Wednesday. That was it. The single busiest travel day of the year. According to various travel industry hacks, there were more people making the effort to move by plane, train, automobiles and even boats, than have done so in a while.
The reasons behind it all? Well, you could go for the easy one. The Thanksgiving holiday, and more people going home to be with family and friends than any other day of the year. I was one of those.
Or you could embrace the middle of the road. With the election over, terrorist fears seemingly reduced, and the usual pre-holiday drop in gas prices, folks decided it was time to make one last venture forth from their caves before settling in for the hopefully long winter.
If that didn’t leave you satisfied, you could go for the full plate and say that it was the thing to do. Traditional dictates, homing instincts, the search for Mom’s big fluffy turkey dinner (Sorry…) or just plain, “We do what we must.”
Anyway you sliced it, more of us were out and about than we likely care to admit. Yes, there were the required members of the ABCIJ of NA (that’s the Association of Brats, Children, Infants and Juveniles of North America – The largest screaming brats union. Required by law to be aboard every plane, train and automobile!) doing their holiday best to keep travel interesting. And just how many bad lattes were foisted on unsuspecting travelers by surly baristas how would rather have been at home, safe from you anyway? Or how many customer service reps delighted at hearing for the thirty-second time, just how important it was that you be there to see dear old uncle Fred and Aunt Edna one last time, and how could you have overbooked this usually empty flight from Abilene to Youngstown, and why is there a four-hour delay for bad weather when I watched the Weather Channel only this morning and it said that there would be clear sailing all the way, and what kind of compensation are you going to give me for all of this inconvenience, and how am I going to get there?
To use the best quote I ever heard for a customer service request, “With great difficulty.”
Now that’s an answer I can imagine getting more use all the time.
For example, imagine your favorite Disney dweeb asking a Cast Member how they could ride Space Mountain at Disneyland right now? Or how can we get a seat right down front for the showing of Fantasmic that begins in ten minutes? How can I buy the last pin of that special edition of 100 that weren’t snapped up by the pin sharks as soon as the Park opened on Sunday morning (the day for new pin releases)? How can I get a table right now at the Storytellers Café in the middle of the dinner hour?
Perhaps, “How will we ever be able to read the final chapter in Jim Hill’s “Light Magic” story?
“With great difficulty.”
Works for me!
Wandering about the terminal, waiting for your baggage to reappear? Why not make a game spotting those Airport Locator Codes? Just like to the old license plate game, the winner can be the one who sees the most unique one or the one farthest from where you are.
Let’s see… YKM? ADQ? TVC? RAP? MDH? ESF?
I know the TSA hires some interesting screeners, but…
For those keeping score, here are the answers:
YKM is Yakima, Washington. ADQ is Kodiak, Alaska. TVC is Traverse City, Michigan. RAP is Rapid City, South Dakota. MDH is Carbondale, Illinois. ESF is Alexandria, Virginia.
Check the link for the full database. Double points for International codes!
“Are we there yet?”
I’ve been a fan of BBC’s “Airport” for a while, and usually watch it on Discovery Wings. And now A&E’s “Airline” with the travails of Southwest’s passengers and staff can be downright hilarious! Some people just turn stupid when the camera appears. And that’s on both sides of the counter.
The most amusing one I’ve seen on “Airline” is the continuing parade of passengers who are turned away or denied boarding for having had too much to drink. I’m sure anyone who has traveled by air has encountered delays at one point or another. Weather, aircraft mechanical issues, crew shortages – you name it. Planes get delayed. So? What do airports have for passengers to pass the time? Bars. And what is the main product served at these bars? Not coffee. Alcohol.
So, the longer the delay, the more opportunities to consume that favorite drink. Beer, wine, mixed drink, etc. Ever heard the phrase, “Instant idiot, just add alcohol”? Well, that’s the result you get when you mixed a mildly annoyed airline passenger and alcohol. Especially when the delays get longer and longer and the line of empty glasses grows exponentially.
But do airports stop selling booze? Nope. If anything, they seem to have concessionaires who add more opportunities for sales by increasing the number of locations in the terminal.
And this kind of experience isn’t limited to the planes, either. In 1981, I traveled from Salt Lake City back to the Bay Area aboard Amtrak’s “San Francisco Zephyr” (now known as the “California Zephyr”). There was one woman who had boarded in Wyoming and gone straight to the lounge car where she bought one drink after another (or so I’m told). When the train left Salt Lake, the lounge closed and she was escorted to her seat (in the same coach I was riding) by the conductor. For the next two hours, she proceeded to be extremely vocal and rude about it. If one of the train crew members or a passenger walked past her seat, she let loose. If the train bumped or lurched, she screamed about it. Finally she passed out, and we all were able to get a bit of sleep.
And as soon as she woke up, right back to the lounge where it started all over again. She got off the train that afternoon at the same stop I did, much to the relief of the train crew and the remaining passengers. All I could feel was pity for the folks who met her trackside. That must have been an interesting car ride home. Now, I know that Amtrak crews are far less tolerant today, and won’t hesitate to call local authorities to have a problem passenger removed from the train.
Back to “Airline”, on a few episodes they’ve shown passengers out of control in more than just alcohol induced ways. I give the folks at Southwest major credit for doing their best in dealing with some of the clods that make it on television. I would guess that there are even better stories we didn’t get to see.
The ride home is usually a bit less hectic as folks tend to travel on the days after Thanksgiving in a bit more spread out pattern. Some can’t wait to get away after spending the big day with the whole family. Others have to hit the malls for those sales, bright and early! Six? No that’s too late! Some took advantage of the lower fares by coming home Monday or Tuesday, even.
Yet when asked, “Sure!” They’ll be back again next year to do it all over again, or better yet, next month for Christmas! Oh, the pain…
“Are we there yet?”
Next week! A very special treat for Jim Hill Media readers. Something you absolutely will not find anywhere else, and that you will not want to miss!
Thanks again to everyone for your support of the American Red Cross. At this time of the year, there are far too many people in need of the help that the Red Cross is there to provide. You make that effort easier, and I personally thank you for helping as much as you can.