For most rational people, flight diversions are a terrible inconvenience that can jeopardize an entire business trip or vacation. On the contrary, a strange few including myself actually enjoy flight diversions because they often create unique routes that would never make a real flight schedule. This morning I was unfortunate fortunate enough to be on a diverted flight that allowed Southwest to experiment with a new “Avoid the Beltway Traffic” commuter flight in the Washington DC metro area. This flight covered a whopping 44.9 miles and at 17 minutes would hypothetically rank as one of the shortest commercial flights in the world.
I make this drive on Washington DC’s I-495 or the “Capital Parking Lot” about once a month so I can confidently say this morning’s flight was my most pleasant experience traversing the route.
Flying to SFO from SEA a few months back, we got diverted to Oakland, and took off for SFO shortly thereafter. As the crow flies, about 11 miles according to google maps. Pretty interesting flight to say the least.
I been diverted to OAK on the way to SFO before. Fun times!
Believe it or not, BWI-IAD was, at one time, a commercially scheduled flight. About 15 years ago, I flew BWI-IAD-IAH because it was 1/2 the fare of IAD-IAH.