(Gen) I'm Baaacccck! & LAX Security Notes

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I'm back home! Thanks again for all your prayers and concerns.

My flight this morning was scheduled to leave LAX at 6:40 am PDT. Passengers were asked to arrive at the airport 2 1/2 hours before their flight. Few private cars were allowed near the terminal: passengers without rental cars had to park in a far away lot where they were searched before being allowed to board a shuttle bus.

I had a rental car, so I left my hotel room at 3:45 am PDT to return it. There were no security checks before or after boarding the shuttle from the rental place. It was full. Most of the passengers were from Germany and the UK. It took about thirty minutes to check in my car and get to LAX.

Even though it was before 6 am PDT, the terminal was absolutely packed: it reminded me of Christmas travel, only worse. The line to check in bags at the Southwest counter stretched out into the street. Since I didn't have bags to check, I went to the gate and stood in line at the first security check point. I was asked twice to show my ID and ticket (I had printed out my latest email confirmation sheet -- my flight had been cancelled five times prior to that point).

I made it quickly through security because I had only packed a few cloth items in a carry on bag and was carrying small bag of water, sealed sandwiches, etc. Security briefly looked in my lunch bag and then waved me through. It took about thirty minutes to get through security. They were doing random full checks of bags.

I went to the gate, ate the fruit I had brought. I was again asked for ID by a roving guard. There were only about a dozen people at the gate at that point. About an hour later, the Southwest terminal was full. I got a boarding pass and settled back to listen to the stories of the other passengers. It was soon obvious who did a little planning and had been comfortable and who was dopey (but rapidly reforming).

The hour came to take off, but the flight was delayed an hour because the flight crew was missing. There were three captains "deadheading" (traveling to their next work assignment on my flight), so they got on their cell phones and came up with flight attendants somehow. Note: for those of you who don't know know . . . flight attendents do more than pass out food -- they spend many weeks training in the air line flight schools as to how to handle emergencies. Otherwise, we had enough former servers and medical people that we could've taken care of ourselves, had FAA regs allowed it, but I digress.

We took off an hour later. I learned that several other flights were cancelled because of missing flight crews. There was talk that we would be put off the plane in Nashville because we had an "illegal" crew, meaning the flight attendants had worked too many hours. As it was, they let us continue onto Coumbus. The flights were totally packed. No one was complaining about the delay.

One other note: Port Columbus was almost empty when I arrived about 4 pm EDT. I think there were about 30-40 passengers waiting for an outgoing plane, vs the nearly 150 or so that would normally be present about this time of day (I often pick people up at this time). Security is tight here, as well -- private vehicles aren't allowed to drive up to the terminal, but unlike LAX, security doesn't appear to be searching passengers in the parking lots before they board the shuttles in. I could be wrong about that, though.

That's it for the moment. I'm exhausted, but I thought that you might like to read my observations. I hope that no one has to fly anywhere in the immediate future. If so, make sure that you have cash (in small bills), street maps of your area, a working laptop, and a snack or two and you'll be prepared for most contingencies. I don't think air travel will be returning to normal for a long time.

Am headed for bed for a long nap. Will read and comment on threads tomorrow. Best to All! God Bless America!!

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

Answers

Top and Nap time!!

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

Meemur,

Welcome home. So glad that you made it back safe. Bet your own bed felt simply wonderful. Hope you get caught up on your rest soon.

Sheeps

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001


WHewwwwww glad you are home safe. rest, will chat tomorrow.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

The Hungarian has decided to go ahead and fly to Hungary on the 23rd for ten days. The airline she will use to reach New York is American Airlines, which has just announced a 20% cutback. I think I would eat the $7-800 fare and go some other time.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

Meemur, glad to hear you are back safe and sound. Welcome back!

Old Git, something was said about some airlines would give a person their money back, on a ticket that was previously purchased.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001



Well, now I can sleep better as well.

Glad as heck you are home safe!

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Maggie, from what I saw, the airlines were happy to refund the purchase price of the tickets, If one could reach them! At one point, I foolishly sat on the phone for nearly two hours trying to get through. It was then I took a nap and then applied the "Mob Mentality Rule" (What are the masses doing? Do something else) and headed down to a local mall, where there were travel agents (who have collections of unpublished numbers for reaching airlines). I expected the place to be mobbed, but there wasn't anyone waiting. It took a couple of minutes to get a clerk's help, but in less than ten minutes, I had up-to-date information and a new flight reservation. Further, I decided my best bet was to stay put until the situation became less fluid.

Later, I was able to access information from the internet, while the masses were making their way to the travel agencies. Soon after, it became impossible to access the airline sites via internet, but by then, I was able to get through on the phone again and confirm that my flight was at least scheduled to take off.

My intent here is not to brag but to illustrate that it generally pays to do a little a thinking before mindlessly following the herd. My sitting on the phone for two hours showed me how tired I was and wasn't the only mistake I made, but I was in much better shape than many who were stranded: I had wheels, gas, food, water, cash, and an affordable place to stay with a 'fridge and microwave. Other travelers ended up in a high school shelter for several days when their credit cards didn't work (some accounts were based on several NYC mainframes that went down and weren't re-routed for days) and they couldn't problem-solve well enough to get any cash. Many of the residents were wonderful, coming through with food and cash, and I did my share of hauling car-less strandees to banks and rental places, but at least 3/4 of the situations could've been avoided with a little planning.

Anyway, I was one of the lucky ones -- I got out yesterday. I'm sure there are still many stranded travelers, especially from other countries. They don't have the alternative of taking a bus home.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Meemur, I am sooo impressed by what you did! How did you become so organized and take charge, have you always been this way? By any chance is your sign a Virgo or Scorpio? You remind me of one of my sisters. Again, so glad you made it back safely. What a trip, a 4.2 quake right after you arrived and this huge event in NYC that effected you in LA! Congradulations on your well planned decisions.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

well said, Maggie!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Thanks! ((blush)) but I'm an Aquarian with a ton of planets in Uranus. Really! I wasn't adopted or anything. I've had several charts done through the years, and they've never described me accurately. Then again, maybe if I moved to LA or Hawaii. . . . . .

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Meemur, I don't think it would matter where you lived, you would still be a person who would think and plan things out, rather then abruptly doing something without a thought of tomorrow, you have a very good head on those shoulders of yours. I can't remember if you said you work outside of the home, if so, would you mind if I ask what you do? If that is too personal of a question, don't feel you need to answer.

Aquarian, I would have never guessed that.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Oh, I don't know, Maggie. It really was hard to focus on what needed to be done while I was in LA. There's just something about the environment -- all that sunshine, I guess -- that made it hard to really worry about anything.

I do work outside the house, but my job involves pointing out problems and showing potential solutions, rather than decision making, which I leave up to others for the most part, and that's a little more "Aquarian." (:

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


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