What I learned on my weekend adventure

May 2, 2006

I’m finally back at my desk, about 40 hours later than I was supposed to be. I can say with considerable confidence, however, that I’ve learned several important things.

First, Michael J.W. Stickings from The Reaction came through for me in a huge way. I’m not surprised his guest posts were terrific, because I’ve long appreciated the quality of his work, but I am surprised at his willingness to go above and beyond to help me out. Many thanks to Michael for filling in — for a longer stint than he signed up for.

Second, when there are four open security lines, and three are reserved for first-class travelers, leaving one for the masses — on a Sunday afternoon — you really do feel like you’re stuck in a Dickens novel.

Third, when United Airlines outsourced its customer service teams, it was a really, really bad idea.

And fourth, the moral of the story is … don’t travel. It’s unpleasant.

I know everyone has their own travel horror stories, so I’ll spare you the details. I will simply say that I’m glad to be back. Today should be a fairly normal day, posting wise, though I’m still a little groggy and the typos should be plentiful. And as for every email since Friday afternoon, I’ve received and read them all, but it may be a little longer than usual before I get to those replies. My apologies, in advance, for the delays.

And now, back to the news….

Welcome back, CB.

The trouble with travel is the same as with everything else in our once-great society: the bosses have us scrambling to see whether we’ll get by with less in our pockets and more in theirs. How much – or little – will we tolerate in order the obscenely rich to become still richer?

  • Don’t say that… I’m going home to Australia in five weeks – on United.

  • The airlines have made everyone “speical” so no one really is. Unfortunately, it also means that those who weren’t made to feel “special” get it even worse.

  • CP. A little trick I picked up traveling. They don’t actually check to see if you are in first class for those lines. I have never been asked, but should they, my reply would be that my assistant booked the travel and I thought I was flying first/business class.

  • I can’t decide if this stikes down or reinforces my theory about Carpetbagger’s mysterious absence. I’ve been thinking that CB, ala “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” may be a humble political blogger by day and a hired CIA hit man at night. Does anyone know if there are any links between the CB and Valerie Plame?

    More seriously though; I enjoyed Micheal’s writings and have found another writer who I believe makes some very astute political observations. So hopefully this worked out well for everyone, Michael J.W. Stickings got more exposure, I learned some new things, and the CB family returned home safe and sound.

  • angry young man,

    I agree. Long ago I realized that flying from the Pacific Northwest to the SF Bay Area – in spite of the slight flight time involved – basically used up a day (getting to/from the airports, waiting for flights, recovering from doing something I have come to detest – e.g., sharing cramped quarterswith no amenties anymore). The train trip is 24 hours and is, ordinarily, a pleasant experience from beginning to end. The train trip enables you to “steal” a number of hours for yourself – reading, listening to music, playng cards, dozing, lookiing at the scenery (much of which can only be seen from the train), meeting interesting people over dinner, etc.

  • I left my hotel in Negril at 9:00 am and arrived at my front door in Brooklyn at 8:00 pm. The flight time from Jamaica to JFK is three hours. It’s been said before, but traveling sucks.

  • I never minded the special treatment for First & Business Class when it was a purely private affair. Now that my tax dollars pay for it, however, I bridle at the government-enforced class distinction.

  • Kathy,
    Too bad your not going on Quantas, they know how to run a railroad.. er airline.
    We were stuck in Sydney Airport for two hours last month in a power outage, and we were still treated like human beings. They passed out cookies, water and juice in the fist hour and kept telling us when we could expect to see the power back on. When we got on the airplane they passed out hot towels to freshen-up with before we even took off! And yes, we were flying steerage class.
    I could go on and on.
    If you have to use Alaska airlines, well don’t, just walk.

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