My longest flight, now that I think about it, was Bellingham to San Diego. Was supposed to be about 2 1/2 hours, but instead the runway at San Diego was fogged in, so we circled until nearly out of fuel and then were diverted to Palm Springs. I didn't know this, but I do now: You can't just land a plane at an airport and unload. These transactions are negotiated in advance, so a surprise landing is kind of a big deal. We sat on the runway for two hours waiting for an agent from the airline to meet with the an agent for the airport to negotiate for fuel. Then, once fueled, there were more negotiations to figure out if we could get off the plane. After hour three--with a six year old and an eight year old to entertain in an aluminum tube--they let us get out and explore the now closed airport. No food available, no booze available. Couldn't rent a car and just drive the couple hours to San Diego, as the rental car desks were closed and the airline hadn't negotiated for baggage handlers to unload the plane.
After about an hour, it was back on the plane. The gate attendants told us they were packing it in and flying us to Vegas for the night. The pilot told us he was going to take one more shot at San Diego, which he did. Successfully.
Took off from Bellingham at some time around noon, landed in San Diego after 11:00. /csb