High Price Low Value
It was tough getting out of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I hadn’t
flown on Delta since their planes were propeller driven.
That Electra was
way more elegant that the flying jet culvert that pulled up to the gate to take
me to MSP Minneapolis Saint Paul.
The jet culvert was small, It might have been able to fit inside the Electra. I was not sure if I could
actually ride in it without having a claustrophobic panic attack, but I did not
want to stay in Le Crosse either, so I climbed aboard, ducking so as to not hit
my head and found my way all the way to the aft, to row 12. Who knew planes even had a row 12, and row 12
is definitely not my normal row for air travel. Row 2 is my row, but at least
this row had a 2 in the number.
I do not think I could have made it if the aircraft was
full, but the friendly Delta staff in Le Crosse had seated everyone so as to
only have one person in each row. Well except for the 4 people traveling together,
they seated them next to each other.
Trying not to think about being locked in this culvert high
above the earth I focused on the book I was reading Great Circle, by Maggie
Shipstead. Great book!
Landing in MSP having never been there I had no idea what to
expect. MSP the airport is huge. Our
culvert landed in Minneapolis, and I soon discovered that the baggage claim was
in Saint Paul.
The nice thing about limping through a terminal that spans miles, is that my bag was the lone rider of the carousel once I found it.
Once I had my bag and trekked to the area where hotel
shuttles pull in, I called the Airport Marriott so the shuttle could come and
pick me up. It is the reason I picked this hotel. Its at the airport and has a
shuttle.
I watched and waited as shuttles from every other hotel in Minneapolis
and maybe some from as far away as North Dakota, pulled in and picked up their guests.
I waited for a while longer and called
the hotel again to make sure I was in the correct spot. I was, and then I waited
some more, watching more and more hotel shuttles make pickups. My shuttle still
hadn’t come so I called again. I called four times before the Airport Marriott shuttle
made its way to me. I think waiting for the shuttle took longer than the flight
from LSE.
The ride to the hotel probably took less time than the wait
for the shuttle, and there was traffic and a freeway involved. Now I probably
still would have given the driver a tip, but he talked on his phone to his pal
on the way to the hotel, and that was it, the price of this hotel is $$$, you
made me wait, and now you are arranging parking for your pal. That fellow got
no tip. And neither did the morning driver.
The hotel was nice enough. Its huge. But at least I found a trolley,
so I did not have to pack my non roller bag.
The hotel has a restaurant and bar, which was a plus since
the hotel egg like substance I ate early in the morning had worn off. The room
was nice enough, and clean.
The restaurant was ok. Nothing spectacular for a hotel in
this price range. But better than my last restaurant experience at a Marriott
in Seattle. The drinks were good.
Now in the morning I arranged for the first shuttle ride to the airport, as my flight was departing at 6:00 am. The shuttle was ready at the arranged time, but the hotel offered nothing. No coffee, no bottle of water, nothing. I could not even get a receipt as the desk wasn’t open yet. At the terminal the shuttle driver couldn’t get his gate opener to open the gate that would have let us into the drop off area. He did slowly back all the way out of the lane and took us to another spot at the terminal.
But still the high point of this hotel was looking out my fourth-floor window at the Ikea store across the way and knowing that everything in that place was custom made for the landfill.
Trudging up to the Alaska check in my phone alerted to a message, and wouldn’t you know it. It was from ASA, Alaska Airlines. Now I already knew there was no high-class lounge in MSP, I already accepted that, and accepted that I would have to mingle with people that rode in row 30 something at the gate. I also knew that this message would not be good news.
Trudging to the check in I elected to ride on the moving
isle way. I generally shun these, but my hip was making walking difficult. My
phone alerted me to another message from ASA. This one saying my MSP departure
was delayed for over 1 hour, ruining my chance for decompression in the ASA
Seattle high class lounge and making the trek from gate C where we were landing
to gate N where my connection to ANC was waiting impossible.
Checking in I explained to the very nice gate agent that
because of the famous C to N shuffle in SEA my connection was now impossible.
She typed on her computer for a very long time, delaying my
mingling with the back of the plane crowd. The first time she looked up at me,
she gave me a look like “You have made that 10-minute C to N shuffle many, many
times. Are you now the weakest link?
She said you could call ASA, so I did, the MVP line said the
same as she, that we will see what happens.
What happened was that there was no crew. Apparently because
of “FAA” rules Pilots must have a 10-hour rest between a measly 8-hour day.
All I can say is thank dog for Pilot unions, and the FAA.
Our crew was late but did finally arrive. The gate crew at
MSP thanked the passengers for not beating them up. The agent checking boarding
passes was the same woman that checked me in. She gave me a hug.
Not knowing what to expect I checked my app midflight, and
low and behold, someone at Alaska did their work that day and moved our plane
to the same terminal as the departing plane for ANC. And if that wasn’t enough,
they held the departing plane so myself, and about 20 other travelers could
make their connection.
Bravo Alaska Air.
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