Yearly Archives: 2010

I really dislike airports.

Airports are about as horrible as hospitals, though obviously for different reasons.

Yesterday was one huge annoyance after another. To begin with, airports are just plain stressful. Standing in long lines with heavy bags is not my idea of fun, or anybody’s else, I’m sure.

Going through security is a pain in the ass. Having to go through the new body scanner just outright pissed me off, especially because the other line that I almost ended up in didn’t have to go through it. Why? Why doesn’t everyone have to endure this if it’s supposed to be added security? What’s the point of having these big fancy machines if only 50% (or less!) of people are put through them?

I’ve read some articles about these machines and I understand both the pros and cons. I understand it’s for added security, because we have to protect ourselves from those big bad terrorists who apparently must be too stupid to come up with other ways to get us (I’m sure surgical implantation isn’t too far-fetched). It reminds me of those days back in middle school and high school when bomb threats and gun threats were surfacing. Dress codes and see-thru backpacks were preventative measures for some schools. While I suppose they’re helpful, these things are not going to completely dissuade someone to bring a bomb or gun to school. If they’re determined, they’ll find a way. If a terrorist wants to get on a plane and blow it up or hijack it, they’ll find a way.

I don’t want to start a huge debate on this topic, but the bottom line is that Americans are just too complacent and they’re too consumed by fear. Honestly, I’m more worried about a plane malfunctioning than somebody blowing it up.

One other thing regarding the body scanner/infringement upon our rights issue, before I move on—don’t even bring up the “just don’t fly” argument. Yeah, there are other ways to travel, but in most cases they are extremely inconvenient and oftentimes they’re just not plausible. If I need to get to Japan, I’m not going to drive days to the coast, then spend days (or more likely, weeks) on a boat. That’s just plain ridiculous.

Anyway, after being forced to go through the body scanner and getting really ticked off about that, we discover that our flight is delayed by 30 minutes. Initially this is just one more annoyance, because we didn’t even think about this causing problems with our 45-minute layover.

Everyone with short connections was called up to the counter. This was about half the plane, so the line was pretty long, and by the time Chris and I got to the front, the delay was closer to 45 minutes. They announced that they were fairly certain we could make it in time, as long as everyone boarded quickly. Sure, okay.

Boarding is another thing I hate about airports. You always have at least twenty assholes push their way in front of you. And it’s never quick.

By the time the plane was completely boarded and started taxiing, we were about an hour behind schedule. When we got to Denver and started deboarding, it was 7:07. Our scheduled departure time was 7:05. Ack.

We hauled ass through the Denver airport. Let me tell you, running through an airport is an awesome experience. Especially when the running is more like quickly hobbling, because you have two heavy bags strapped to you, and you can only run for a few seconds because you’re too short of breath. I don’t know if it was because we’d been flying, or because of Denver’s high altitude, or because I’m just really out of shape, but my chest was killing me by the time we made it to our gate. Fortunately, we made it in time for our plane, but just barely. If we hadn’t run through the airport, looking like idiots, we probably would’ve missed it by just a minute or two.

I wouldn’t have minded getting stuck in Denver too much, as long as the airline paid for the hotel stay. But apparently, from what I overheard, all they would have given us would have been a discount on a future flight. Lame.