On the last flight into BOS yesterday we thought we were going to get lucky...but then not so much. Standard clearance from RKD to BOS is
BOS D ENE V167 SCUPP D 10k 16 in 10
Most of the time we get halfway to ENE (Kenebunk) and they give us a 025ish heading to intercept the 082 radial into BOS. That takes us out over the ocean a ways and brings us in in a perfect spot to be vectored for the ILS 27, 22L, or 4R or the visual approaches to 22R, 4L, or 32. If we get that turn, we (almost always) know that we're going to get in without a delay. Yesterday, however, we were a half a dot from intercepting the 082 into BOS when they gave us a 110 degree left turn. Never a good sign. Especially not when accompanied with the phrase "Cleared to..." and something other than an airport name. "Cleared to the SCUPP intersection, hold east as published, expect further clearance 1845 [15 mins after we were due into the gate], time now 1818. Speed is your discretion, ten mile legs approved."
Our EFC time turned into an update time. Twice. We ended up turning circles until we were re cleared to BOS at 1932. In the hold at 9,000, the OAT was -5 (strong inversion last night) and we planted right in the middle of a cloud. With the anti/deice running full blast all the way down to short final we had about an inch of clear ice under a thin layer of rime covering most of our leading surfaces (the boots did almost nothing for the clear ice in quite a few spots). There were 5 other planes on our TCAS holding at the same time...I can't imagine how many more there were out of the range of the TCAS. I also can't imagine how much faster a 10 mile leg would go in a Boeing or Airbus!