Surveying, Mapping and GIS

Not quite the ordeal that Jeff Thurston had in travel, but some hiccups nonetheless…

Some frustrations of the flight – at the last minute they cancelled the first leg of my flight to message doesn’t provide any information on how to remedy things, just “SOL”.

Reasons cited: Weather. However, the weather in both Scranton and Philadelphia, are fine. So I check the airport site, and they still show it on schedule. I then check US Airways, and they show it cancelled… After calling them, I end up working my way through the automated system until I finally reach a human, and then end up getting transferred to someone else, because I’m beyond the contiguous 48 states – “International Flight”…

Anyways, I need to fly to Pittsburgh instead. The backstory here is that, although Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is called an “International” airport, the reality is that you still need to take a prop plane to a “real” airport like Pittsburgh…

Anyways, this seems sorted out. So I arrive at the airport well over an hour in advance – but have to wait quite a while at the check-in counter, for all the other folks who didn’t get the news about their Philly flight cancellation. Things go slooowly. Finally, I get to the counter, and my check-in process involves five minutes of tapping on the computer… thought that was already worked out.

So on to TSA. As a humorous note, I saw on the TSA website that while gels and liquids are prohibited, they say gel bras worn are OK. Must have had a few issues there, to get to the point… Anyways, I have some ornery jerk just ahead of me who refuses to take off his shoes… after some back-and-forth, they whisk him aside, he finally whips the shoes off for their X-ray machine. Slip-on penny loafers, no big deal. Meanwhile they are going over some 80-year-old woman and her 60-year-old daughter with Downs syndrome… Guys, I don’t think we have to worry about these two characters hijacking any planes.

Finally, by the time I get to the gate, they are already boarding. I don’t usually have delays anything like this. Who knew there could be such silly drama in little ole’ Scranton, PA.

Anyways, as I write this I am in Pittsburgh – finally some coffee, a bite to eat, and a little less grumpy. However, they don’t have WiFi… So now I am posting this from McCarran, Las Vegas.