Oh the irony

IND to DFW
DFW to DIA
DIA to IND

Last weeks travel was simple, but complicated. 3 direct flights, 2 cities and home. Simple right? That is until a thunder storm sits on top of DIA and shuts the airport down. Followed by hail damage to my plane which rendered it useless. United airlines scrambles, finds us a new plane and we get home, several hours late but hey, at least I'm home. I spent 36 additional hours in DIA last winter when a snow storm hit so I'm not complaining.

The first 2 flights seen very little airport time, thus minimal people watching for me to report. I did sit beside a dear, sweet woman on my first flight. She told me she was returning home after spending 12 days with her son and his family. 12 days? I can't imagine 12 days with a grandma in the house. That's all I have to say about that.

Let's get back to DIA, where I spent nearly 12 hours. People who know we well know I have a weakness for ice cream. After 12 hours, I had ice cream, twice. Actually it was yogurt but close enough. On round 2, I opted for a milkshake. I am a simple guy so vanilla it was. The fine young man asked me if I wanted fat free yogurt. Since this was round 2 in a 12 hour period, I thought, yeah why not. Then he pours the milk in. I couldn't help but notice the milk he was using was whole milk. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the fat free yogurt versus ice cream? I love whole milk, but it isn't great for my waistline so I limit myself. So when I eat fat free yogurt, I feel a little better about myself. But if you add whole milk to the fat free yogurt, you might as well eat the real ice cream. When I asked the young man about this, he looked at me very confused. I was to tired to explain it to the confused soul.

My simple trip ended up being not so simple. My fat free milk shake ended being not so fat free. Here's hoping next weeks travel are more, less simple.

Play nice

IND to CID via ORD
CID to MSP via DEN
MSP to IND

I was in Iowa last week. While sitting in ORD on a short layover, I seen a guy explode at a gate agent. He asked her, "Don't you know I am"? In which turn the agent responded with a simple "No, should I"? I laughed out loud for several reasons. First and foremost, before you play the "Don't you know who I am card", you better make darn sure people know who are. If you were so important that random gate agents should know who you are, I am not so sure you would be waiting in Terminal E at O'Hare flying to Cedar Rapids Iowa on Wednesday night. Secondly, I believe yelling at gate agents is bad karma. Gate agents have to have one of the most thank-less jobs ever. This poor gate agent knows nothing of this mans recent travels. She has no idea what has went wrong or inconvenienced this guy. So why is she to blame? I always giggle when people say, "I will never fly your airline again.". I know the airlines have struggled and want every customer they can but really?

What does yelling at the gate agent accomplish anyway? If anything, yelling at her is going to make her mad. Sure, she will put you on the stand by list. The bottom of the list. I don't if it is a society thing or just certain people in general. But there are a lot of people who yell at gate agents. I watched a guy one time get arrested in PHX because he threatened an agent.

Play nice when you travel. Be nice to your fellow travelers but most importantly, be nice to the airline employees. Happy gate agents, happy flight attendants, happy pilots usually equal a more pleasant flying experience.