So I have to travel more than a fair amount for work. And since travel keeps me from my family, it's obvious that anything that keeps me from my family is NOT a good thing.
Case in point: Chicago's O'Hare Airport
I don't recall a time where I've had a pleasant experience at this airport. From the frequent flight delays (both coming in and leaving) along with an amazing shortage of electrical outlets to recharge my laptop and cell phone (and the absence of any good coffee other than Starbucks - Minneapolis has Caribou, Dunn Bros, and Starbhucks). Even the restaurants aren't much to write home about.
So I'm trying to get home from St. Louis this past Friday, and I'm delayed 5 HOURS in St. Louis because of O'Hare delays. (Ironically, while I'm delayed in St. Louis, some of the United flight crew are chatting, and most of them had requested to be based out of airports beside O'Hare since flights are always delayed.) I arrive at O'Hare with another 3 hour delay on top of the 5 hour delay. So I crap a Chicago hot dog, eat eat my supper at my gate. At 15 minutes before boarding, I go to use the restroom, and happened to walk past the flight board - only to notice that my flight is now cancelled.
I go to the United counter and stand at the end of the line that will take at least 30 minutes. Providentially, a United agent walks up to me and asks to see my boarding pass. She takes it, walks off, and comes back 10 minutes later saying that I'm on standby for the 11:15 PM flight (the last flight to Minneapolis of the day), and then hands me my boarding pass in case the flight is full: the flight would leave at 5 PM the NEXT DAY. A quick call to my folks in Chicago to make sure they stay up in case I need a place to sleep overnight is made.
I get to the gate, and it's not good. There are at least 30 people on standby, maybe more. Long story short, I get on. I arrive in Minneapolis at 1 AM, and make it home to my barely awake wife at 2 AM.
3 comments:
Good grief! On our way back from Miami in January, we spent and "momentary delay" of almost an hour sitting on the runway at O'Hare waiting for a gate to open up for us. I don't envy you with all your traveling (except the Green Bay part ;).
Yah, but they do have a Starbucks there, so it can't be all bad.
I don't fly for business but occasionally I have the option of flying for vacation. Unless time is truly of the essence, I drive. Yes, it takes longer to drive the 920 miles from my house to my parents' in Florida (including an overnight stay in between) but I still prefer driving over flying. Except the extra time it gives me at my destination I like nothing about air travel. It's a hassle to get a ride to the airport or arrange to have someone pick me up or pay for a rental car. Without a ride to the airport I pay big bucks for long term parking thus eating into the savings of whatever discount air fares I find. You have to get to the airport so far ahead of time, especially if using long term parking, that it becomes an annoyance. Then post 9/11 security squeezes out any scraps of joy left in the airport experience. If flying an airline such as Southwest which doesn't have seat assignments I feel like I'm back in grade school fighting my classmates to be at the head of the line to get a seat. Once on the plane the seats are uncomfortably small and there is no room to maneuver, especially if sitting next to anyone. I can barely even read a newspaper it's so tight. Food is not available and coffee is served lukewarm. Then there are annoying kids or babies banging your seat back, grabbing the headrest or just wailing away at nothing in particular. Forget about trying to climb over the passengers and the flight attendants packed on the almost always full planes to try to go to the bathroom while in flight. Getting off the plane you hike a mile or two to wait endlessly for your luggage hoping it made the flight with you. Then the long walk to your ride bedeviled by your heavy luggage.
Conversely, when I drive I have so much more control over the travel experience. I am much more comfortable riding in my car. I listen to satellite radio with its endless entertainment and information options. I stop whenever I please to take a break or eat. I set the pace of travel unless there is a major traffic jam (which is the one occasional downer of a car trip). I leave home or my destination to return home when I please, not when the airline dictates. I can stop on the way to visit a friend or do a little sightseeing. I can meditate without the distractions and annoyances of airline travel.
If I could I would travel by car all the time.
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