Adventures in Flying
WRITTEN @ 3:30 pm on 6/25/2007:
For the first time since I started SHU, I've experienced such entertaining traveling adventures that they simply warrant an entry of their own, separate from the residency update itself.
Go back to June 19th. Knoxville proves to be stuck in the twilight zone when I arrive at NWA's check in. I print out my boarding passes and place my luggage on the scale, and I'm told to take my luggage to this roped section with TSA signs all over. Apparently, this is now standard policy, taking your luggage to a new section and leaving it there, all by itself, until a TSA employee can come pick it up. No, really. The NWA employee assured me this was what I was supposed to do. Fine. I leave my luggage there, linger to see if anyone will pick it up, and when no one does, and I start looking a little inconspicuous just standing there, I meander over to the gift shop, which has a perfect view of this section. I linger THERE until someone official finally takes my luggage. Granted, this took about five minutes, but still...I don't like leaving my stuff unguarded, such as it is.
So I make it through security, then wander up to my gate. Everything's fine, until I hear a snatch that Pinnacle policy (whoever owns the airport, maybe?) now considers PURSES as an additional BAG, and since one is not able to take two carry-on bags on the plane, I'm going to have to consolidate or check something. Luckily, I'm able to stuff my purse in my backpack, even though NWA's policy considers purses as PERSONAL items and therefore may be carried on in addition to a bag.
Make it to Memphis, where I learn my 8:30 cst flight to Pittsburgh has been delayed till about 10:30. But there's some concern if even that's going to happen, due to weather and talk among passengers who were kicked off the Pittsburgh flight the night before. Much stress abounds, but fortunately, we leave at 10:30 (with the same, silly, purse-in-backpack procedure). I make it to Pittsburgh two hours later than planned, and this is not a disaster because we'd planned on staying at the airport until everyone arrived anyway, so things were good. And it turned out, I wasn't the only one delayed. There were delays and lost luggage, but all was remedied before snagging a rental car and trekking up to Greensburg.
Now, fast forward to June 24th. Michele and I are discussing the next day's plans, as we didn't need to be at the airport until about 3, as I didn't fly out until 5 and she didn't fly out until 6. Keep in mind it's the last day of residency and we're both tired, and we're packing, etc. It occurred to me that I never got NWA's little email reminder to check in 24 hours before my flight. And Michele's checking weather and her flight status online, to make sure everything's cool. I decide to do the same, because I had a sneaking suspicion that if I didn't, I'd be kicking myself later.
I was right: a check on my flight status on NWA.com reveals my 5:00 pm flight out of Pittsburgh had been CANCELED. That's right, CANCELED. Canceled without ANY notification, email, or anything to let me know I had to make other plans. Imagine with me, if you will, the absolute FURY I would've been in had I arrived at the airport at 3, like I was supposed to, to find out I didn't have a flight and would likely have to spend a night in Pittsburgh while NWA figured out how to get me home. Got that? Good.
As it stood, I sat at the desk in a pure, boiling fury. After double-checking to make sure I wasn't imagining things or looking at the wrong flight, I call the NWA reservation line to figure out what the hell's going on. I'm on hold for about 20 minutes, and then a nice, apologetic gentleman transfers my booking to Continental airlines with me leaving at 1:30 and arriving in Knoxville at 6:00, with a layover in Cleveland (which is where I am while I type this). I make sure there's no charge, say okay, and then apologize profusely to Michele after I hang up, since my change means she'll be at the airport all afternoon.
The drive to the airport goes well. We took an alternate route because of rumored detours in Pittsburgh, and we got to the airport in good time. I got my tickets, got a voucher from NWA for $250 off my next flight (which may be a sign, but for what, I won't say), and make my way to security.
Where I'm directed to the "special" security section. They must check me for explosives by making me walk through this gate thingie that blows air at me, then they use a wand to dig around in my carry-on baggage to check for other explosive devices (I suspect my checked luggage will go through the same treatment. I wonder what they'll make of the Play-Doh?). I get the impression that they do this for everyone who's flight is canceled and their reservations transferred (which means they did this a LOT, because the NWA rep from the night before told be a LOT of flights were canceled, and the nice lady at the counter who gave me my voucher said it had something to do with not enough crews which made the flights time out, or some similar, suspicious PR line). Anyway, annoying but entertaining part of my journey.
Make it to my gate, and realize I'm supposed to check in there as well to get my seat assignment. But no reps are at the podiums, which means I wait, and wait, and wait, terrified I won't fly out after all. But finally, 30 minutes before the flight's due to take off, reps show up and I take care of my seating dilemma.
So all is well, until I get on the plane, which is the SMALLEST puddle-jumper I've ever been on. Two seats per row, that's it. No overhead storage, no flight attendants, nothing. Quite possibly the scariest plane I've been on, and since I was in the front seat, I had a nice view of the cabin, with all the nifty gages and levers and buttons and lights, and... you get the point. Fortunately, it was a short flight, and I did get to see out the "windshield" of the plane while we landed, which was cool.
I'm still at Cleveland, waiting for my flight to Knoxville. All is well, and I have a slice of Sbarro cheese pizza in my belly, a Coke to sip on, and Ghirardelli chocolate caramel square to nibble on. The flight ahead of me is to Manchester, NH, which gave me a bit of a melancholy start, wishing I could be there, soaking in the Odyssey experience once again. I've listened to a man let out great big snores beside me, and cursed the lack of free wifi.
Hopefully, this is the end of my adventures. I hope to make it to Knoxville in one piece, with my luggage in tact, and no more random problems. And just to note, Pittsburgh doesn't seem to have a problem with purses. I wonder if Cleveland will?
WRITTEN @ 2:00 on 6/26/2007:
All went well. Myself and my luggage are all in one piece. Thank god...
For the first time since I started SHU, I've experienced such entertaining traveling adventures that they simply warrant an entry of their own, separate from the residency update itself.
Go back to June 19th. Knoxville proves to be stuck in the twilight zone when I arrive at NWA's check in. I print out my boarding passes and place my luggage on the scale, and I'm told to take my luggage to this roped section with TSA signs all over. Apparently, this is now standard policy, taking your luggage to a new section and leaving it there, all by itself, until a TSA employee can come pick it up. No, really. The NWA employee assured me this was what I was supposed to do. Fine. I leave my luggage there, linger to see if anyone will pick it up, and when no one does, and I start looking a little inconspicuous just standing there, I meander over to the gift shop, which has a perfect view of this section. I linger THERE until someone official finally takes my luggage. Granted, this took about five minutes, but still...I don't like leaving my stuff unguarded, such as it is.
So I make it through security, then wander up to my gate. Everything's fine, until I hear a snatch that Pinnacle policy (whoever owns the airport, maybe?) now considers PURSES as an additional BAG, and since one is not able to take two carry-on bags on the plane, I'm going to have to consolidate or check something. Luckily, I'm able to stuff my purse in my backpack, even though NWA's policy considers purses as PERSONAL items and therefore may be carried on in addition to a bag.
Make it to Memphis, where I learn my 8:30 cst flight to Pittsburgh has been delayed till about 10:30. But there's some concern if even that's going to happen, due to weather and talk among passengers who were kicked off the Pittsburgh flight the night before. Much stress abounds, but fortunately, we leave at 10:30 (with the same, silly, purse-in-backpack procedure). I make it to Pittsburgh two hours later than planned, and this is not a disaster because we'd planned on staying at the airport until everyone arrived anyway, so things were good. And it turned out, I wasn't the only one delayed. There were delays and lost luggage, but all was remedied before snagging a rental car and trekking up to Greensburg.
Now, fast forward to June 24th. Michele and I are discussing the next day's plans, as we didn't need to be at the airport until about 3, as I didn't fly out until 5 and she didn't fly out until 6. Keep in mind it's the last day of residency and we're both tired, and we're packing, etc. It occurred to me that I never got NWA's little email reminder to check in 24 hours before my flight. And Michele's checking weather and her flight status online, to make sure everything's cool. I decide to do the same, because I had a sneaking suspicion that if I didn't, I'd be kicking myself later.
I was right: a check on my flight status on NWA.com reveals my 5:00 pm flight out of Pittsburgh had been CANCELED. That's right, CANCELED. Canceled without ANY notification, email, or anything to let me know I had to make other plans. Imagine with me, if you will, the absolute FURY I would've been in had I arrived at the airport at 3, like I was supposed to, to find out I didn't have a flight and would likely have to spend a night in Pittsburgh while NWA figured out how to get me home. Got that? Good.
As it stood, I sat at the desk in a pure, boiling fury. After double-checking to make sure I wasn't imagining things or looking at the wrong flight, I call the NWA reservation line to figure out what the hell's going on. I'm on hold for about 20 minutes, and then a nice, apologetic gentleman transfers my booking to Continental airlines with me leaving at 1:30 and arriving in Knoxville at 6:00, with a layover in Cleveland (which is where I am while I type this). I make sure there's no charge, say okay, and then apologize profusely to Michele after I hang up, since my change means she'll be at the airport all afternoon.
The drive to the airport goes well. We took an alternate route because of rumored detours in Pittsburgh, and we got to the airport in good time. I got my tickets, got a voucher from NWA for $250 off my next flight (which may be a sign, but for what, I won't say), and make my way to security.
Where I'm directed to the "special" security section. They must check me for explosives by making me walk through this gate thingie that blows air at me, then they use a wand to dig around in my carry-on baggage to check for other explosive devices (I suspect my checked luggage will go through the same treatment. I wonder what they'll make of the Play-Doh?). I get the impression that they do this for everyone who's flight is canceled and their reservations transferred (which means they did this a LOT, because the NWA rep from the night before told be a LOT of flights were canceled, and the nice lady at the counter who gave me my voucher said it had something to do with not enough crews which made the flights time out, or some similar, suspicious PR line). Anyway, annoying but entertaining part of my journey.
Make it to my gate, and realize I'm supposed to check in there as well to get my seat assignment. But no reps are at the podiums, which means I wait, and wait, and wait, terrified I won't fly out after all. But finally, 30 minutes before the flight's due to take off, reps show up and I take care of my seating dilemma.
So all is well, until I get on the plane, which is the SMALLEST puddle-jumper I've ever been on. Two seats per row, that's it. No overhead storage, no flight attendants, nothing. Quite possibly the scariest plane I've been on, and since I was in the front seat, I had a nice view of the cabin, with all the nifty gages and levers and buttons and lights, and... you get the point. Fortunately, it was a short flight, and I did get to see out the "windshield" of the plane while we landed, which was cool.
I'm still at Cleveland, waiting for my flight to Knoxville. All is well, and I have a slice of Sbarro cheese pizza in my belly, a Coke to sip on, and Ghirardelli chocolate caramel square to nibble on. The flight ahead of me is to Manchester, NH, which gave me a bit of a melancholy start, wishing I could be there, soaking in the Odyssey experience once again. I've listened to a man let out great big snores beside me, and cursed the lack of free wifi.
Hopefully, this is the end of my adventures. I hope to make it to Knoxville in one piece, with my luggage in tact, and no more random problems. And just to note, Pittsburgh doesn't seem to have a problem with purses. I wonder if Cleveland will?
WRITTEN @ 2:00 on 6/26/2007:
All went well. Myself and my luggage are all in one piece. Thank god...