My brother Eric Joiner is a regular reader of my recruiting blog and happens to also be a senior sales executive with a major logistics integrator. Since he routinely sends me email opinions on my content, I have suckered him into being a regular contributor to Logistics Recruiter.com. Look for more of his contributions in the coming weeks on a wide array of current logistics and supply chain related topics!
It's all about the miles...
As a professional logistician and sales executive, I’ve spent 24 years traveling for business. I am usually flying off somewhere every week. I live in Atlanta, which ipso facto, also makes me a slave to our hometown carrier, Delta Airlines. I have a love/hate relationship with them.
I'm loyal because I have a gazillion frequent flyer miles with Delta, and with a family who thinks a vacation is a good thing … I convert those periodically in order to turn my business travel pain into a family trip to Aruba, etc. Regular travel also results in “status” with the airlines. Platinum or Gold Medallion is a good thing when an upgrade is needed!
Throw in a three hundred dollar a year Crown Room membership as well for those conference calls with customers or an email hook up when needed.
Lucky for me I enjoy business travel. I have friends and customers in many states and can navigate in northern New Jersey, Miami and Los Angeles almost as well as here in Atlanta. The United States is just one big neighborhood to me. I love that.
But I’m a masochist.
Travel today is so much harder than it was pre 9/11. TSA, “airport friendly” shoes, “man checks” at the scanners, now throw in the infamous “1-quart” bag and 3 oz. restrictions on carry on toiletries. Pretty soon, they will just make us lie down on the scanners and go from there. It would be nice if they could do my annual physical (without the 22 rifle treatment thank you) at the same time.
Those of us who travel regularly have the screening process down like cattle processing through an abattoir.
I personally find it irritating when amateur travelers get up to the scanner and act like it magically appeared there just now and are still fishing for coins when its time to go through the metal detector. I’ve already taken my slip on shoes off; otherwise, I’d probably wind up kicking some mom with child through the goal posts for 3 points. (Not really, but I do think that way occasionally.)
And then there was yesterday.
December 14, 2006. I spent the week jetting around the southeast with a trip to south Florida, then a US Airways flight to Charlotte for an important dinner meeting with a client. I spent the night in Charlotte, with a 9AM Delta flight back to ATL. That’s pretty typical for me. I got up at 6AM, did some email, then went to the CLT airport.
I walk out of the hotel and it's pea soup fog. I had to file an IFR flight plan just to drive to the airport, so I just know the travel day is going to be “lovely”.
Check in at Charlotte/Douglas International airport goes normally and I proceed to the above-mentioned screening process. I strip down to almost my skivvies and process on through the line. On getting redressed, I realize the Bluetooth earpiece that I use with my crackberry is missing.
The TSA guys are helpful, but after about 3 seconds decide that the scanner machine ate it. TSA stands for “Tough Shit A-hole” in this case. Great. Now I will spend the morning looking like I’m talking into my calculator … when I can get a signal. Don’t get me started on T-Mobile service in Charlotte … there is none. A roaming we will go.
Old School delays with a new school twist.
Flight 4475 is an Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) flight operated on behalf of Delta. A CRJ-200 equipped flight. (Canada Regional Jet … think drainpipe with wings.) I am at the gate an hour early because I’m a good little traveler and like most logistics folks I plan my work and work my plan.
Sitting at the gate with the hotel complimentary USA Today and paper cup coffee, all is normal save for the phone thing. Then comes the expected “delay” message, except it comes with the ring of my cell phone. Delta has kindly called with an automated message advising that the flight will be delayed to 11:30.
The gate agent announces nothing until about 8:30AM, that our airplane has diverted to Roanoke, Va. and the flight is delayed until 11:36AM. Okie dokie. Fog happens. Delta could have been flying a DC-3 that day. Old school weather. Nobody can do much about it, especially when the aircraft was made by Fisher-Price.
11:30 comes. 11:30 goes. No phone calls, no announcements … no airplane. Finally, after querying the gate agent, Ernest T. Bass advises that the plane is enroute from Roanoke to Charlotte. Normally I would have a carry on bag and being an experienced “travel pro” would have rebooked to another flight. However, as this was a 4-day trip this week, I checked a suit bag. No moving flights for me. I’m stuck.
Thrill a minute.
Finally at 2:00 we load up the toy airplane. 30 minutes later, we push back. It’s now 2:30 PM and my 9AM flight is departing. We taxi out to the runway and start our take off roll. The pilot kicks the tires and lights the fires and down the runway we go. 15 seconds and 100 knots into it … the pilot throws on the brakes, spoilers go up, thrust reversers go on. Scares the remaining nine passengers and me to death. I’m thinking, “smoke in the cockpit!” No such luck.
Chuck Yeager up front announces that we have been put into another 45-minute ground hold! In 24 years of flying in the back of the bus, this is the first time I’ve seen this. On return to Atlanta, I emailed a Delta MD-88 captain friend of mine and related this story to him. His exact words were “Holy Crap! That guy should get written up!”
After another 45 minutes twiddling thumbs, we departed without further incident and landed 35 minutes later in Atlanta. ATL has a beautiful new 1 billion dollar runway. “10/28” is specifically for commuter aircraft like the one I was on. There is only one problem. You have to cross two other runways to get to the terminal. That took 20 minutes.
My 9AM flight finally got to the gate around 4PM. It took two hours in Atlanta rush hour traffic to get home.
7PM. Home. I have accomplished nothing on this business day except frustration, exhaustion and stress. Such is the life of the road warrior. I related this story in gory detail to my bride over Chinese take out … who reminded me “It’s all about the miles”…
Next time I will write about how the TSA almost saved the airline industry, but then outsmarted themselves. Is that an oxymoron?
Ugh! What a day! Has this ever happened to you?
Comments