Are We There Yet?

I guess you can’t really call it a vacation unless it includes having to recover from a logistical snafu that threatens to derail the entire trip. This time, it was that my departing flight had a mechanical issue, discovered only when we were all seated and ready to roll back from the gate. I mean, we were on-schedule to the minute when the pilot announced that something wasn’t right and we’d have to stay put while it got checked out. After that, I watched as various people boarded the plane, squinted at something in the cockpit, and left with concerned expressions. I lip-read one flight attendant saying “oh shoot” and worried we’d all have to de-board and re-schedule.

As it turned out, we were delayed an hour which, in the grand scheme of things, seems like not much. But I had only  an1 ½ hour layover to catch my connecting flight in Chicago.  I was extremely lucky to be seated near the front of the first plane because after we landed (and taxied for at least 15 minutes !) I bolted to my connecting flight which was already loaded except for me. I’m grateful they let me on. Had I missed that flight, I would’ve had to wait 24 hours for the next one.

It’s no secret that airlines have been subtracting one service after another to save money and/or make more money. The latest thing to go is the seat-back entertainment screen. In recent years, these have been a welcome feature of long flights, offering a ton of on-demand movies and tv-series to pass the otherwise miserable on-board experience.  Now they’ve made it so you have to supply your own wi-fi device (smart phone or tablet) to view any options. 

    On my first flight to Chicago, there wasn’t a screen at all. Instead, there was a newfangled shelf-clip by which you could secure your phone or tablet. The flight from Chicago to Barcelona still had a back-of-seat screen, but there was no way to plug headphones into it (and no Bluetooth) for sound. You could call up various games or view the flight progress, but to hear a movie or show, you had to use your own device on airplane wifi and plug into its sound with your own wired or Bluetooth headphones. I suppose this development is understandable, but a heads-up about it would have been nice. Heaven help the poor flip-phone holdout who finds himself on a 9 hour flight.

In the end, I arrived in Barcelona on schedule and with my luggage so I suppose I’m nit-picking the experience. But really, it seems like every airport- and airline-process is terrible and ripe for six-sigma optimization. I shouldn’t have to pay $1200 for transport that, from what I can tell, has a 50-50 chance of being successful, and that’s if luck is on your side.

              That’s a lot of griping (sorry) so I’m glad to report that arrival in Barcelona was painless: border control and luggage retrieval was fast, and the pickup I had arranged was too. It rained overnight but cleared up this morning in time for day 1 of real vacation. I think I’m recovered from the journey here!