They get you by the bag.....

 7:08 am - Tuesday - April 4th - GNHS - 48° F, humidity 29%, wind 8 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, windless skies today with a forecast high of 66° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were boondocking at Goosenecks State Park, Utah.....↴

I'm not always sure afterwards what I was thinking when I make reservations to fly somewhere why I choose an early morning flight out of an airport about which I know almost nothing.  That brings me to the present, and my decision to choose a 6:50 am flight out of one of the largest airports in the world.  I guess my thinking might have been, we're going to be arriving at the airport at 5 am in the morning, so how busy can it be.....well, it be busy, don't you know!

TLE and I were up at 3:15 am in order to be ready to drive to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the south side of Atlanta.....we're old....it takes us an hour to get moving in the morning.  By 4:15 am we were in my son's Kia Telluride SUV making our way to the airport.  Traffic was light, and we arrived right at 5 am....so far, so good.

After exchanging 'until next times' one more time with Tim, TLE and I passed through the automatic doors entering the crazy world of Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport.  We soon discovered we should probably have arrived there at 4 am, not 5 am....why are so many people up at this ungodly hour?  The line just to get to the baggage check window at Frontier Airlines was literally, I am not exaggerating, 250 yards long....it stretched almost the entire length of the baggage claim area where we had been retrieving our baggage just days before. 

To say TLE and I felt a little panicked at that point would be an understatement.  There was no  way on God's green earth that we would arrive at the Frontier desk before our flight departed at 6:50 am, and Gate E-4 was on the other side of the airport.  Then, over the din of thousands of milling travelers we could hear one of the Frontier folks yelling for those going to Denver to skip to the front of the line.  We went from 'panic city' to complete elation in a split second.  We quickly made our way forward to the Frontier desk to check our two rolling suitcases, for which we had already paid, in advance, to be checked.  The very polite lady asked us if we had printed off our baggage tags at the kiosk, to which we replied 'no'....we were 250 yards away.  She then advised us we had to do that ourselves, or could pay her an ADDITIONAL $25/bag for her to do that....wait, what?

I walked over to the automated baggage tag kiosk and found half of them not working, and the other half occupied.  Finally one became available.  Just as I began to input our info I barely heard TLE calling my name over the noise....she said 'Come back, we'll just pay the $50....'.  Once again they got us for another upcharge....what a racket!  We really had no choice as TLE was about to lose her place in line, so I walked back over as TLE whipped out her credit card to pay the Frontier extortion.  

Okay, one obstacle overcome....we quickly began the long walk to the TSA Pre-heck® line.  As we passed the regular TSA line we both observed a sea of bobbing heads stretching off into the distance, with no ability to even see where the ID checkpoint was, let alone the area where you partially disrobe, and put your watch, chapstick, jacket, computer, phone, etc. in the gray plastic buckets, plus the line was not even moving.  We both said, out loud, "Thank God we are not in that line!!!".  Within another minute we arrived at the TSA Pre-check® line, which was long, but moving continuously.  Within 10 minutes we had passed through the initial ID checkpoint, then placed our bags on the conveyor belt...no shoes, jackets, watches, jewelry were removed, and no computers were opened......then walked through the metal detector, and we were through and into the airport.  

TSA Pre-check®

Next we walked a 100 yards to the beginning of the train line (The Plane Train) which transports you from one end of this crazy big airport to the other.  Within another few minutes we emerged from the train at Concourse E, and after short walk arrived at Gate E-4....the time was just 6:05 am.....they had just begun the boarding process.  We were on the plane by 6:20 am thanking our lucky stars we had gotten our TSA Pre-check® approval in time for the return flight. 

We made it....on TIME! Whew!

As we sat in our seats awaiting takeoff we observed the cabin was only about half full.  At first we thought maybe this would be a less crowded fight than we have been used to, but gradually, all those folks we saw at the Frontier desk checking their bags began to slowly drift in....they had gone through the regular TSA line, which took them over 60 minutes.....normally they would have closed the plane door around 6:35 am for a 6:50 am takeoff, but they delayed that knowing about 40 people had not yet arrived at the gate.  The door was finally closed at exactly 6:50 am, and they began to push the jet back from the jetway.  All we could hear were the folks who had just arrived saying how they did not think they were going to make it, and how overwrought they were, while we sat there relaxed and smiling.

On the first plane of the day....relaxing, and thankful for TSA Pre-check®

The flight to Denver was uneventful......I took a 30 minute nap....that's about as long I can sleep on a plane, and then read my book.  Heading back west to Denver we passed through two time zones, and when we landed it was only 8:18 am Denver time.  The next flight for ONT (Ontario, CA) would depart at 10:08 am, so we got a cup of coffee, and a pastry to eat while we waited to board Flight #977.

As you will recall, we left our 2001 VW Beetle at Joel's Automotive last Wednesday before we flew to Atlanta.  I had talked with Joel on Friday about the progress in the repairs and service, and he advised the oil pan was cracked, and that was why I was finding oil on the ground under the car.  He still had to 'source' a new oil pan, so I was pretty sure the car would not be ready on Monday, but I called him anyway around 8 am PST.  He told me what I had expected, that the car would not be ready, so I got on my phone and rented a car for 3 three days so we could get back to GNHS.  The car will be ready on Tuesday, or Wednesday, so we'll drive back to Joel's then to retrieve the car.

We landed at just after 11:30 am, had barely arrived at the baggage claim area to find our bags just emerging onto the conveyor belt.  Within two minutes we were on the shuttle over to the car rental area, and within half an hour had our car....a 2022 Toyota Camry for $140 for three days.

We stopped by my son Chris' home to pick up mail, and chat with them for a few minutes before jumping on the Interstate fore the 2+ hour drive home, arriving at GNHS at exactly 4 pm.  At 5 pm one of our rentals returned (Kyle had sent them out earlier in the afternoon), and we checked them in, and put away the #9 KRX. While we were gone Casey (our boss who was filing in for us while we were gone) had driven down to El Centro to pick it up at COYNE a few days ago, so now we have 2 red KRXs to rent during our last week here.

In spite of our disappointment in our airlines choice (Frontier) all the flights were on time, and we arrived back home alive, so we have that going for us, but our bank account is a little thinner for the 'wear'.  In all it took 15 hours to get home, which is kind of a miracle of sorts.....We woke up in Woodstock, GA, and went to bed at GNHS.

Thanks for stopping by!