The New Road

Don't Fly Alaska

I just spent a couple of days up in Redmond at Microsoft. I flew Alaska both ways and I now regret having made that choice. On the way up the flight was only delayed about 30 minutes. I later learned that 30 minutes late is a banner day for Alaska.

The way back, however, was a completely different story. My original flight was set to leave at 6:30. I bumped it up to the 2:30 flight so that Megan could pick me up at the airport. They charged me $50 to change the ticket. Thanks.

It was snowing in Redmond, so I drove early to the airport, only to find that conditions at the airport were picture perfect. I asked if I could get on an earlier flight and was told that there were none. Turns out there were two earlier flights and the lady behind the counter just flat out lied. Why, I don't know.

So I spent a couple of hours waiting, until we were told it was an hour later, then two hours, then plane had mechanical problems and so we were rebooked onto later flights. My new flight was supposed to leave at 5:30. We were on the plane by 6, but there was no pilot. Once the pilot was on we were told that this new plane also had problems. It finally go squared away and we left around 6:40.

So, as it turns out, my $50 ticket change was completely for not. Though Megan ended up meeting me at the airport anyway since it wasn't horribly late.

The only part that made the experience better was the people that I met at the terminal and the fun conversations (and a little drinking) that we had. That was actually great. It's the first time in a while that I have been genuinely engaged in the moment in a completely social setting. Too many years of eyes on the LCD and fingers on the keyboard have left me socially inept.