The Upstate Life

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

USAir Force One

It seems those other famous twins (the non-anorexic, possibly coke-free ones) made a pit stop in TUL's hometown (or at least within 10 miles from it) this past weekend at Albany International Airport. They were supposed to catch a late afternoon flight from the 518 back to DC, but unfortunately those plans were scrubbed due to some mechanical problems with the US Airways Express plane (Mechanical problems with a twin-prop plane?? Nahhhh!) Anyways, that left the twins (and 22 subordinates) flightless, of course until another plane was miraculously rerouted from Boston for a special jet-side pickup according to The Times Union. DNC revenge perhaps?

Castelveter wouldn't say whether the presence of the VIP daughters of President Bush was a factor in the decision to detour another plane, which landed at least 1 hours later than its scheduled 8:36 p.m. arrival at Reagan National Airport.

He insisted, however, that the diversion was not unusual -- though he was unable to say how frequently it happens.

"This decision was made because we had 38 stranded passengers in Albany," Castelveter said. "We needed to get them to Washington. That decision was made on behalf of all 38 passengers."

I'm sorry, but that's quite the bullshit excuse. First of all, the airplane had 38 passengers that were flying from Albany to Washington. It's a) 38 passengers, b) a one hour flight, and c) a commuter airline. If the Bush twins weren't at the airport, there's no way in hell US Airways would redirect a flight from Boston to pick up the Albany passengers under normal circumstances, let alone depart on time to begin with.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that at least one anonymous passenger was miffed -- and surprised -- when the flight from Boston to Reagan International made the side trip to Albany, inconveniencing the 40-plus passengers on that flight. "This doesn't fit the norm of airline travel," the passenger told the newspaper.

She also appeared to be very confused towards the fact an international airport even existed in Albany. I mean, how was she not aware of that daily Air Canada flight to Toronto?

Posted by Brett at 10:22 PM |