Adventures in Airline Travel
July 26, 2005
I wrote the following post at the start of my day, before boarding my United flight from Chicago… I’ve added an addendum, but my basic point still stands.
Travel is a complicated endevour. I love to travel and I love all of the experiences that come with it.
I’ve been to 12 countries and about 40 states (Canada, the UK, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and I’ve mostly missed only Southern states).
I’ve driven cars, vans and U-Hauls. I’ve ridden in motor homes and motor coaches. And, like yesterday, I’ve flown.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned while traveling is to always plan your trip, especially your big travel days, with as much leeway as possible. It’s much easier to go with the flow and remain calm when you know you’ve got time to spare.
Like yesterday. My Monday was a day of firsts. My first extremely delayed (or cancelled, I’ll never know now) flight. My first time on United or American Airlines. My first time in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. And my first big security check.
You see, I arrived at the airport with only two people ahead of me, but by the time I left the ticket counter, there had to be about 50. For some reason, the plane could not leave Minneapolis/St. Paul, so they delayed it and tried to re-book people as best as possible. I was given a new itinerary that would (in theory) have gotten me back to OKC two hours earlier than expected. Instead, I ended up getting here four hours later (to give some perspective, from the time I left the house in Holland to the time I pulled up to my apartment, I could have almost driven the whole way, I’d say there as about a half an hour difference).
Why did this happen? Well, the United flight was delayed b/c of sudden strong thunderstorms in Chicago. So, by the time we flew into O’Hare, my American flight had left for OKC. I was put on standby for the next flight, and was given an actual seat for the second flight. I was lucky enough to get one of three empty seats on the standby flight, but, after getting comfortable in my seat, myself and two other passengers were pulled off (b/c we were standby) b/c the luggage on the plane was overweight. So I ended up taking the second flight.
I was annoyed and slightly frustrated, but knowing that I did not have any certain time requirements for my day really helped. I could watch the stress level increase for those business travelers who had meeting schedule for the afternoon and would not be making them… and I just kinda laughed at them (inside, of course).
One more note on airlines and their revenue losses. I have never been on a domestic Northwest Airlines flight with more than five empty seats, and yet NWA says its losing millions a day. On the other hand, the United and AA flights were full of extra passengers from other airlines and missed lights, making me wonder if they always have that many empty seats. If so, it’s time for them to cut their losses and re-schedule.
All in all, the day was ok. I don’t like being in an airport that long by myself, but it helped to have a book to read and people to watch (which, Dale, means I’ll have that book review soon).
Posted by paul at July 26, 2005 03:28 PM
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