August 16th, 2009
Rotating doors are designed to allow the greatest number of people to move in and out of buildings with minimal loss of heat and air conditioning. Furthermore they’re built with the allotment of 2 people with bags, at airports specifically. Yet we see it time and time again…3 people with bags. The door jams and no one goes anywhere and the mice stop moving and begin pointing fingers (I’ll bypass via the sliding doors just round the corner, sorry power bill). I’m looking at you, oh yes, you sir…he who squeezed in the revolving door, it’s your bag stopping the show. Once released from the glass jail and into the airport, people continue to scamper from line to line, not realizing that there is very little they can do to affect the rate unto which they reach their final destination. Think of it like a doctor’s office; it’s going to take much longer than you expect, but you will get seen in the end. Status means very little when there is no plane.
Airports, Oh traveling, people who don’t have motor memory skills with regards to parking at their local airport, find moving about the country fun, and exciting! Waking up in one part of the country and having a night cap in a new time zone, it’s just darling. But, and this is a big butt (oops, an extra ‘T’ on the end…I’ll go with it…as in some cases, it is correct) those who travel regularly, and not for fun, usually adopt one of two attitudes when travel gets tough. This I think has to do greatly with how much you enjoy your life at large.
The first group, Fly-ist Maximus, tends to push their way through lines with a sense of entitlement; even when the exodus of said particular terminal is on time…you’ve seen him, the guy who stands next to the gate agent waiting even though he has a seat AND gold status with said airline. Self crowned, when issues arise waving his saber, which only he can see, approaches the gate agents, yelling; complaining to anyone who will listen. They help fire up the chants of injustice due to the late departure. This group, oh my, they hate the airport, and nonetheless they just won’t give it up. Perhaps home is worse than the road…
Everyone has a great story of how bad things were at airport XYZ…it just takes one time to scar travelers…
Was it weather that cancelled this flight?
Because if its weather you don’t have to give me a refund?
Oh, the other connections are over-sold?
My my, what will I do? Stay in a crap hotel?
Then bus it back here in the morning?
Classic!
There are many careers I would not like to pursue; however, at the top of my list (at least, today) is and airline gate agent. So little control, and yet they have to bear the brunt of the pain. I’m guessing a late arrival and subsequently late departure is just as much a headache for them as it is to travelers. They have lives outside the terminal as well, and surely they would like to live them. Yes, gate agents have more information than we do; however, like travelers no control…this certainly isn’t happening
“Gate agent to tower, over”
“Tower here, over.”
“Yes, I’m going to need flight 437 on the ground in the next five minutes, got it”?
“Totally, sorry…not sure what we were thinking up here…lots going on, but 437 is on its way in, with priority, over”
“Thank you, Gate A34 over and out.”
The second group, The Pacifists, makes back- up plans via whatever means are available, and rest. Knowing a long night is on the horizon, its key to conserve energy. Its as if they took survival training in a different aspect of their life and have the smarts to overlap it to travel. Fluids (non-acholic, I know…its quite shocking, but its true) and cell phone chargers are key to making it out alive.
Rest assured you as a passenger are no more important to the airlines than the checked baggage under the plane.