Greetings from Atlanta! The pilot says there is no power at Hartsfield. No plane can arrive at a gate and no plane can depart. So we wait! 
The Delta in-flight entertainment has just been shut off, right before the conclusion of You've Got Mail (it's ok I know what happens)
Update: in-flight entertainment has been restored. Going for the Nora Ephron double feature with When Harry Met Sally.
Pilot just came on overhead: "There's no updates at all... Novodg is talking to us at all saying when that might be restored."
Pilot just came on overhead: "There's no updates at all... Novodg is talking to us at all saying when that might be restored."
The very friendly flight attendants are distributing free headsets for everyone
"Just an update to let you know we're still thinking about you back there," pilot says. He says a power main was cut and the backup generator didn't work. A couple flights landed behind us but no one else is landing. 🤷♀️
Also Carrie Fisher is so terrific in this movie
Update: The latest our pilot has heard from air traffic is that the power is still off in the terminal but they're starting to take airplanes to gates that they were scheduled for of their gate is open and take people off the planes with stairs
The pilot says we are still a "long, long time from getting to a gate" and "I don't know what happens after that... if the terminals dark and we get off the airplane and there's no power I'm not sure exactly what that means."
Everyone on the plane - so far - is pretty calm and patient. They've begun another round of beverage service.
Pilot says the dispatchers think the power will "possibly be back on in an hour or two." "We're just toughing it out here, seeing how long this is going to take."
Pilot is walking around. Says we have 1-2 more hours - slow because there are only 5 sets of stairs and dozens of planes to unload. And they're not sure where they'll take us once we're off. He also says there are people stuck inside the airport's TRAM.
"It's hard to see how this ends," the lady next to me says
Hearing there were 92 planes stuck on the tarmac, and as of now, 68 are still needing to be deplaned.
Pilot says "it will be quite a while," before we're able to deplane, "at least two hours." He also said he doesn't know what they're doing with people once they deplane them.
"Probably take a number of days before everything gets back to normal," he says.
"Probably take a number of days before everything gets back to normal," he says.
Pilot also told some of the folks a few aisles up that there's enough fuel on the plane to sustain power on the tarmac for 3-4 days -- but not enough to actually fly to a different airport.
Reeeally glad this @CNNnewsroom hit was via phone
ALSO I'm no publicist but this would be a GREAT branding opportunity. Lookin at you @dasaniwater @dominos (also seriously can I eat this year old almond butter in my backpack?)
So I guess the five-hour point is where my patience runs out. Lady next to me just dropped an open bottle of lotion all over my pants and jacket. 😬
Pilot says POWER IS BACK in terminals F and E!!! As my colleagues have been reporting, the root cause was a fire. We are making progress (slowly) toward eventually getting off this plane, more than 5 hours later.
To be clear, we still aren't moving. But cause for hope that we may eventually get off of this plane
I can't overemphasize how exceedingly patient my fellow passengers have been - esp the young ones. And crew/pilot have been GREAT. But we have also all now been on this full @Delta plane since we boarded at 11:45 am and there hasn't been food or water since late afternoon.
Hearing there are still 16 planes full of people ahead of us
Pilot, just now: "I still think we're quite a ways from getting deplaned... I certainly thought it'd be taken care of by now... not really sure how long it's gonna take for us to get there." Still no food/water. Toilets have been dumped so won't overflow. We passed 6-hour mark.
It's also totally unclear what happens to us once we actually get off - @hertz has promised me a rental car, but even if they're waiting for me, the rental car shuttle isn't running. And is there any food when we do get there?
There is a gate waiting for us! We are being instructed to take our seats and fasten our seatbelts... applause from the plane when the pilot comes on the intercom
FALSE ALARM: The fire marshal says nobody can go into the terminal so we have to stay on the plane. Pilot going outside to investigate. OMG.
So everyone's still calm. Mostly.
I have a ton of video, will post later, but low cell service here. I am OFF the plane. Hartsfield looks like a war zone. People sleeping on the floor, fighting mostly civilly over outlets, elderly people and small children struggling with stairs. (More)
The most frustrating part is that in my walk across two terminals, it was totally unclear who, if anyone, was in charge. There was no one to tell us how or where to exit. Law enforcement presence only after I had gotten near the exit.
It is SWELTERING inside the airport. No water or fThere are people sleeping on baggage claim belts. The line for delta support is VERY long.
The promised land
The deplaning
The good news is that @hertz hooked me up with a Range Rover and I am three hours from my destination. The bad news is all of the above, plus I have a lot of lotion on my shoe, and the QT I just stopped at has stopped serving food for the night.
2:40 am: HOME 💕
