels and flaps going up and down make wierd noises. Engines winding up or down can be disconcerting. Sometimes the steep angle of a takeoff or a sharp turn can be upsetting if you aren't used to it. And sudden turbulance can make the plane sound like it's falling apart. I've seen people on the edge of panic just because a plume of water vapor sometimes is created by the air conditioning. This is the result of cold air contacting warm moist air in the cabin of a plane that has been sitting around in a warm moist climate. I tend to panic when I look out the window and see the ground above the plane, or if the pilot runs down the aisle wearing a parachute. Otherwise, the stuff that happens on the plane hardly even wakes me up.
Howard