• About
  • Guest Posts!

A Life in Plastic Baggies

~ Travel adventure & absurdity

A Life in Plastic Baggies

Monthly Archives: September 2014

Misty

04 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by alifeinplasticbaggies in It's not always so bad

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Delta, LAX

Trip type: Business

Airline: Delta

Route: LAX-MSP

Last week I was back to the most dreaded of inefficient airports, LAX. My hatred is both well-documented and well-earned at this point, so it was no surprise when we spent an hour on the tarmac after arriving (on time) to find that our gate wasn’t ready. I’m honestly not even fazed any more when this happens at LAX because I just expect everything to be delayed/crazy/just short of an all-out disaster. And I am always right.

At any rate, this story is actually about my trip home which has a very happy ending. I had flown to LAX in order to drive three hours to Lake Arrowhead for a Sales/Marketing retreat (life’s tough, see below). I flew out Monday and was headed home late Thursday. Because of the drive time, I was on the last flight (before the redeye) to Minneapolis for the day at 6pm, landing just after 11pm.

I was nervous about this flight time for many reasons. For starters, it was preceded by a long drive from the mountains through rush hour traffic. In greater LA. Second, there was no room for error because if I missed the flight, I’d have to hope I could get on the redeye or stay the night (which would really louse up my carefully scheduled Friday morning in Minneapolis that included getting my hair done). Third, it was the Thursday heading into Labor Day weekend…if anything makes a bad airport worse, it’s holiday travel. Finally, and most importantly, I had been away since very early Monday morning and was dying to see my beloved tiny human (and his father).

For all my worry, everything worked out perfectly. Due to some scheduling changes with my driving partner, I ended up coming down the mountain much earlier than anticipated. With great traffic on our side, I breezed into LAX at 2pm and was through PreCheck by 2:05. After checking the flight board and seeing there was a 3pm flight to Minneapolis, I raced to the gate to see if there was any chance it wasn’t completely full. As luck would have it, there were seats available and as the agent printed out my new boarding pass, I actually got a little misty-eyed–you would have thought he built me a seat on the plane himself. He might as well have.

While LAX will probably never get off my most-loathed list, getting home three hours earlier made my day.

arrowhead big bear california

Lake Arrowhead

lake arrowhead

At your service

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by alifeinplasticbaggies in Boarding Blunders, Mingling with the Masses

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Delta, Mistaken identity

Trip type: Business

Airline: Delta

Route: MSP-ORD

Navy Pier Chicago

The ferris wheel at Navy Pier

For this story, we won’t even need to leave the gate. Headed to Chicago for a conference, I was ever so impatiently lurking around the gate while the (late-to-arrive) plane was emptying out. (This is my usual MO for boarding an aircraft because I don’t enjoy leaving anything to chance–such as whether or not there will be overhead bin space. Even though I board right away, I like to control the uncontrollable. It’s part of my charm.)

At any rate, lurking as I was, I didn’t realize just how close I had ventured to the gate area until an elderly couple got off and came up to me asking where the C Concourse was located. I pointed them in the right direction and commended myself on living up to the “Minnesota Nice” hype. I figured it was just a one-off until a middle-aged woman approached me and asked if I could get her a driver to take her to baggage claim because she had a foot injury. I told her to ask one of the nearby agents in a red vest as those are the Delta concierge staff. She thanked me and headed off toward a guy with a walkie-talkie.

Now I was a little flustered and looked up to see a man catch my eye. He laughed and said, “You’re under a monitor and these people seem to think you work for Delta.” At first I just chuckled politely because I think it’s pretty clear I wasn’t working for Delta (what with my luggage and phone and all…and no, I had left my red vest at home that day), but then he pointed above my head and I realized I was standing underneath the monitor that’s at each gate with the connecting flight information and recalled that they usually make an announcement when you pull into the gate that there will be an agent by the information screen to help. Apparently I was now that agent.

While profusely blushing, I muttered a “Thanks” to the man and stealthily scooted back a few feet. I really hope everyone else on that flight figured out where they were going…

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 788 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Luck be a lady flying through LAX
  • Becoming ‘That Family’: Adventures in Parenting and Flying
  • Is there a doctor on the flight?
  • Catch-up Vignettes II
  • Misty

Categories

  • Adventures Abroad
  • Baby on board
  • Boarding Blunders
  • Cancellation Clusters
  • Fun with Security
  • Holiday Hell
  • It's not always so bad
  • It's Terminal
  • Mingling with the Masses
  • Monday Madness
  • Not Even On a Plane
  • Quick thoughts from early flights
  • Seatmate Shenanigans
  • Sunday Fliers
  • Un-fun Up in the Air
  • With love from the Tarmac

AirTran all out disasters Babies Bella booze by request Delta hall monitoring holiday travel Intrepid E kids LAX Medical Emergency Mistaken identity Oy religion Schipol Soapbox tips TSA is my fave vacay! what rock did you come from under?

Archives

  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • A Life in Plastic Baggies
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • A Life in Plastic Baggies
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...