Day: January 2, 2010

I left Minneapolis, it was minus 20 F. 

I arrived in L.A., it's 60 F. 

That's an 80 degree difference.

So, I missed my flight, this morning.  Why?  Because I arrived at the airport only 1 hour and 20 minutes before my flight.  This was a mistake.   And, I admit my mistake. 

I made the mistake because on 12/28, when I flew from LA to MSP, was to all appearances an equally busy travel day, and I had zero problems and everything went very smoothly and very quickly.   I made the erroneous assumption that I'd see the same situation today, since the security situation should have, if anything, improved (given the additional time lapsed since the Christmas mess).    So I didn't check the news to see if the airport was going to clogged up, I didn't worry too much about it… I just gave myself about an hour and a half, and showed up.  I've been traveling so much, and it's all gone so smoothly, that I've become a bit cavalier.  I admit that.  I share some of the blame, yes…

But the Minneapolis airport seems profoundly mismanaged.  And United Airlines, specifically, continues to be the most horribly sucky airline I have ever dealt with. So, I will also blame United.

I got in line to check in and check my bags at 4:45.  I waited in line for 45 minutes.  None of the other airlines at the airport had such long, slow-moving lines, as far as I could tell.  There was a long line at American Airlines, but US Airways seemed almost lineless, and Northwest (AKA Delta) has so many counters that it all seemed very much under control.

Anyway, the time shown on when they actually issued my boarding pass was 5:29.   And that was after they let me cut in line because of my departure time.   But this still ended up meaning that the 45 minute wait at TSA (security check) left me too late at the gate for my 6:00 flight.

Actually, United always seems understaffed at their check-in counters, relative to my experience with other airlines (my flight out from Burbank to Minneapolis was with US Airways, and despite it being 12/28, three days after the horrible almost-disaster on Christmas day, everything went very quickly and very smoothly).

In fact, I can state unequivocally that I have NEVER had a pleasant travel experience with United Airlines, in nearly 3 decades of fairly extensive air travel, whereas my experiences with other airlines is at least 50/50 (good/bad), and there are some real winners, such that I have almost never had a bad experience with, e.g., US Airways and Korean Airlines.

There had been a time, about half a decade ago, when I was very conscientiously boycotting United because of past bad experiences, but I guess my commitment to that boycott recently wavered in the light of my last-minute need for a cheap ticket on this current trip.   But the fact of my need to boycott United Airlines has been confirmed by this morning's experience, although obviously I need to concede that my current unpleasant experience has been exacerbated by both the Minneapolis airport's apparent gross mismanagement of the holiday crowds, compared to the other airports I've been in recently, as well as the current security mess surrounding the recent terrorist attempt at Detroit.

Regardless, I am convinced that had my return flight also been with US Airways (whose check-in line was moving in a relatively breezy fashion as I gazed at it longingly this morning from my spot stuck in the United line), I would have made my flight easily this morning.  And thus, I must conclude, United Airlines is the still the worst airline in the known universe.

OK, enough of my rant.

I calmed down by sitting crosslegged on the floor, shutting my eyes, and practicing my recently acquired anapana skill.   Then I broke down, paid Boingo (another sucky company) their $7.95, and came online.  I'm on standby, now, waiting for a flight.  Who knows when I'll get to L.A.  Ah, the risks of last-minute cheap tickets.

In other news… today is a palindrome:  01022010 (or, depending how you like to write your dates, 20100102).  Cool, huh?

More later.