A Slight Change of Plan

Today is our day to fly home.  It is an early flight at 7:11.  We were up at 3:15 AM and our car was turned in and we were through security and sitting at the gate before sunrise.  Saw this aircraft being moved by a tug to take it away from the gate.

This is my view of the plane next to us from my seat as we prepared to push back.  Tug pushed us back from the gate and we awaited engine starts.  But we sat there and sat there and heard some strange noises but had no idea what was going on.  After 10 or 15 minutes the captain announced they couldn't start the right engine!  So we were pulled back to the gate and everyone got off the plane.  The short version is after an hour they still didn't know and an hour after that they took all our baggage off the plane.  Not a good sign!  So after all that delay we talked to a gate agent and because the next plane to DFW wasn't until 5 PM today, he suggested we fly from El Paso, to Chicago, and then on to New York.  We elected to do that because it seems like a more sure thing.

Here is a couple across from us trying to figure how they could get to where they were going.  The pilot and first officer left the plane and as they came through the gate area I followed them and got to ask what caused the problem, and they were really nice and explained some technical things, but they still didn't know what the problem was.  The one thing that was annoying is, we had to leave the secure area, go fetch our bags, and then start checkin and go through TSA security all over again!  

We are not sure when the mechanic arrived because some of them were working on the rear of the plane where the Auxiliary Power Unit is installed, but they told us that was not the problem.  So we watched him work for a bit.  We were no longer going to take our original flight but they kept setting back the time it would finally leave for DFW.

Then a couple of hours later this notice appeared on the screen behind the gate agents!  "Flight Canceled!"

Man oh man, we made, with the gate agent, the right decision to switch routes.  We may actually get home tonight!  More news tomorrow.  As I finish this, our aircraft is just pulling in to the gate, and we should be boarding soon!