---
layout: blog_post
title: An Irrational Flight Log
slug: Flight-Log
date: 2024-08-11 20:00:00
tags: blog
permalink: /blog/2024/08/11/Flight-Log/
blogtags:
- off-topic
---

> <b><small>Disclaimer</small></b><br>
> I'm well aware that this is an _extraordinarily_ privileged First-World Problem™ to have. This page is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Lately, I've been flying back and forth between Indianapolis and Kansas City about once a month for work. Because I'm picky about _when_ I leave, I've wound up taking the same pair of United flights from Indianapolis to Chicago to Kansas City, then back later in the week.

It _feels_ like every time I take a trip with United, there's a problem. Is there evidence to support this?

<img src="https://static.garrettmills.dev/assets/blog-images/united.png">
<center>RIP travelers in 2007. Imagine a full 1/3 of flights on an airline arriving late.</center>

No, not really.[^1] Am I irrationally mad about it anyway? Yes. Driving from Indianapolis to Kansas City takes about 12 hours. So, I'm starting this page mostly to help myself track my time spent on flying and flight-related activities.

Some nomenclature:

- IND is the Indianapolis International Airport
- ORD is Chicago O'Hare International Airport
- MCI is Kansas City International Airport

<br>

<table>
    <tr>
        <th>Trip Date</th>
        <th>Flight</th>
        <th>Notes</th>
        <th>Okay?</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">Aug 9th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">ORD to IND</td>
        <td>(This was the flight that inspired this page. For context, ORD to IND is a 36-minute flight.) Boarding started 15 minutes late because of prep on the plane. Right before push-off, they discovered a hydraulic leak. This took an hour to fix. When we were finally pushed off, it took an additional 30 minutes to taxi and take off because of the line. That's almost 2 additional hours for a 36 minute flight.</td>
        <td>❌</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">Aug 9th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">MCI to ORD</td>
        <td>Flight left on time and landed pretty much on time.</td>
        <td>✅</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">Aug 5th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">ORD to MCI</td>
        <td>Luckily my connection was only 3 gates away (and was already boarding when I got there). This flight pushed off on time but was then delayed for 20 minutes due to lightning (admittedly, this isn't United's fault, so I'll count it).</td>
        <td>✅</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">Aug 5th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">IND to ORD</td>
        <td>Flight left on time, and landed on time at ORD, but because of construction and traffic, we sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes after landing.</td>
        <td>❌</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">July 12th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">ORD to IND</td>
        <td>I was worried I was going to miss this flight because of delays w/ the MCI to ORD flight, but luckily it was delayed by a couple of hours as well. I waited an hour at the gate.</td>
        <td>❌</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">July 12th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">MCI to ORD</td>
        <td>Flight was delayed by an hour and a half because our incoming flight crew was delayed.</td>
        <td>❌</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">July 8th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">ORD to MCI</td>
        <td>I had to sprint from concourse A to concourse C in 15 minutes because of my IND to ORD flight, but no issues other than that.</td>
        <td>✅</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">July 8th, 2024</td>
        <td class="ws-nowrap">IND to ORD</td>
        <td>Plane was delayed 40 minutes. We had to change gates at IND because our original 737 MAX had "broken seats." (Side note: I was talking with people boarding the flight who had to stay overnight in a hotel because of issues the prior day.)</td>
        <td>❌</td>
    </tr>
</table>


[^1]: From the <a href="https://www.bts.gov/topics/airlines-and-airports/annual-airline-time-rankings-2003-2023" target="_blank">Bureau of Transportation Statistics</a>.
