Queue jumping fogeys and random body searches
I'm in Pittsburgh tonight after the most tiring long-winded arduous process imaginable. It takes about an hour to fly here from NYC, so why ladies and gentlemen when my flight was booked for 3.30 this afternoon am I just arriving here at 10 pm? Because domestic travel in the US of A sucks!
It all started when I got to LaGuardia airport. I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller, and in all the time I have been taking to the skies I have never been selected for a 'random' body search. So it is fair to assume that my number would be up, it had to happen sometime. So after being ranomly body searched, I headed for my gate to board where I was told that due to a combination of over crowding and the exhorbitant fare American Airlines chose to charge me for this flight I was being upgraded to First Class. I grabbed my new boarding pass with glee, I love First Class even if it is only for an hour! As 3.30 approached I anxiously watched the clock and the desk clerk simultaneously, waiting for her to announce that we could begin boarding. At 3.25 she approached the microphone and my heart jumped with joy. Finally I would escape from the confines of LaGuardia (I spend far too much time in airports, so now they do my head in). Her announcement however dashed all my hopes, "The 3.30 flight to Pittsburgh has been cancelled due to exceptionally high winds".As I was trying to get to Pittsburgh for a WindPower conference the irony of this wasn't lost on me. I looked outside as she spoke, what on earth is this cow talking about???!! The air outside is as still and muggy as you would expect for a New York afternoon in June.
There was an immediate rush for the front desk with people falling over themselves to sort something out. I rushed up to the queue and got a reasonable spot, there were 3 people ahead of me and a million behind - they've obviously never had rush for food in a boarding school before, so they lack my skills at transporting myself across a room in the blink of an eye. As I stood there waiting my turn this sweet old lady came up to me and asked if this was the line for people trying to get to Pittsburgh. I replied in the affirmative and with that she promptly grabbed her luggage and squeezed herself into the line right in front of me. I was absolutely flabbergasted, how do I tell someone who is old enough to be my great granny to take herself to the back of the line? Evidently no one else knew the answer to that one either because besides a few exasperated sighs and moans no one said anything.
I eventually made it to the desk where I was told that they would be able to offer me the last seat on an alternative airline to Pittsburgh today (bet the people behind me wish they had spoken up now!!) however as it was US Airways, I would have to forfeit the upgrade....no more First Class.
By the time I arrived at the US Airways terminal, I was hopping mad with sheer frustration. What a waste of a Sunday afternoon, so I'm sure that when the agent at the check-in desk told me that I had been yet again been 'randomly' selected for a body search the thunderous look on my face shocked her. I finally made to my hotel room at 10pm and will have to begin this whole rigmarole agin tomorrow night in my quest to get back home. What did I take away for my experiences today?
- Blatantly senior citizens feel that they have a get out of jail free card that entitles them to randomly queue-jump, I didn't get the memo but I'm going along with it because I can't bear to be mean to a fogey.
- Clearly my body was looking particularly alluring today or the female security guards there must love me, there is no other explanation for 2 'random' body searches in 2 hours. Well there is, but I'm not really in the mood to open that can of worms.
And so from Pittsburgh I bid you, Goodnight and Good Luck.
It all started when I got to LaGuardia airport. I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller, and in all the time I have been taking to the skies I have never been selected for a 'random' body search. So it is fair to assume that my number would be up, it had to happen sometime. So after being ranomly body searched, I headed for my gate to board where I was told that due to a combination of over crowding and the exhorbitant fare American Airlines chose to charge me for this flight I was being upgraded to First Class. I grabbed my new boarding pass with glee, I love First Class even if it is only for an hour! As 3.30 approached I anxiously watched the clock and the desk clerk simultaneously, waiting for her to announce that we could begin boarding. At 3.25 she approached the microphone and my heart jumped with joy. Finally I would escape from the confines of LaGuardia (I spend far too much time in airports, so now they do my head in). Her announcement however dashed all my hopes, "The 3.30 flight to Pittsburgh has been cancelled due to exceptionally high winds".As I was trying to get to Pittsburgh for a WindPower conference the irony of this wasn't lost on me. I looked outside as she spoke, what on earth is this cow talking about???!! The air outside is as still and muggy as you would expect for a New York afternoon in June.
There was an immediate rush for the front desk with people falling over themselves to sort something out. I rushed up to the queue and got a reasonable spot, there were 3 people ahead of me and a million behind - they've obviously never had rush for food in a boarding school before, so they lack my skills at transporting myself across a room in the blink of an eye. As I stood there waiting my turn this sweet old lady came up to me and asked if this was the line for people trying to get to Pittsburgh. I replied in the affirmative and with that she promptly grabbed her luggage and squeezed herself into the line right in front of me. I was absolutely flabbergasted, how do I tell someone who is old enough to be my great granny to take herself to the back of the line? Evidently no one else knew the answer to that one either because besides a few exasperated sighs and moans no one said anything.
I eventually made it to the desk where I was told that they would be able to offer me the last seat on an alternative airline to Pittsburgh today (bet the people behind me wish they had spoken up now!!) however as it was US Airways, I would have to forfeit the upgrade....no more First Class.
By the time I arrived at the US Airways terminal, I was hopping mad with sheer frustration. What a waste of a Sunday afternoon, so I'm sure that when the agent at the check-in desk told me that I had been yet again been 'randomly' selected for a body search the thunderous look on my face shocked her. I finally made to my hotel room at 10pm and will have to begin this whole rigmarole agin tomorrow night in my quest to get back home. What did I take away for my experiences today?
- Blatantly senior citizens feel that they have a get out of jail free card that entitles them to randomly queue-jump, I didn't get the memo but I'm going along with it because I can't bear to be mean to a fogey.
- Clearly my body was looking particularly alluring today or the female security guards there must love me, there is no other explanation for 2 'random' body searches in 2 hours. Well there is, but I'm not really in the mood to open that can of worms.
And so from Pittsburgh I bid you, Goodnight and Good Luck.
posted by Monef at 10:09 PM
8 Comments:
I hear ya with the fogeys...but what can we do, we've been brought up right so we can't tell them off....just silently rage at them.
And when I'm a fogey? I'm going to milk that tag sooooooooo much! hehehhe
@keji - you know dis...i can't wait for my turn to just innocently slide into queues all over the place heheh
You girls need to take a trip to a Polish post office - those grandmas have PERFECTED that art. The elbows are held at just the right angle and the innocent facial expressions stop you mid-protest!
lol! transportation across time and space is a vital skill. loved boarding skool.
ageist >:(
@obi - i'm surprised that no one else has noaned at my ageism, it shocks me myself. Lets just say that I am in awe of how it is unversally acknowledged by elderly women worldwide. Not the men...just the women, that they can jump every queue without even saying anything...i give them props.
@becca - sounds lie a job for the old camcorder, a day of observing the polish grandmas as they get down to business at the post office. I could learn a lot from them!!!
From Sam Waltz in Wilmington, DE, re your US Airways experience in Baggage Handling, my wife has been on the phone tonight over 1 hour with US Airways and more than 1 hour this AM. It's unbelieveable.
And this heartache is coming because -- even as frequent fliers including US Airways' Dividend Miles Gold Preferred -- when US Airways was overbooked Mon night 5 June 2006 from ATL Hartsfield to PHL, and we had some flexibility, we offered to help them out, accept the Voluntary Denied Boarding compensation, and take the next flight.
Long story short, the AirTran flight they put us on arrived in PHL after US Airways had closed its Baggage Service offices. Not only were we not able to find our Checked Luggage via US Airways, we could not find a "live person" from US Airways who could help us out.
We came home to Delaware without our luggage, and, when Sandi called back today, she was told we should have filed a Luggage Form last night (how, I don't know, via Telepathy???). In her calls, more than 2 today, she's been told yes, US Airways has our luggage, no, US Airways does not have our luggage, who knows, who cares, and are you people stupid?, you should have filed a Lost Luggage Form (I guess while we were in MidAir on AirTran, helping out US Airways by volunteering!)
Since it renamed itself from Allegheny Airlines (Agony Airlines) and mastered the "Cattle Car Approach to Flying," it's taken out any of the pleasure / anticipation, but just being so badly treated when we had offered to help US Airways is just despicable.
From Sam Waltz in Wilmington, DE, re your US Airways experience in Baggage Handling, my wife has been on the phone tonight over 1 hour with US Airways and more than 1 hour this AM. It's unbelieveable.
And this heartache is coming because -- even as frequent fliers including US Airways' Dividend Miles Gold Preferred -- when US Airways was overbooked Mon night 5 June 2006 from ATL Hartsfield to PHL, and we had some flexibility, we offered to help them out, accept the Voluntary Denied Boarding compensation, and take the next flight.
Long story short, the AirTran flight they put us on arrived in PHL after US Airways had closed its Baggage Service offices. Not only were we not able to find our Checked Luggage via US Airways, we could not find a "live person" from US Airways who could help us out.
We came home to Delaware without our luggage, and, when Sandi called back today, she was told we should have filed a Luggage Form last night (how, I don't know, via Telepathy???). In her calls, more than 2 today, she's been told yes, US Airways has our luggage, no, US Airways does not have our luggage, who knows, who cares, and are you people stupid?, you should have filed a Lost Luggage Form (I guess while we were in MidAir on AirTran, helping out US Airways by volunteering!)
Since it renamed itself from Allegheny Airlines (Agony Airlines) and mastered the "Cattle Car Approach to Flying," it's taken out any of the pleasure / anticipation, but just being so badly treated when we had offered to help US Airways is just despicable.
heehee..dodgy looking chick! =P
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