Frequent Flyers

[PawDawg]

I have a newfound respect for any of you guys who have jobs that require lots of flying on commercial airlines. Thank goodness I don't have to fly very often!

For the most part, my experience with NWA was good until the little crack head working the Memphis gate counter decided to stop boarding so that she and the rest of her highly uneducated working buddies could go hit the pipe. My 4:00PM arrival in Monroe had just turned into a 9:00 arrival. For a split second, I could see myself running past the security guard and boarding the plane, but somehow a brief moment of sanity prevailed.

Being desperate to get home asap and not spend money on $4 airport draft beer for the next five hours, I decided I'd lean on the BBB faithful to help me out of my jamb. The battery was down on my computer, so I called Dwayne to get Cool Hand Clyde's phone number. I was unable to get Dwayne on any of his five phones, so I called someone else who I knew may be surfing BBB on a Friday afternoon. Soonerdawg was able to break away from work for a moment to send a PM and an email message to Cool Hand Clyde who just happened to be logged on to BBB. Within five minutes my phone rang. It was Clyde, who generously offered to let me ride into Louisiana with him on his way to the Tech game.

My "crack head" flight was scheduled to arrive in Monroe at 9:00PM. Clyde made time great on the drive down and I was able to get to West Monroe a few minutes sooner than I would have had I waited on the NWA puddle jumper. I was able to listen to some good old Louisiana High school football on the way home, we talked Tech, and by my very conservative calculations (5 hrs x 5 beers/hr x $4) I saved at least $100 and an upset stomach.

Thanks to Sooner and Clyde for coming to the rescue. Now it's time to start searching for my luggage.

[DocMarvin362]

WAY TO GO CLYDE!!!! What an awesome way to help support another of the TECH family.


I hope that you are going to buying some Febreeze or other air freshener for your car before coming home though.

[DogsWin]

Glad you and the network got it worked out M. I hope that you also got a well deserved refund from NWA for the inconvenience! Usually sticking to American or Delta whenever possible is worth the extra $$$.

Just a tip- if you ever get a chance to fly US Airways, then by all means, walk instead. That way you and your luggage will safely arrive in the same place at the same time and typically faster than if you got on their flight.

[Dirtydawg]

What do you expect to happen when you break cardinal rule #1. Don't ever be out of town on game day unless you live out of town. It's a good thing the Don didn't know you had travel plans on gameday. He might reassign your tickets.

[CARTEK]

They aren't crackheads...they're just not very smart. That also goes for the TSA morons...most of them couldn't find a naked woman in a whore house.

[markay714]

I have a newfound respect for any of you guys who have jobs that require lots of flying on commercial airlines. Thank goodness I don't have to fly very often!

For the most part, my experience with NWA was good until the little crack head working the Memphis gate counter decided to stop boarding so that she and the rest of her highly uneducated working buddies could go hit the pipe. My 4:00PM arrival in Monroe had just turned into a 9:00 arrival. For a split second, I could see myself running past the security guard and boarding the plane, but somehow a brief moment of sanity prevailed.

Being desperate to get home asap and not spend money on $4 airport draft beer for the next five hours, I decided I'd lean on the BBB faithful to help me out of my jamb. The battery was down on my computer, so I called Dwayne to get Cool Hand Clyde's phone number. I was unable to get Dwayne on any of his five phones, so I called someone else who I knew may be surfing BBB on a Friday afternoon. Soonerdawg was able to break away from work for a moment to send a PM and an email message to Cool Hand Clyde who just happened to be logged on to BBB. Within five minutes my phone rang. It was Clyde, who generously offered to let me ride into Louisiana with him on his way to the Tech game.

My "crack head" flight was scheduled to arrive in Monroe at 9:00PM. Clyde made time great on the drive down and I was able to get to West Monroe a few minutes sooner than I would have had I waited on the NWA puddle jumper. I was able to listen to some good old Louisiana High school football on the way home, we talked Tech, and by my very conservative calculations (5 hrs x 5 beers/hr x $4) I saved at least $100 and an upset stomach.

Thanks to Sooner and Clyde for coming to the rescue. Now it's time to start searching for my luggage.

Now, that's smart thinking and good use of resources - expected of Tech graduates. Sounds like a fun trip home - good think it happened before a home game!

Since that is the norm/expected for Tech grads, why doesn't our athletic administration use that sort of creativity to advance our athletic program?

[Abominable Gorilla]

So, last weekend I flew in on Continental for the UCA game. I left Tampa on time, but we circled New Orleans for three hours because of the hurricane in Houston. Finally, we redirected through Louisiana and landed about the same time that my flight to Shreveport was taking off (they couldn't hold the plane for 5 minutes). BUT, they are kind enough to schedule me a flight for the next evening. Obviously, this isn't going to work because it would result in my missing the game. So, what about Monroe? Gone already. What about Alexandria? It started boarding five minutes ago, you can't make it. Fortunately, they underestimated the gorilla workouts. Upon boarding, I called my ride who drove from New Orleans to Ruston with a pass through Shreveport to come get me and got them to drive BACK to Alexandria.

The trip back was almost as fun. I got to Shreveport to fly to Houston and was told that my plane had been delayed to 8:53pm because of the hurricane in Houston. My Houston connection left at 9pm. But, they were kind enough to have a flight scheduled with American for the next morning. So, I thought, if they can schedule flights on American, maybe I'll go talk to them. Sure enough, American had a connecting flight leaving in 20 minutes. Well then, why did Continental not schedule that? American doesn't know and can't change the flight since I purchased through Cont. So, I talk to the Cont dude, but he was not willing to schedule me that flight because I would only have a 30 minute layover. Fortunately, the crushing grip of reason (or the extra practice I've put in to my jedi manipulation) changed his mind after a brief argument and I made the flight.

The point of all this is, for the fourth consecutive airplane trip, the company I purchased the ticket with was unable to get me to the final destination written on the ticket on the same day written on the ticket.

I hate flying.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

I only wished you had called earlier. "I need to pick up a buddy at the airport" is a great excuse to leave work early, especially on TECH game Friday.