Flying

 A few days ago I had to fly to Edmonton, Alberta for a Celebration of life for my aunt. She was the last of my father's generation and it was important for me to say a proper goodbye. Some families take time to have the Celebration of life, and some do it very quickly both are correct. My cousins decided to do it quickly. 

To attend I had to book a flight with very short notice and I went to Google Flights. For those of you who have not used this, it is a very easy way to find the best and cheapest flight from where you are to where you need to go.

I booked with Flair airlines and the experience was not as bad as I had feared. At this time there are numerous stories of delays at the airport. The news is full of reports of people taking three hours to get through security because of the lack of personnel. So, I dreaded the hurry up and wait issue that I thought would be my fate. 

My anticipated fears were not realized. I arrived at the airport 2 hours before my flight, parked my car and was transported to the airport. When I arrived there were only a few people at the counter and I waited about 2 minutes before I talked to the clerk. She checked my vaccination status and I went to security. Security was busy but not that busy. I got into line and was through in about 7 minutes. The delay was because I had a knee replaced and when I went through security the machine beeped. The security guard must have been bored, I told him the beeping was caused by the knee replacement, but he used the wand. He used the wand about four times going over my entire body but he used the wand about six times on my knee. I was not sure if he thought by waving the wand more times the wand would make a different sound. It did not, so eventually I was waived through.

The flight was on a new 737 and it was not packed so there was room to stretch. Because it was a short flight they said they would not be around with snacks or the drink cart. That was fine by me.  I was expecting some inflight entertainment, but there was none unless you had the app for your phone. Since I know little about phones and apps I  did not have access sto entertainment. The flight was on time.

The return flight was delayed by 9 hours due to a staff shortage. I should have checked my phone before I went to bed. My flight left at 6:00 AM and I had to be at the airport by at least 4:00. So I arranged for a shuttle to pick me up at the hotel at 3:25 AM. When I woke at 2:45 AM I got up showered, and dressed and just before I went down to the lobby, I checked my email and noticed a message from the airline letting me know of the delay. It had been sent at 1100 PM. I cancelled my seat on the shuttle and went back to bed.

When I arrived at the airport the next afternoon, there was no problem checking in, but the security line was a bit longer. However, this time I told the security guard about my knee operation and when the machine beeped, they just waved me through.

So, if I am flying in the future  I will download the airline app to have access to inflight entertainment and I will check my email and text messages for information on delays, so I won't have to get up in the very early morning if I don't need to get up.