I Should Have Simply Driven
Returning home from Idaho at Christmas time is usually not much of a challenge. After getting dropped off at the curb on Wednesday, I fully expected to get on my four o’clock flight and be home around 5:30 or 6. With my car parked at San Jose, it would be a relatively painless procedure to snatch my luggage off the baggage claim, jump the long term parking shuttle, and find my car.
There was an unusually long line at the Horizon counter. Then, the woman asked “Are you going to San Jose?” “Yes.” “Flights to San Jose are cancelled today.” “Can you rebook me?” “All flights to San Jose are cancelled. We’re going to have to rebook you.”
Side note: Quote of the day: “Attention in the Terminal. A can of Copenhagen has been left at the security checkpoint. Please come back to security to claim it.”
I rebooked on Delta Airlines, to depart on Thursday in the afternoon. Horizon was good enough to put me up in a hotel nearby—the same hotel I stayed in when I was enlisting in the Army 16½ years ago. Jay came by, picked me up, took me to downtown Boise for Mexican food, and watched a movie with me. Downtown Boise is cute, as opposed to the absolutely stupefying amount of sprawl the area is building lately (Boise has doubled in size over the last 15 years).
My flight from Boise to Salt Lake City was delayed 45 minutes. This landed me on the tarmac in Salt Lake City with just enough time for my luggage to make the connection to San Jose, but for me not to. 12 of us scrambled as the San Jose-bound flight pushed back with a dozen of us trying to make it onto our flight. So, they put me on standby for the 5:00 flight. Nope, that one’s full. Finally, I’m confirmed on the 9:10 flight to San Francisco, otherwise I might not get out of Utah Thursday night.
9:10 turned to 10:30 turned to 11:15 turned to 11:45. Fortunately, I was able to reach Emmett who agreed to pick me up at SFO at 1:30 in the morning, drive me to San Jose to attempt to pick up my luggage, and on home. Fortunately, I was able to get my car at 2, but not my luggage.
If I had talked the Horizon counter person on Wednesday into refunding my return flight, I could have gone downstairs, rented a car for a one-way trip to San Jose, and made it home a day earlier than I did. If I had grabbed a couple of my fellow passengers, we could have split the rental car and the driving. Boise is 665 miles, according to Google maps, from San Jose. So, if I had averaged 20 miles per hour in that rental car, I’d have gotten home at the same time I did. Leaving at 4:30 in the afternoon (Mountain Time) and driving the speed limit would have seen me walking through my door a day earlier than I did. I’m very grumpy now.
<gesture type=”shake” organ=”fist” target=”The air travel industry in the United States” />
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