This time, it was USAir, thank you very much. When we arrived at the gate the agent said that there was some sort of delay (not weather, not technical, not crew over hours), so I have no idea what the problem was. But get this — when I asked her if there was a chance it would be cancelled, she said

“Oh no, the weather is fine, there’s a good plane on the ground. It will just be about an hour before it leaves Pittsburgh, and the flight is 57 minutes to RDU.“

So Kate and I went to wait. Grabbed an ice cream at Carvel, walked back to the gate and the sign just had the flight info on it, and an 800 number beneath. Not good. I called and got the brain-deadening — “the flight has been cancelled.” I hung up and laughed so loud Kate had to tell me to pipe down.

The line of weary people waiting at the gate for the agent to reroute them. I called that 800 number back and waited on hold for a while, but finally got an agent and she couldn’t book me on any USAir flight today or on any other carrier today. So we’re going on a 6:18 flight that will get there (hopefully) at 7:40 AM. That will not give me much time to get the luggage, cab it to the conference center to check in, get my NN09 registration and to my panel by 9AM (“From Prop 8 to Full Equality in All 50 States: Fighting for Marriage Equality and LGBT Rights Across America“).

Of course we already boarded the dogs, so flush that $ down the drain.

***

Here’s an item I came across while I was not airborne…a video of one of the local crazies. Facing South captures a teabagger/birther/nutbag protestor at a town hall held by Brad Miller (D-NC):

A protester at Rep. Brad Miller’s “town hall” meeting in Raleigh, NC compares Obama to Hitler and says Democratic reform legislation will make people “55 and older will not be allowed to have hip replacements” and other surgeries. She also echoes erroneous claims that the legislation will allow government “grim reapers” (Sarah Palin’s alleged “death panels”) will tell the elderly to “take a pill and just die.” She also bemoans the fact that she “was accosted by a woman who was Jewish.