Why doesn't life make sense?

Here's my answer to this question:

What if it did? 

Then you'd understand the whole thing completely wouldn't you?

That would be boring beyond all recovery.

The Flight Back

So I managed to find a ticket that got me from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Reagan Washington National (DCA) for $104 (one way of course) that would have gotten me in at 7:30 PM.  There was a ticket for $63 that would have gotten me to the same place only at 10:30 PM.   I chose the more expensive ticket because it's more convenient for my family to pick me up at 7:30 PM instead of 10:30.  The $104 took me through Phoenix (PHX), which is also preferable to flying through Chicago in the middle of December.

The flight from SLC to PHX went like clockwork, the kind of thing I expect from modern airlines.  The departure from PHX was on time.  I went to sleep which is a normal thing to do on long flights.  About an hour into the flight, I'm awakened to the sounds of jet turbine spin up and a slight downward tilt of the plane.  "Odd", I think.  "That wasn't a four hour nap."  

For some reason my ears weren't equalizing so well this trip.  Usually, I just have to yawn and we're in good shape. This time, no, nothing helped.

"Ladies and Gentlemen", the intercom barked, "We're having some difficulties with our cabin pressure regulator.  We've had to descend to a safer altitude.  The plane is fine.  We're not very far out from Phoenix, so we're turning around".  I spent the next hour trying to get my ears to readjust till we set down in PHX.

I was sitting on the right side of the plane, the side that faces the terminal when landing.  As were slowing down, about to taxi, I looked out the window and saw lots of red, blue and yellow flashing lights.  Lots of flashing lights.  That's not a good sign.

That plane came to a stop at the terminal without problem.  The question remained, were the emergency services called out because there was simply a problem in the air, or were they called out because there was a serious problem in the air?  I'll probably never know.... or till I ask an airport operator what the standard procedures are.  Then I'll know.

The airline representatives behind the desk told us we would be getting meal vouchers and to stay close to the gate.  An hour later we re-board.  The pilot came over the intercom and told us we were scheduled to depart in about an hour, but that we hoped to leave in less than that.

One hour later, we push back from the gate and depart on our way.  The rest of the flight was uneventful except for when I learned how to pop my ears by swallowing while blowing hard with my nose plugged to push air into my ears.

So after arriving four hours later than expected, at 11:30 PM, I have learned a very important lesson.  Take the $63 ticket.