Synopsis
Departure Day: evening non-stop flight on Delta from Minnesota-St. Paul airport to Schiphol. The 2-4-2 seat configuration on the Airbus A330-300 means we took aisle-window with no one else to deal with. My only concern is an on-time departure so we make our connection in Amsterdam.
Commentary
In our seats, seat-belted in, ready for take-off. Chaotic boarding, gate G-11 not really appropriate for a larger plane requiring passport checks, but still appears we’ll make our connecting flight.
Until it wasn’t: while taxiiing for takeoff, the all departures stopped due to nearby storm cells. Our pilot first tells us The storms are expected to pass through fairly quickly, followed by Looks like the storms aren’t moving as fast as hoped. My wife watches the lightening as planes continue to touchdown, seemingly feet from where our plane waits. Eventually, the ground stop is lifted, we take off – over one hour later than scheduled. At least we’re on our way.
The updated arrival time in Amsterdam is only minutes before our scheduled departure to Zurich, so – to be proactive – I start texting Delta to get on a different flight to Zurich. I request either 1:20pm or 3:20pm but the only availability Delta sees is the 9pm flight. Fuck, I do not want to spend 9 hours in Schiphol. However, for now it’s the best option and am told that KLM may have more options in Amsterdam. I start looking at airport hotels, knowing we’ll need a nap.
And meals on Delta’s international flight continues to be abysmal: tasteless Chipotle chicken or vegetarian lasagna with a legume-based salad. It’s been this way all spring and summer. Sure glad we ate while waiting at the PGA Lounge.
Image Credits
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- photos © 2025 Scott C Sosna, all rights reserved
