Travel Diary

It was an evening flight. I did decide to drive this time. Traffic was worse than expected, so I was late arriving at the airport. I had an issue trying to check my bag, which was my paddle board box. If they wouldn’t let me, I still could cancel my flight and take one the next day, though I would miss getting to paddle board with friends. But luckily, the worker let me check my bag, even though it was only 45 minutes to take off.

Then it was a little insane the since TSA line was insanely long for that time of night, and they started boarding when I was deep in the line. After all the madness, the flight was delayed anyway, for several hours. Oh heck, I took notes. Here they are:

Order of events

7:30pm. — leave for airport.
7:35pm — google maps says 8:12pm arrival due to traffic accident.
8:12pm — arrival at parking lot (good job, Google Maps)
8:15pm — head into airport but long walk.
8:25pm — try to check back but agent says it’s under an hour and head to a different line. I was prepared to drive home then and just fly out Friday. Without the checked bag, no paddle boarding could be done. But let’s see.
8:32pm — agent allows bag check
8:40pm — incredibly long security line for this late. Plane boarding started at 8:37pm.
8:45pm — line is barely moving. Asked nearby agent if he could assist and I showed my boarding pass. Got moved to near the front. Still not moving. Only one TSA scanner open.
9:03pm — second scanner opens. Line moving but people ahead. Ask a few if I can move ahead and show my boarding pass. They are fine with it.
9:05pm — security done and run to the nearby gate.
9:08pm — last group is boarding. I move to front since I’m first class.
9:10pm — on plane and overhead bin has space in first row. Nice since no under seat storage.
9:23pm. — takeoff time expires but waiting for people to board.
9:30pm. — doors closed and ready to go.
9:40pm — announcement from captain that a maintenance light is on and a technician is needed. Doors open.
9:55pm — plane deemed not okay to fly. New plane obtained.
9:58pm — we get off plane.
10:00pm — at new gate and waiting for people to disembark.
10:30pm — board new plane when first class seating called.
10:32pm — overhead bin space empty. Sat back in new seat.
10:44pm — boarding continues.
10:53pm —safety announcement round two
11:03pm — jetway pulls back
11:05pm — captain says bags still being loaded. 10 more minutes.
11:24pm —- bags now all boarded.
11:45pm — We take off for Boise.

So yeah, we landed well past 1am. Mom and dad were there waiting and since they didn’t get my message, they had no idea about the delay, which was unfortunate, but not much could be done. We drove back to Middleton and I crashed quickly.