MUSINGS OF A LOCAL By Iris Mead - TODAYS FLYING AND LINES ENCOUNTERED

Plans have been made usually weeks ahead to get away to a place you’ve never been before or, in many cases, a place you often re-visit.  Either way, excitement begins to build as the day of departure starts to become real and you begin crossing off the remaining days in your head or on the calendar.  Then, you start to realize how much you have to do to get ready to leave; how big a suitcase, what kind of clothes to pack, and that really becomes problematic when you live in the North and are traveling to a Southern state.  Shoes!  That always seems to be a big problem, especially for women.  Is it a casual trip, a cruise where formal dress is still required on some cruises, or somewhere in between.  Can we pack enough shoes to match our outfits?  How easy it must be for men to pack.  A shaving kit, a pair of jeans, a couple of pairs of shorts, a couple of Tommy Bahama shirts, deck shoes and a pair of flip flops and they are ready to go and packed into a duffel bag.  Oh, if only it were that easy for women!

Arriving at the airport, the first LINE you encounter is at the desk of your airline to get your boarding pass and check your bags, paying the fee required.  Lately, the trend has been to pack as much as you can into a carry-on bag which can then go into the overhead bin IF there is still space when you get to your seat.  On “discount” airlines there is a fee for the carry-on bag (that was more than for checking your bag on the flight I just flew). My opinion on that strange charge is that carry-on bags create slower loading and more chaos in the aisles with passengers trying to find space in the overhead bins. 

The next LINE is the TSA security line. Depending on the airport, the line can be not long or, as I call it not bad, or really long, and as I call it, I’m going to miss my flight!  This depends on the size of the airport, how many flights are scheduled to leave within a close time frame and how many passengers have signed up and bought a TSA Pass to avoid the line.  On the last return trip I actually walked by the TSA check-in and there was NO ONE in the area!  

And then, the last LINE is waiting to board.  Seating is called by row after all the “special” passengers are called to board:  first, wheelchair passengers, then families with children, then anyone traveling with a disabled person, then credit card holders of that airline, then first-class passengers, and finally the economy section rows.  First called for those seats are passengers who have “upgraded” their seats – meaning paid extra to get a few inches more in the seat, and finally the steerage passengers, as I call them, who have to wait in LINE in the aisle while all the pre-boarded passengers who have been called before you can’t get to their seats because no one ahead can find their seat or are held up by overhead bin people looking for space.  I have always wondered why airlines do not start the seating process from the back of the plane rather than the front. Unless someone can explain why, this will always remain a bone of contention with me.

Now, ready for take-off and the excitement builds. And if all is in place, the plane will not be in a LINE waiting for take-off.  Finally, at your destination, one more LINE awaits as you wait to depart the plane.  And finally, you are at your destination, exhausted, disheveled and hungry and looking forward to a good time after one more wait to retrieve your baggage. Enjoy your trip!