The Flight from Hell

Early Thanksgiving Morning, Valerie and I headed down to Ontario Airport to board our flight to Reno. It did not start well and went downhill from there.

Ok, first things first: we woke up a bit late and were thirty minutes behind schedule. At o'dark hundred, there is no traffic to speak of and thankfully no trouble finding off site parking (we made reservations--the lot was full when we arrived.) We thought at that early hour (4:30am), we would go straight to the terminals. We had to make several stops to pick people up--it took awhile to get to the terminals. Then when we arrived, we took one look at the line to check in and quickly decided to check in curbside.

We were two people away from checking in when the Skycap escorted some bags in and never came back. We rushed into line to check inside. We make it through the line and went to face the TSA.

TSA--Thoroughly Slow Actions.

With apologies to my Brother in law, Government and efficiency are two words that do not go together. They were backed up and were moving very slowly. Then they changed people and it seemed to speed up a bit. By the time they picked up our bags, we heard the announcement that our flight was closed and leaving. So we make our way to the gate.

TSA Continued

We look at line to go through security. It was almost back to the ticket counters (those of you who are familiar with Ontario Airport will know what I mean)--Imaging 700 feet of people. We finally get through it and out to the gates.

Southwest

We went to our original gate and talked to the agent. They were unable to give us a confirmed flight, so they put us standby for the next flight. It was dicey. To add insult to injury, the weather in Ontario was socked in from fog, and the flight coming into continue our journey was delayed. But we were lucky enough to get a couple of seats to San Jose. Now if we were unable to get a flight from there, I was going to rent a car and drive from San Jose. Valerie was totally against it . If we never left Ontario, we had two invitations for Thanksgiving. Finally, Valerie and I got the last two seats to Reno. Roughly two hours from the time we supposed to arrive--we made it to Reno.

They say that you need to arrive two hours before flight time--On Thanksgiving or other holidays, that should extend to three or four hours. We were late and lucky. Since I have been flying commercially (35 years), this is the first time I have missed a flight. So, next time, Valerie and I will take the day before the holiday(or Tuesday for Thanksgiving) and travel. This way, we beat the crowds. Two hours before flight time, I am at the gate. Do not get upset--it doesn't pay to blow up. We got farther being very nice.

The main question of the day--Was it worth it?

You bet--I had the world best welcoming committee waiting for me and Valerie. Two kids who we love a lot waiting in the car that picked us up from the airport.

That's what Thanksgiving is all about, after all.