You Can't Get There From Here!

Had things run smoothly, I was in for a layover of about 5 hours at LAX on my way from Anchorage. However, with airlines these days, things just don’t run smoothly.

The Anchorage-LAX flight was pretty close to on time, and was blissfully about 60% full. I had packed pretty tightly on the way to Alaska, but I included a bunch of stuff that I was giving away at the association meeting. What I forgot to factor in was a) the stuff that I was going to buy, and b) the unexpected gifts from the association. So it was just dumb luck that my bag weighed in at exactly 49.5 lbs.

One side note about the Anchorage airport: I had not experienced an airport with so many dogs on hand. These were pets, or maybe hunting companions, not service animals. It’s was pretty surreal to see a woman just walking her dog through the concourse.

Here’s a good word about Alaska Airlines: I ended up with an exit row seat on all four legs of this trip. And another good word: they got me and my bags safely and intact to the same place at the same time.

With that being said, the layover at LAX was a miserable experience. At least my good friend Jay Stein was kind enough to meet me at about 8am on a Saturday to get me out for a while. We ended up taking a ride to Santa Monica for breakfast (I don’t do brunch, you see).The contrast between Friday at the glaciers and Saturday near the Santa Monica Pier could not have been more extreme.

Jay had me out of the airport for a bit over two hours. If the schedule had held, that would have left me with a little over two hours until the flight to DC boarded. That didn’t happen.

In hindsight, Alaska Airlines clearly knew that the plane had a mechanical issue before it even landed at LAX. Like most passengers, I’m in favor of them solving mechanical issues before flying. But, like most passengers, I also appreciate honest communication. Alaska Airlines failed on that account. It was a good two hours past the scheduled departure before they owned the mechanical problem. That came after we were told to go get lunch. Only when we returned did they offer lunch vouchers (a $6.00 value!).

Anyway, we kept killing time. We watched some football. We worked. We made phone calls. We got dinner vouchers ($8.00!). And then, finally, after about 6 extra hours (remember, that was on top of a scheduled 5-hour layover after a redeye flight), we got to leave LAX on a replacement plane.

There was a young couple on the Anchorage-LAX flight with me that also continued on the LAX-DC leg. They had their seven-month old baby with them. The TSA team at Anchorage made them open the food they had packed for the baby, contrary to current TSA policies. They were in danger of running out of food before the flight from LAX, and there was no place in the airport to buy formula. Fortunately, after they raised enough of a stink, the airline did send someone out to buy them formula. And the baby was great for the entire trip, including that extended wait.

The other challenge was that the plane landed in DC a little after 2am. Considering that I’d been on the go since about 8am Friday in Anchorage, I thought that safety demanded that I get myself into a hotel asap. And I did just that, because I was driving on to Chicago the next morning, for a corporate shoot on Monday.