March

Don't Fly Angry!

Friday, March 28, 2008 12:00 AM (permalink)

Last week was a pretty lousy one for air travel. I took off in the southeast U.S. in some weather that can only be described as "biblical," landed in fog and snow in Zurich, and then ended my week trapped in Toronto after a massive snowstorm pretty much closed the airport on Saturday afternoon.

When I returned to the Toronto airport Sunday morning, I was greeted with a 2.5 hour wait just to check my bag! Luckily I had already bought a new ticket on my own; had I actually had to fix my cancelled flight with a gate agent I might well be shopping for houses in Toronto. I was struck by just how furious so many people were. Clearly there was nothing the airport folks could do--not only were they trying to squeeze two days' worth of flights into one (and, actually, many people didn't get out until Tuesday!), it was also the start of Toronto's school break, which dramatically increased the volume of vacationing air travelers.

The line was obscene, I grant you, and there was no escaping it. I suppose I was lucky in that I was traveling alone (and not with my 3-year old), but I took it as an opoprtunity to catch up on a lot of podcasts, which was pretty easy to do standing in line for almost 3 hours. There were a lot of people, though, who were just getting all Neanderthal on the poor, harried Air Canada employees, and to their credit, I never saw one lose their cool. I am sure some did, but under what looked to me to be extreme duress, they performed admirably. Sure, my sunny disposition was aided by the fact that I was on the first non-stop outta there on Sunday morning, and not stuck at the airport hotel for an extra day or two, but I can tell you from experience that it just never pays to lose your cool--it's bad for your health, and DEFINITELY won't get you home any quicker.

Zurich, View From The Plane

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:35 AM (permalink)