I’ve had several people ask me if I had given up on writing trip reports, and the answer is no. I just haven’t been on an airplane for awhile, so I had nothing to write. But I’m back, and this one is a doozy. I usually have good luck with flights being on time and everything running smoothly, but this trip was just an awful one in that respect.
I awoke on Wednesday to a steady downpour here in Southern California. We don’t see those too often, but this was a good one. I packed my stuff and headed to the airport for my 140p
flight. Unfortunately, there was a bad accident on the freeway (go figure) and I ended up running into LAX’s Terminal 1 at 110p, only a half an hour before the flight.
I figured I’d still make it until I saw total chaos in the terminal. The security line was out the door and more than halfway down toward Terminal 2. On top of all that, the weather was causing delays all over the place, but mine was one of the only flights that was going right on time. Crap.
So I went up to one TSA agent and asked if I could cut in since my flight was leaving. He said no. So of course, then I moved on to find another person to ask. I believe this one was a supervisor of some sort, and we had this pleasant conversation.
Me: Excuse me sir, my flight leaves very soon and need to get to the front of the line.
TSA: No. Back of the line.
Me: But my flight leaves in 30 minutes. How long will this line take?
TSA: I don’t know.
Me: I’m probably going to miss my flight.
TSA: Yeah, probably
Nice, huh? So then I went over to Southwest and found two off-duty customer service reps. They suggested I take this side elevator up and that would work. Well, I got to the top and there was nobody there to check my ID. Finally, someone waved me over and asked how I got up there. I told him the Southwest agents said to go that way. He said that was wrong and I had to go back in line. I told him again that I would miss my flight and he didn’t care.
At this point, I dragged my ass all the way to the back of the line in the pouring rain and called the person I was meeting in Tucson to tell him I was screwed. (I believe I used about 25 straight expletives alongside “TSA” for the entire conversation.) Then, there was a ray of hope. I was talking to the people in front of me, and someone behind me heard and chimed in. He said there was an agent from Southwest who was taking people to the front of the line. If I wanted to try, they’d save my spot.
I took them up on it and ran in to find her. I did find her, but she wasn’t helpful. I told her I was going to miss my flight, and she said I should still try. I told her I wanted to but the security line was too long. She then asked me if I had my boarding pass. Frustrated, I said yes, I do, but the line is too long and I will miss my flight. She said, “ok, well you can stand in this line to change your ticket to a later flight.” Wow, that wasn’t the kind of help I was looking for.
Instead, I went back to my place in line and waited it out, figuring I’d get things changed at the gate. I made it through security about 10 minutes after my flight should have departed. Half-putting on my shoes, I grabbed my bag of liquids and my coat and booked it over to gate 1, tucked away in the corner of the terminal.
December 17, 2008
Southwest #2515 Lv Los Angeles (LAX) 140p Arr Tucson (TUS) 400p
LAX: Gate 1, Runway 7L, Dept ~15m Late
TUS: Gate A2, Runway 11L, Arr ~15m Late
Aircraft: N372SW, Boeing 737-3H4, Canyon Blue, ~90% Full
Seat: 13B
Flight Time: 56m
Just as I was getting there, one agent said to the other, “Why don’t you page Brett Snyder.” I raised my hand and walked right on. Unbelievably, they had held the plane for a couple of us who had checked in but hadn’t made it to the gate because of the line. Nice work, Southwest, even if I did get stuck in a middle seat. Maybe that was my payback for writing something mean about their WestJet link . . . .
The flight itself was mostly uneventful. The awful weather meant that LAX had turned around the runways as they very rarely do. So, while taxiing is normally a two second affair for Southwest airplanes here, this time we had to trek all the way to the far west end of the airport and we even stepped over to the south side. Still, it happens so rarely that it’s fun
to do.
We took off into the muck, and a few minutes later we were above it all in brilliant sunshine. It wasn’t too bumpy going through the storm, but it got a little rough once we were in clear air. So the fact that I didn’t have time to hit the bathroom before getting onboard came back to bite me as the seatbelt sign never went off.
It was beautiful in Tucson, but it was gusty so we were bouncing our way into town. After landing, it was a quick taxi to the gate, and I somehow made it only 15 minutes late. I figured the worst was behind me. Um, not quite.
December 18, 2008
Southwest #1664 Lv Tucson (TUS) 155p Arr Los Angeles (LAX) 230p
TUS: Gate A6, Runway 29R, Dept 2h48m Late
LAX: Gate 14, Runway 24R, Arr 2h42m Late
Aircraft: N345SA, Boeing 737-3K2, Puke Colors, ~90% Full
Seat: 13F
Flight Time: 1h18m
Tucson was fun, but I drank a little (or a lot) too much while I was there, so I had a pretty strong hangover. We were a bit late pulling up to the terminal, only 50 minutes before my flight, but it didn’t look too crowded. I went in to find a different story. The Southwest line was twisting and turning around the terminal. Clearly that was going to be a problem for me, so I noticed that the line to change your ticket only had two people in it. I chose that one.
When I got to the front, I was told that they were having problems with their computers, and that’s why the lines were like this. I was also told that almost every flight was delayed, and mine was currently about 2 hours late. Crap, part deux.
I made it through security with ease, and then plopped myself down to wait it out. I didn’t have a computer or even a book to keep me busy, so I just hopped on my Blackberry and that kept me busy enough. I 
found out that the plane was supposed to start the day in Spokane, but that flight was canceled, probably due to the crazy snow up there. Instead, it started in Boise, came down to Reno, then to LA, then over to Tucson where it would pick us up. The weather meant it was way behind.
One thing I can say about the Tucson airport is that there is absolutely nothing to do beyond security except watch all the college kids who must have just finished finals and were heading home for break. Yeah, there was a place to grab food, but that was about it. I found myself getting anxious and annoyed by just sitting around. The gate agents didn’t make one announcement about the delay the entire time we were there. Very poor communication always makes things worse, and the one time I went up to ask a question, they snapped at me and asked me to go to the back of the line. I opted just not to bother them again.
For some reason, it took them more than an hour to turn the plane in LA, so our new departure time was pushed back to 455p. Then it moved up to 425p and finally it settled at 435p. When the plane arrived, there was a little confusion on my part, because they changed the gate and didn’t tell anyone. This was complicated by the fact that our flight had pushed late enough to get near the departure time of the next LAX flight, so there were passenger running around confused about which flight was which. In the end, we all figured it out and started lining up so we could get moving, but the gate agent was really in no hurry. It’s amazing to think this airline used to do 10 minute turns.
Once onboard, the mood changed. The flight attendants wanted to get out of there, and they were very firm in pushing people to get moving. They were great actually, and I bet they’d been around for a long time. I definitely 
appreciated it. We finally pushed back and a couple minutes later we were airborne.
It was a beautiful day, and the flight was completely routine until we got toward the end. You probably heard that there was a lot of snow in Southern California from the recent storm, and man did it make for an incredible site coming in at sundown. This did not look like LA at all.
We landed and I was thrilled to be home. Of course, just to top things off, there was another accident on my way home, and it took me about three times as long as it would have had we simply landed at 230p when we were supposed to. I’m glad this trip is over.
See more snow pictures in my Tucson Photo Set
