So the oxygen masks really do work

I have flown a lot over my 29 years. Long flights & short flights. Domestic & international. Big planes & really dinky planes. Flying is pretty routine these days & usually happens with such little excitement. But Friday we finally got the excitement we were looking for.My husband & I decided, rather last minute, to take a quick long weekend trip to Chicago. It’s a city we love, the flight was reasonably priced & the nice hotel downtown was dirt cheap. Being a glutton for punishment, I booked us on a 6am direct flight, giving us the entire day to paint the town red.

Before we even left the ground
The day began like any other normal travel day. Our cab was early picking us up, surly a good sign, especially considering it was 4:20am. The line to get through security at Reagan National Airport was actually pretty short, compared to the long, snaking line you’re usually greeted with at 5am. For some reason I decided to forgo coffee at the airport, thinking I would just buy it 90 minutes later in Chicago (one of my biggest regrets!).

We boarded American Airlines flight 547 in a relatively orderly fashion, something else that’s a bit unusual in flying these days. Our flight pushed back from the gate a few minutes early, another rare occurrence. We sat on the tarmac for a few minutes before the pilot came on the intercom system & said “I love working for American Airlines, I do. I love flying. Except on days like this. We’re getting a message from the control center that there’s an issue with our air conditioning unit, which also controls the cabin pressurization system. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to pull back into the gate to let maintenance take a look at it.” Everyone groaned, but my husband & I remained relatively unfazed – after all, we had no connecting flight to catch (unlike the woman behind us who freaked out about making her connection to Seattle the entire flight), no business meeting to make, no deadlines to meet except a 1pm lunch with friends.

They put the entertainment system on, because apparently some people want to watch 30 Rock at 6am, & flight attendants even came through the aisles to hand out water while we were waiting. Who knows how long we sat there – it always seems like the ability to gauge time goes away planes. A little while later, maintenance had finished up their fixing & we were on our way. Before taking off, the captain said that we would be flying at a lower altitude – only 28,000 feet – as is required when maintenance is done on the cabin pressurization system. My husband commented to me that he hated to fly on planes that had maintenance issues worked on, to which I responded “Well, if you’re going to have an in-flight emergency, having the oxygen masks drop is probably the best one to have since it’s not that big of a deal & it’s not like the plane is crashing.”

Psychic?

Perhaps.

“We’re going to drop the masks”
Our flight was on its way, cruising over to Chicago at 28,000 feet. The flight attendants were about half way done with drink service & I was snoozing on my husband’s shoulder. Some yelling & loud voices woke me up. A woman across the aisle, one row behind us, was having a medical emergency (we thought she had a seizure, but it turns out she was just out cold). The flight attendants hopped to it in a control, professional, quick moving manner. Emergency bags were fetched. Giant oxygen tanks appeared out of nowhere. A doctor was summoned (a young man in a hoody responded). After the woman had come-to with the supplemental oxygen, the woman next to her fainted. Then someone else complained about not feeling well. Meanwhile, my husband & I were half watching the situation/half trying not to be nosy. I said to him “I bet we divert, this seems like a big medical issue.” Almost immediately after I said that, the flight attendant came on the intercom & said, “There’s a problem with the cabin pressurization. We’re going to drop the masks.”

The panel above our heads, right behind the lights & call buttons, dropped open. The masks didn’t fall down, but we had to reach up & pull them out of the holder in the ceiling. There were four masks up there – an extra one, apparently, for a lap child or a FA who can’t get to their supplemental tanks. When I pulled my mask down, the one next to it also fell down. The man on the aisle reached for it & put it on. I honestly have no idea what my husband did, as I was focused on getting my own mask on (hey, they say do your own mask before assisting others!). Once our masks were on, rather ill-fitting I might add, I looked at my husband & we both laughed. What kind of adventure had we gotten ourselves into?

By the time the flight attendants got around to make sure everyone had their masks on &  tocheck to see that everyone was okay, we were below 13,000 feet, the level where supplemental oxygen isn’t necessary. I took my mask off (I couldn’t really get it to stay on anyway – the elastic wouldn’t tighten enough) & could breathe normally. The pilot announced that we were diverting to the airport in Dayton, Ohio & that EMS would be meeting our plane for those who needed medical attention. At this point, we had no idea that one of the people who had felt ill-effects of the cabin depressurization was a flight attendant; the other flight attendants went on with their job, despite their stricken colleague.

We flew at a low altitude for a while & landed normally. As we taxied to the gate, we saw a firetruck & ambulance speeding across the tarmac toward our plane. I commented that it was surely the most exciting thing that had ever happened to these emergency responders. They boarded the plane (the firefighters in metallic, fire resistant suits) & attended to those who needed medical attention. Once those folks were off the plane, the rest of us got off like normal. During a pause in getting off, my husband was chatting with the pilot who said that there were no unusual warning lights or indicators in the cockpit to show that anything was wrong. They didn’t know the cabin has lost pressure until a flight attendant told them & they manually deployed the oxygen masks.

An anti-climatic ending
Once we got off the plane, in an empty terminal, we all stood around & waited. Ground crew announced that another plane was being flown in from Dallas to fly us on to Chicago & that we had at least three hours until it arrived. Luckily our end of the terminal had a Starbucks (!!!). We grabbed a table, a coffee (finally!) & my husband was able to do some work while we were waiting. The MD-80 finally did arrive to take us & after some confusion & the filling out of “Walking Wounded” American Airlines forms, we were back on the plane, with a new flight crew, for the short 45 minute trip on to Chicago. We deplaned as normal once we got there, walked past a lot of men in suits, & were on our way.

Immediately when we landed in Dayton, I grabbed my BlackBerry & started Tweeting about the experience. My first few Tweets:

@MiddleSeatView AA flight 547 diverted to Dayton, OH. Oxygen masks dropped at 28,000 feet. Several ppl in need of medical attention.

@MiddleSeatView We’re fine. Flight crew did awesome in handling the situation. Hope to make it to Chicago this afternoon!

@MiddleSeatView Oxygen masks dropped. First time for everything! http://twitpic.com/4fniw7

@MiddleSeatView One woman had an asthma attack, 2 women passed out cold right before the masks dropped. Flying is always full of adventure.

@MiddleSeatView A big kudos to the @AmericanAir flight crew on this flight. They did an excellent job and, most importantly, stayed calm.

The photo I Tweeted got picked up from the Dayton Daily News, who contacted me to do an interview on what happened. My day job is in media relations, so I was happy to talk with the reporter, since I do so on a daily basis. I talked with them & one radio station in Dayton. Then the story took off like the exciting breaking news it really didn’t deserve to be. I was quoted & my photo was used in numerous stories, including this ridiculously overblown story from the Daily Mail in the UK (although if you read the Daily Mail, you know most of their stories are ridiculously overblown) & apparently, I just found out from a coworker, on a DC local news evening broadcast. By the time we landed in Chicago, I had voice messages (not sure how they got my personal cell number!) & emails from local DC radio, national Fox News & a handfull of other reporters wanting interviews. But by that time, I was way done with the whole thing & wanted to start my vacation.

Thoughts
At no point did I feel panicked. At no point did I not feel like I couldn’t breathe. At no point did I feel like something was wrong. I am a nervous flier & at no point did I ever feel nervous – I’ve felt worse about turbulence before. My husband said the same thing. Apparently every person’s body handles low levels of oxygen differently. Since mine apparently handles it well, I’m definitely considering taking up mountain climbing.

The crew was amazing. The pilots who got us down quickly & safely. The flight attendants, especially, kept everyone calm & the mood light. The ground crew in Dayton who were totally not expecting to handle 132 unannounced passengers, most of who had connecting flights that had to be re-booked, handled things professionally. The store clerks & baristas in the airport were friendly & sympathetic. For our troubles, American Airlines gave us (at least my husband & I) 30,000 bonus frequent flier miles, on top of the mileage we earned for the actual flying time. This was more than we expected to get. They also offered meal vouchers, but we decided not to wait in the long line to have the airline pay for a $4 cup of coffee.

The majority of the passengers (including ESPN’s Michael Wilbon!) were awesome about the experience. They were kind & funny & chatty & we all quickly became friends. A few were ridiculous: the one who wanted to form a class action lawsuit against the airline for knowingly flying a broken plane, the ones who insisted on being difficult in re-booking their reservations, the one who complained nonstop about having to sit at the Dayton airport.

Overall, it was an exciting start to the weekend, but really not worthy of the news coverage it received. In fact, on Friday, several other flights made emergency landings for similar issues, including the dramatic story of the Southwest Airlines flight with the giant hole in the roof. When I told the reporter that the whole thing was not really that big of a deal, she didn’t believe me. Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Travel is an adventure & this was just another adventure to add to the books!

Update: I had some photos posted below of my husband & I modeling our very attractive yellow oxygen masks. However, there are some very sick people in the world who apparently find women wearing masks to be a turn on. For our own dignity, I’ve removed those. Sorry you have to lose out because of, well, losers.