How many times have we run up to the gate only to see the door closed and the plane slowly pulling away from the gate? It is a tough feeling to find that you missed your plane and need to make our next move for the next flight. I mean, airplanes have to operate on schedule right? We can’t just get them to come back for us and inconvenience everyone else on the plane, right?
Actually, it turns out that you can have the plane come back to get you. And not just come back to the gate but actually fly back to the airport even when it is already en-route to the destination! The only thing you need to have that power is to be the son of the Iraqi Minister of Transportation.
It appears that a plane for Middle East Airlines was on its way from Beirut to Baghdad when they were told they did not have clearance to land in Baghdad and needed to return to Beirut. The reason? The son of the Iraqi minister had missed the flight and had told airport officials that he would not allow the plane to land in Baghdad. This was even after airline officials had already gone to the lounge to find him before the plane took off. If this is true, sounds like someone is too used to getting his way – forget about all the other people on the plane that actually did get to the gate on time and now had to be taken off the plane! You can read the whole story here.
Only once. Sadly, I’m not a foreign dignitary, so I had to watch with that sinking feeling in my gut as the plane slowly pulled away from the gate. Fortunately, it was on Southwest, so they put me on the next flight to Houston about 30 minutes later….
=M=