A few years ago I wrote a blog about air travel.
http://workingdream.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-traveling.html
Well, I recently boarded the big blue bus and flew...again...to the only place I ever seem to fly to (Houston) for the annual family gathering at my sister and brother-in-law's house in Katy, TX. The trip itself was uneventful, though Tulsa was encrusted with ice the day of our departure and the flight was delayed...first due to weather from it's origination point (Kansas City or Chicago, I think) and again because there was a reported "bird strike" when they left the original airport.
Yeah, all sorts of warm fuzzies were conjured up when that was mentioned prior to boarding, not to mention scenes like this popped up in my head.
http://workingdream.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-traveling.html
Well, I recently boarded the big blue bus and flew...again...to the only place I ever seem to fly to (Houston) for the annual family gathering at my sister and brother-in-law's house in Katy, TX. The trip itself was uneventful, though Tulsa was encrusted with ice the day of our departure and the flight was delayed...first due to weather from it's origination point (Kansas City or Chicago, I think) and again because there was a reported "bird strike" when they left the original airport.
Yeah, all sorts of warm fuzzies were conjured up when that was mentioned prior to boarding, not to mention scenes like this popped up in my head.
Nevertheless, a sizable amount of money was spent on me by my mother so I bravely cinched up my big boy pants and boarded the big blue bird. As I mentioned in the previous blog on air travel, I get the privilege to board before everyone else because of my disability and on this flight there was a record of eight...8...wheelchair passengers boarding the plane in the "blue plastic sleeve" group along with me.
An aside here: Before everyone gets a panty-twist about how I shouldn't be in the special boarding assistance group, understand that where your feet automatically adjust to changes in terrain like a boarding ramp to an aircraft or stairs for that matter...only one of mine does. The one that doesn't has more than once made me stumble and fall. So in the interest of not being injured or injuring anyone else I take the blue sleeve and go about my task.
The flight out was uneventful...no glitches, no bumps and more importantly, no freak landings in the Houston Ship Channel. The flight back to Tulsa was another matter entirely.
I will preface the following remarks by saying this: I am not a disgruntled traveler. Again, in reference to my disability I have to go through a different set of security measures than the average traveler. While some will consider the searching done by the TSA officers at airports to be intrusive or for the more melodramatic, a violation of one's rights. I don't see it that way and it probably comes from what I've done for a living for many years. Overlooking key elements of a search is what led to the worst terrorist act in American history, and above all else the officers are doing their job, don't stand in the way of it.
Some take it to the extreme nevertheless, but that's their problem and this volume is not intended to change minds.
The flight back to Tulsa was almost a carbon-copy of the one when we left in which there were a large number of wheelchair passengers. Again I was prepared to defer to those who were in wheelchairs because while I sometimes need help, most of the time they need it all the time. When I had both of my feet it was a bit of a challenge to board a flight on Southwest. I'm sure it's more of an art than a science.
You are in a group of passengers, one of three...A, B or C, and you board according to when you checked in for the flight. So if you waited to check in when you got to the airport you were likely relegated to the rear of the aircraft on an aisle.
Being a blue-sleever, I don't have to worry about that most of the time, especially when I am given clear directions as to where to go or what to do. Didn't get that at Hobby...I was told by a very bitchy lady to stand in three different place and...when I finally let a few oaths slip regarding the Heavenly Father (Oh. My. GOD...specifically), I was scolded like a third grader who had put his lunch pail in the wrong place. Now for those who are quick to fire of "Hey man, it was the holidays, they are stressed, give them some slack!" I get that, and I dare say I was not the first impatient traveler this person had served that day.
It still rubbed me wrong that I had to be the focal point of her frustrations. Thankfully there was someone better skilled at de-escalating situations that took over for that person.
Will this stop me from flying commercial, (as if I have a choice)? No.
Will it stop me from flying on Southwest Airlines? No.
I just thought you might want to know.
Some take it to the extreme nevertheless, but that's their problem and this volume is not intended to change minds.
The flight back to Tulsa was almost a carbon-copy of the one when we left in which there were a large number of wheelchair passengers. Again I was prepared to defer to those who were in wheelchairs because while I sometimes need help, most of the time they need it all the time. When I had both of my feet it was a bit of a challenge to board a flight on Southwest. I'm sure it's more of an art than a science.
You are in a group of passengers, one of three...A, B or C, and you board according to when you checked in for the flight. So if you waited to check in when you got to the airport you were likely relegated to the rear of the aircraft on an aisle.
Being a blue-sleever, I don't have to worry about that most of the time, especially when I am given clear directions as to where to go or what to do. Didn't get that at Hobby...I was told by a very bitchy lady to stand in three different place and...when I finally let a few oaths slip regarding the Heavenly Father (Oh. My. GOD...specifically), I was scolded like a third grader who had put his lunch pail in the wrong place. Now for those who are quick to fire of "Hey man, it was the holidays, they are stressed, give them some slack!" I get that, and I dare say I was not the first impatient traveler this person had served that day.
It still rubbed me wrong that I had to be the focal point of her frustrations. Thankfully there was someone better skilled at de-escalating situations that took over for that person.
Will this stop me from flying commercial, (as if I have a choice)? No.
Will it stop me from flying on Southwest Airlines? No.
I just thought you might want to know.
No comments:
Post a Comment