#ihatesnow

I have been fairly lucky lately.  I haven't been to Toronto since before Christmas.  I didn't go to Toronto at all in January...which is very strange for a reserve flight attendant based out of New York.  My lucky streak ended yesterday when I got in from snowy Detroit and scheduling extended my trip to a Toronto overnight and a Nashville overnight.  It was a 23 hour layover in Nashville, and if it weren't for that...I wouldn't have been so nice about going to Toronto.  We only had 15 passengers scheduled for the flight; 3 in first and 12 in coach.  Easy peasy, right?  

It's never as it should be.....

So here I am again for the second night this week in Toronto (what did I do to deserve this?) it is my last day before a streak of four days off.  We were scheduled to leave at 9:20 this morning, I go downstairs for our 8:15am van and the rest of the crew has just found out we are delayed because of winter storm number 592 this winter.  After I set my alarm early, after I got dressed, after I put on makeup, and after repacked my tote so things were "just so."  They couldn't have delayed it before all that-just to make it easy on us and the passengers...certainly not.  So we re-claim our room keys we have just laid on the front desk and head back up to our rooms until a new 11am van time.  

11am rolls around, our departure time is still noon....so we head through security and customs.  We get to the gate and find out we have a "wheels up" time of 1:51pm.  Board at one, head to the runway and wait for the heads up from air traffic control at 1:51.  A half an hour later...ATC has pushed us up to 2:34pm.  Then 2:44pm.  Then back to 2:40pm.  Then its pushed to 3:33.  Then 4:05. Now its 4:29.  We've already cleared customs so we can't go back to the hotel, and they could move the time up so we have to be around and ready to go.  

I steer clear of the customer service desk because people ask ridiculous questions over and over.  Since I don't have access to our reservations systems I can't answer the questions they are asking...so its best if I just slink away.  I pay $15 for an overpriced salad, run the battery down on my ipad and iphone, worry if scheduling is going to tack something else on the end of my schedule when I get back to New York, and check the weather radar 136 times.  

Our aircraft is here (thank heavens)...which is why we haven't cancelled and our entire crew wants to go home to New York.  I am tired of sitting in these crazy chairs where I can't make a phone call and the wifi is less than par.  

It's like Toronto is welcoming me back after a long hiatus....... and all I can do is mutter, "thanks..."