After commenting in response to Nick’s post regarding the Air France flights diverted on Nov. 17th, he asked if I would write a bit about the experience. My spouse and I were on our way to Vienna via Paris. We had actually been booked on KLM World Business Class, but were moved over to Air…
Continue reading: A Firsthand Account Of Air France’s Emergency Diversion
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Glad everything worked out.
It seems that DL as well as the SLC staff came through big time. This is why I am loyal to Delta; not because of the FF program, but because of the service they deliver in a difficult situation. As part of SkyTeam, it sounds like they really stepped up to help ease the situation.
Ask yourself, honestly, would UA have done the same for a partner airline in a similar situation?
Seems like a 5-6 hour delay for a bomb threat isn't that bad. Glad everything was ok. I live in France, and we are all still a bit shaken up about what happened almost a week ago. The French are resilient though, and we are starting to get back to "normal."
I never comment, but a fascinating read. Thanks for sharing, JR! Have fun in Vienna.
Another great post, Nick.
I always find it interesting to hear how everyone - passengers, crew, ground staff - respond to situations like these. It sounds like everyone was calm - and with the passengers calm that made the situation bearable. It sounds like JR handled it well. And kudos to the ground staff at SLC for providing pizzas and McDonald's. I was at home watching CNN when this was unfolding and was so relieved to hear that there was no bomb!
It sounds as if everyone handled what could have been a difficult situation very well - airline, passengers, ground crew and government officials, so kudos to all. Overall, only six hours of delay for a bomb threat doesn't sound too bad. Very interesting to hear from a passenger - thanks, JR. Hope your bags have caught up by now. Oh, and you and your husband make a cute couple. I couldn't help thinking you look like old marrieds who have grown to resemble each other.
Glad you guys had a safe flight. BTW, there's a typo in the bio section of the contributors:
"He is married to Tim Hendrix, a manger with Boeing Commercial Aviation Services."
I know holiday season is right around the corner and you recount the story of nativity often, but I assume you mean 'manager' instead 'manger'.
Very interesting read. I was on a US MSP-CLT flight last July that a bomb threat was called in for. We were in the air for maybe 20-30 minutes and quickly returned to MSP. They actually would not let us take our hand luggage in that instance. I guess having a fairly large place to contain you helped with that as we were contained on tarmac buses for a couple hours and not sure everyone's hand luggage would have fit. We weren't interviewed by FBI (I'm guessing the current problems made them more skittish for you) but did get sniffed by bomb dogs on the tarmac.
I think the whole process probably delayed us 3-4 hours and then the flight didn't continue on so I ended up staying in MSP an extra night and leaving the next day.
Very interesting read -- though I'm troubled by, "This was also when we learned about the IAD-CDG diversion, and we were glad we didn’t get diverted to Halifax!"
Let's not forget that this is a generous city -- well versed in handling diversions:
Adam- we were glad we were at SLC due to it being a Delta hub, with lots of connections if something had prevented us from continuing. As it turned out, Air France 55 did not leave Halifax for over 30 hours. It wasn't a judgement on Halifax's hospitality.
They say it takes all types to make the world go round. Still, some things I will never understand,
"We enjoy Air France business, even if the seats aren’t great, so we obliged. We figured we’d rather have the angled seats with entertainment, than a flat seat with no entertainment."
Good report @Lander, thanks. I guess that's just more lying flat for me.
