Good Morning From Los Angeles

The sun is shining through high, thin clouds, as we begin our day in Los Angeles. The curtains in our hotel room are parted, so we can see plane after plane after plane on final for LAX.

When last I wrote, we were waiting to leave Baltimore. As with our first flight, I had a Southwest “A” boarding pass while Helaine and Stef had “B”s. I got on the plane first to look for three seats together. Usually, I can get close to the front with an “A”, but on this ISP-BWI-LAX-SAC flight, with many Islip passengers already seated, I could get no closer than row 15.

Who cares? A seat is a seat. We got 15 D-E-F. A couple with two small children slid into 15 A-B-C.

He started crying as the gear went up. He cried for much of the flight. As soon as the other babies on board heard him, they too began to cry.

Maybe cry isn’t the right word. They screamed as if being tortured. I can make that analogy because I was being tortured.

BWI to LAX is a long flight in a 737 with no entertainment, no food and really loud babies.

Helaine had bought me “Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time,” by Michael Craig. I started it as we took off and finished it as the lights of LA showed beneath the plane. It was good, not great.

Much of the flight was fine… until we got to the Rockies. From there until the West Coast it was rough road with the seat belt signs lit.

The ‘best’ didn’t come until we landed.

First, we sat on the runway for 10-15 minutes. They were waiting for the last possible available gate (and found it).

Baggage claim was like a suburb of Hell! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Southwest with a facility like this. There were two baggage carousels and an announcement saying flight numbers would be posted above each. Both monitors were blank.

After a while a voice came on the PA saying the bag would come where the bags would come – honest. Don’t ask us – honest. Just keep looking – honest.

The curb area at LAX was disorganize chaos. Cars, buses and vans were darting in and out. Horns honked. We made our way to the “RED” sign, where hotel courtesy vans stopped.

The hotel was just a few minutes away, and was very nice. Again, we had booked on Hotwire.com and gotten what seemed like a good deal.

This Westin is a step up from last night’s Holiday Inn. There is art work on the wall and a nice desk area. The beds were soft and firm (it is possible to be both). Even with airplanes flying nearby, it was reasonably quiet – somewhat like the sound the volcano makes in your room at the Mirage.

There are barking dogs we’re hearing. It’s possible this industrialized neighborhood is where the animal shelter is located. Most likely they’re working dogs for the TSA, Customs or other governmental agency.

Both Helaine and Steffie say if they ever look the way they look under the bathroom lightning, shoot them.

As soon as we’re all dressed, it’s off to the pier and onto our ship. We are so lucky to be here. So lucky, even with our extra day on the road, it all worked out.

If we would have stuck to our reservations, we’d be in the crying lane right now.

A Day In Baltimore

I am posting this entry from Los Angeles. It was written before we left Baltimore. More on the screaming baby flight from Hell tomorrow.

If we would have stuck to our original reservations, our flight would have gotten to Baltimore 36 minutes after the Los Angeles plane left!

Now the entry:

baggage cart in our holiday inn roomNo need to rush. I’m writing this from Gate B17 at Baltimore – Washington Airport. It’s nearly 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Our flight doesn’t leave until well after 6:00 PM.

Our night at the Holiday Inn – BWI was fine, but I have an admission to make. If you work at that hotel, you probably scrambled around, looking for one of those huge baggage carts on wheels.

It was in our room.

It was a conscious decision. We didn’t want to inconvenience anyone else… and we didn’t want to load and unload. OK, it was a selfish decision. Shoot me.

Helaine's shadow puppetActually, our night at the Holiday Inn was just fine, punctuated by Helaine’s discovery that ‘shadow puppets’ could be projected on the wall. She does the world’s best AFLAC duck. Steffie attempted a worm.

We are currently like a band on the run with a series of one night stands. Hartford yesterday, Baltimore today, Los Angeles tomorrow, our cruise ship in the days beyond that. Each city-to-city move is a series of intertwined coordinated actions. We’re getting pretty good at this.

The same driver who brought us to the hotel last night took us to the airport today. He said he remembered us. Tipping works.

At the terminal’s curb I went and got two luggage carts to move our stuff inside. The Skycaps looked with envy. A potentially big customer was rolling by and they weren’t getting any.

Stef and Helaine pushing baggage carts in the BWI rat mazeWe moved into the rat’s maze that leads to the ticket counter and scanned the agents. Who would we get? Who did we want?

We lose.

It didn’t take more than 15 seconds to see Jnacei&#185 didn’t have the normal Southwest spirit. Maybe she was having a bad day? Maybe she wasn’t feeling well. I would pay.

Our three reservations were considered separate. The bags would have to be split among the three tickets.

One of our bags weight 54.4 pounds. Too much. Unbelievably, Helaine and Stef removed exactly 4.4 pounds. It hit the scale at 50.0.

If it would have been 50.1 pounds, I sense we would have been forced to pull more out! This was not a rule bender we were dealing with.

Signatures were needed to ship our soft sided garment bags. That’s a first.

I’m not saying she did anything wrong – because she probably didn’t. It was just a tooth pulling experience all the way around.

Jnacei did lighten up as our time together was drawing to a close. Or maybe she was just taking pleasure in explaining how far it was to our gate and how much additional time we needed to set aside for that journey.

Did I mention – our flight wasn’t for another four plus hours?

Phillips SeafoodSteffie and Helaine were hungry, so we headed to a ‘real’ restaurant, Phillips Seafood. I must admit, though it cost nearly as much as Steffie bat mitzvah, it was very good.

I had lobster bisque and the premium crab cake as a sandwich. When my food was finished, the girls offered me their leftovers. I’m like Mikey in the cereal commercial. Give it to daddy – he’ll eat anything.

So that brings us to B17. Our flight is on the board as delayed, but Victor at the counter across the hall said it was only delayed by eight minutes. It is coming in from Islip, on Long Island, where it rained all day.

Southwest Hartford flight delayedOur original flight from Hartford is also on the board as delayed. I will watch with interest to see if it is in early enough to allow passengers and baggage to move to the Los Angeles flight.

Blogger’s note. Though there is no Internet access, a few moments ago a little balloon popped up on the bottom of the screen saying a wireless access point had been found. When I tried to connect – no Internet. On further inspection, it was someone else’s computer, “Carolyn.” Luckily for Carolyn, I’m not a hacker.

&#185 – I was going to use her real name, and then I realized she might sue me.

Southwest Airlines – May I Kiss You On The Lips?

I am writing this, sitting on a cold faux marble floor in our bathroom at the Holiday Inn, just outside of Baltimore-Washington Airport. It is 5:00 AM and I can’t sleep. In order not to disturb Helaine and Stef, I have adopted this as my temporary office.

The free wireless access works much better here than in the actual room!

That we are here is some sort of minor miracle. If you fly on airplanes and are used to being treated like fecal material, please read this story, made even better by this email from meteorologist Bob, in Florida.

gon, wst (westerly ri) both went to snow last hour

dad went to snow 5 mins ago.

good thing you left when you did.

The GON he mentions is Groton/New London Airport, arguably Connecticut’s airport most likely to report rain when others are seeing snow! His dad is in North Branford, also less likely to see a quick change to snow.

Yesterday morning, when it looked like we’d be seeing significant snow, sleet and freezing rain, and knowing we had to get to California now or miss our cruise ship, I called Southwest Airlines. The best way to summarize the opening of the conversation is to quote Rick Springfield’s, “Don’t Talk To Strangers.”

“I’m begging you, please”

Though I explained my situation, the agent couldn’t help. Southwest Airlines had policies in place.

I pleaded my case for a few minutes before asking, nicely, if I could speak to a supervisor. I tried everything, including the option of moving us to Islip, a 2:30 hour drive. The supervisor listened to our plight (Linda from Albuquerque. “I’m not the bilingual Linda in Albuquerque.”) but wouldn’t budge.

Finally, she broke down. She understood the fragility of our cruise plans and that Southwest was booked solid, should our flight be canceled. They would move us out of Connecticut Monday night and we could pick up the rest of our itinerary on Tuesday.

Quickly, Helaine went to hotwire.com and found a hotel at Baltimore-Washington Airport. Last minute, Holiday Inn – under $70.

When I told my friend Peter, someone who had racked hundreds of thousands of miles over the years, mostly on United, he said he was amazed. Southwest had done the right thing for me and for Southwest, but he had never heard of it happening before.

Let me add, this is not because I’m “TV-boy” in Connecticut. These operators were in Albuquerque.

Now the real test began – we weren’t packed. Helaine, our ‘packing supervisor’ and all around ‘logistics specialist,’ would have to compress 24 hours of planning into six! And she did.

This was one of those times when Helaine’s incredible organizational acumen took over. She was worried we wouldn’t make it, but she faced the task and moved forward.

There were chores out of the house she needed to do, and things for me to do while she was gone. I made a list. I am not a list maker. I understood today had to be different.

I’m not going to take my usual cheap shot about how much baggage we finally brought. It’s a lot. At this point how could I mind?

We got to Bradley Airport in Hartford to check in. The change of plans left me with a legit ticket, but Helaine and Steffie (both flying non-revenue) with nothing on paper and some cobbled together exceptions that the computer couldn’t handle on its own.

Donna from Torrington was our customer service agent at the ticket counter at Bradley. When she read the notes on her computer she stopped. She said she hadn’t seen anything like this before… and neither had the computer. It refused to issue Helaine a boarding pass (though it had for Steffie, and had hours ago for me).

She called the help desk to get some assistance. The person on the other end also commented on how unusual the remarks with our reservation were.

Because of Helaine and Steffie’s late re-booking, their tickets were marked for extra screening by the TSA. No problem. At this point we were way ahead of the game. Screen on.

So, here we are at the Holiday Inn at BWI. We had a lovely ride on the courtesy van with a bunch of airline employees and four drunk folks from Cleveland, kicked off their flight to sober up!

Our flight from BWI to LAX doesn’t leave until this evening. Based on what I’ve seen of the Northeast’s weather, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were open seats and we made it out of Baltimore a whole lot earlier.

We are not in Los Angeles yet, but we are much closer than mileage alone would imply. And, a huge burden has been lifted from our shoulders.

If we were home right now, hoping to make our scheduled flight, we’d be out-of-luck. No one in bed in Connecticut now will make that Wednesday cruise.

I think I’m going to try to go back to sleep.