The Ups and Downs of Air Travel

Just minutes after Morgan found the last Easter egg yesterday morning it was time to finish packing and head off to the airport. Yes, I said airport. Those of you who know me know how much I hate flying, but this week I’ll be working out of Seattle, and flying certainly felt like the lessor of two evils when it came between that and driving 2,000 miles each way.

The last several times I’ve flown, it’s been with somebody else. That’s good because also the last several times I’ve flown, I’ve loaded up on Xanax to make it through the trip. I have found that 1 milligram of Xanax makes you not care about most of the stressors that come along with flying, and 2 milligrams make you not care about much of anything. For someone like me who only takes Advil when my back is hurting so bad I can barely walk, 2 milligrams of Xanax zonks me out for the rest of the day. That really wasn’t an option this time as I had stuff to do the minute I arrived in Seattle, so for this trip I had no companion and no drugs.

On my own and stone cold sober, I walked into the airport. It’s amazing how little attention to detail I pay when I am with other people. I checked myself in at the counter and headed off to the TSA line. One thing I found out is that being a “priority member” doesn’t mean much if the priority line at TSA isn’t open. It didn’t matter; the line moved quickly and within 10 minutes I was dumping the contents of my carry on bags into different plastic tubs. If you don’t fly frequently it’s tough to remember what needs to come out of the bags and what doesn’t. Laptops come out, iPads don’t. All metal comes out of your pockets. Your belt comes off too, but I have a pair of shorts that are one size too small that I keep so I can wear them without a belt when I fly. If you have a CPAP, that comes out too. Oh, and your jacket comes off as well. By the time I was done I had I think 5 grey tubs full of crap going through the scanner. After standing in the full body scanner for a few seconds it was back to the other side to repack my bags, put my jacket and shoes back on, and head off to my gate.

The flight from OKC to Salt Lake City was uneventful. When I landed in Salt Lake City, I did so at Gate B14. My next flight was leaving from Gate D11, and was already boarding, according to the Departures board. I walked as quickly as I could from one gate to the next and I was the last person to board my connecting flight. Whew!

Either while coming in to Salt Lake City or leaving, I snapped this picture with my phone. This is a view you don’t get while driving cross country.

Apparently that whole “please turn off your electronics” announcement is becoming more and more optional. On both legs of my trip I sat near people who all but refused to turn their iPads off during take off and landing, even after being told repeatedly by flight attendants to do so. I get it — nobody believes that their cell phone or iPad can really affect what’s going on up in the cabin anymore, but I am not willing to take that chance. In my mind, every major airline accident or incident has been caused by someone in the back row playing Angry Birds. I’m sure if there were an actual safety thread the flight attendants would be more adamant about devices being turned off, but I really hadn’t noticed such cavalier attitudes about following the rules before this trip.

While standing at the luggage carousel I was convinced that flying to Seattle had been a better choice than driving. There hadn’t been a single thing about flying that had been worse. 4 1/2 hours of being on a plane was certainly better than 3 days in the driver’s seat, that’s for sure. As I was standing there admiring just how well things had gone I realized that no more luggage was coming off the carousel.

Yes, they lost my suitcase.

From there it was off to the baggage claim counter to fill out a lost bag claim. Fortunately I had kept the little luggage sticker, which I gave to the lady at the counter. She said my bag was on the next flight and I had the option of staying at the airport for two hours or having it delivered to my hotel. I chose the latter. The people in front of me were not so lucky; they were staying about 40 minutes away from the airport, which is outside of the airport’s delivery range. They were given the option of waiting two hours for their bags or having them FedExed to their hotel and having them arrive on Tuesday.

I was given a website where I could check the status of my bag. By 6pm it had arrived in Seattle and was “on its way to the customer.” It arrived around 10pm. Even though I was only slightly inconvenienced by this I decided not to take it out on the guy who delivers the bag. Do you tip the guy who brings your bag to you after your airline lost it? I debated this decision internally but it turned out to be moot; whoever brought my bag dropped it off at the lobby counter. I got a phone call at 10pm telling me it was down there, so I threw on my shoes and went down to get it myself. In the end I decided to tip myself a few bucks for my effort.

If I get out and do anything I’ll post some pictures and write about it, but to be honest I’m expecting 12-14 hour days this week and probably won’t get out much.

4 comments to The Ups and Downs of Air Travel

  • Mom

    Karen and I flew to Hawaii out of Dallas/Fort Worth, and they lost our luggage on our return trip. We drove on home to OKC and the flew the bags in to Will Rogers and delivered them to our house late that evening. Would not have wanted to hang around Dallas until they found them!

  • Tex-Hogger

    You could have taken the train. It would have only taken 4 days to get there from OKC to SEA via CHI. Then another 4 days to return via LAX. Just think of all the scenery you could see. Granted if I was to go to the PNW via Amtrak I would have to get a bedroom on the long legs, FTW to CHI, CHI to SEA, SEA to LAX, and LAX to FTW. But included with the bedrooms are the meals.

    Our family of 4 did the San Antonio, LAX, SEA and return 8 years ago. It was actually not bad at all, and the kids had fun too. Granted it helped we carried on a complete suitcase of toys for my daughter that was 2 and we had a plethora electronic devices, and some “adult” beverages. The wost part was changing trains in LAX. Both were very, and I mean “VERY” late in arriving, and departing, but we planed for it. Anyway, if we do it again, I will plan to “stay” an extra day at the places where we have to change trains. That way we don’t have to rush to sit and wait, or have to ride a bus to make the connection that we would miss.

    Also one of the good things about living in the central part of the USA, flying to most places will only take at the most 6 hours to get there. And flying out of a “smaller” terminal such as OKC, and Austin the lines, etc. are not as long to get through check-in and TSA. But you will have to change planes, and sometimes your connection is on the other side of the “bigger” airports so you need to plan your connection times.

    Enjoy the PNW, I grew up there, so if you have any “free” time, and are looking for somethings to do I may be able to point you in the right direction.

    Tex-Hogger

  • Ben

    I’ve been on domestic flights in developing countries where people have continued to talk on their mobile at take-off. They would more often than not continue to talk until they were out of tower range. It’s surprising how long and high you can fly before that cut-off point.

    Let’s be honest, if electronics were a flight risk they wouldn’t be allowed on-board. Why would someone bother with explosives if they could just bring a plane down with a carry-on bag full of switched on electronics bought after security at the local duty-free shop?

  • Chad

    Ben is using a logic that is foreign to those that are terrified to fly. Kudos Rob for making it to Seattle on a plane. I know it couldn’t have been easy making that trip when at any moment you knew that aircraft could’ve turned into a jet propelled lawn dart.

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