I'm currently in western Idaho on my third and final trip to visit a seed company as part of a Nautilus implementation. I love this area, which has managed to retain much of the rugged west atmosphere while embracing modern conveniences like a 24-hour Wal*Mart.
Getting here was an all-day affair on Monday. Kate and I were up at 5am Eastern time so we could be on the road to the airport by 5:30. Traffic congesstion was non-existent and we made great time getting to the airport. Getting THROUGH the airport was a different story. The line for the security checkpoint at terminal "C" extended half-way across the pedestrian bridge leading to baggage claim. Thankfully the line moved quickly, and I found myself at the gate with about 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart.
The line would have moved quicker if I had still been considered Gold with USAirways. While I was grateful they extended my Star Alliance Gold membership a few months in the beginning of this year while they sorted out the merger with America West, I was dismayed that they banished me to the back of the plane without as much as an e-mail notification saying I had lost my status.
Sitting in "cattle class" (seat 20F -- at least it was a window seat) from Philadelphia to Phoenix was no joy. The woman sitting next to me in the middle seat didn't utter a word, but managed to totally piss off the woman sitting in front of her by using the seat pocket as a foot rest (she shed her shoes shortly after we were airborne) and kneeing the woman's seat back incessantly. I finally took pity on the woman in front of us and mentioned to woman next to me that every time she repositioned herself she was moving the entire seat. "Huh?" she said, as if I was speaking a foreign language. I think she finally "got it" and put her feet down on the floor like 99% of the other people on the plane were sitting.
Arriving in Phoenix was no joy. I'm making a personal note to myself to never fly through Phoenix again if I can help it. This was my second time flying through Phoenix, and just as miserable as the first. Allow me to rant a bit to explain my misgivings with PHX:
- Our PHL to PHX arrived at PHX on time, yet we sat on the tarmac for 25 minutes waiting for a gate assignment. The upside: the delay was timed perfectly so I could participate in a complete Thermo Electron "Town Hall Meeting" conference call.
- Terminal "B" where we landed is so stupidly laid out that people are falling on top of each other once they deplane. The line for Starbucks winds into the middle of the concourse. The other side of the concourse is set up with people trying to find their connecting flights on the TV monitors that are poorly situated. This leads to a whole bunch of people colliding for no good reason.
- The USAirways staff at PHX can't seem to get gate assignments correct. According to the monitors my connecting flight from Phoenix to Boise was due to depart from gate B17. Arriving at B17 we were told that it was actually around the corner at B15. True enough, B15 had a sign for Boise, but nobody manning the podium. After 10 minutes in the gate area without an announcement for Boise (and the departure time rapidly approaching), a group of us finally approached another gate agent. "Yes," she said, "we'll be boarding Boise shortly." An announcement prior to that would have been nice.
- My boarding pass for the Phoenix to Boise flight had me in seat "20F," which was interesting the same seat as I had been for Philadelphia to Phoenix. That would have been fine except the small regional jet only had 14 rows. Seat 20F did not exist on this aircraft. After some joking with the crew, I was told to take seat 1A and they'd figure it out after everybody else boarded. I was able to stay put in 1A for the flight, so it wasn't too bad. No, 1A is not first class. Remember, this was a tiny regional jet.
- It was quite warm in Phoenix on Monday morning. I would estimate upwards of 95 degrees. It was downright hot in the plane waiting to push back and taxiing to the runway. Unfortunately, the APU (auxillary power unit) on the regional jet doesn't have enough juice to power the on-board air conditioning. We were told that we'd have to wait until we took off and both jets were started for some cool air to start flowing. Sure enough, it did get comfortable on the plane eventually once we were at cruising altitude.
The good news is that the greater Boise area is beautiful, and my trip has been productive so far.
