Flight Delays and Air Displays

Don't get me wrong, I like air displays as much as the next person. I remember, as a child, gazing up in awe as the Red Arrows passed within inches of each other and still smile at the memory of Conchorde flying low overhead. But as we arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon I wasn't so thrilled about them.

That morning, in Kathmandu, we had been informed that our flight would be leaving half-an-hour later than scheduled due to low cloud cover. No problem, we thought, as we had two hours to kill in Delhi before our flight to Thailand. However, we did notice on our arrival to the airport that conditions weren't exactly cloudy. 

Hmm. 

We settled in and enjoyed the delights of Kathmandu departure lounge (not up there in my top ten) and kept a hopeful eye on the flight board.

Two hours later, after the shortest bus journey I've ever been on (it must've driven us all of twenty metres to our waiting Air India jet!) and we were finally sat on the plane. Already resigned to missing our connecting flight we sat back and enjoyed more views of the top of the world. And watched Home Alone 2. 

It was only when we reached the transfer desk that we understood the real reason for our delay. Sitting watching some Indian passengers berate a downtrodden Air India official, we were told by a dejected Scotsman that lots of people were in the same position as us, not because of 'low cloud' but due to the Indian government practising an air display for their Republic day. This, understandably, had upset more than a few stranded passengers who were missing weddings and honeymoons.

To cut a long, and very boring story short - we found ourselves on a flight to Mumbai (I watched Home Alone 2 again as it was the only film in English) where we waited for a flight in Air India's first class lounge.

It was a minor blip in what has been a great few weeks. We'd still be getting to Thailand the next morning and at least once we were in Bangkok there wouldn't be any other complications.

That's when I picked up the latest edition of 'Wall Street Journal' and read the headline...

D'oh.