We Don’t Fly DFW
“Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes… “and that I WILL be delayed in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
When I first moved to Louisiana, the logical flight path home would be to fly from Baton Rouge to Grand Island. Small airports with little TSA impact, never more than 30-45 minutes of driving on either side, easy parking situations. It seems like a perfect travel experience. My connections would always be through the DFW airport, which also appears to be ideal. It’s American Airlines’ primary hub, which should mean that if any of their airports is going to function correctly, it simply has to be this one… right?!
Wrong.
I believe that I may have gotten through once without delay in my ten years of travel. I must have been sharing that aircraft with some form of royalty or a billionaire’s nephew off to his freshman year at LSU. Every other trip has resulted in two hours’ delay MINIMUM.
I’ve been stuck overnight four or five times. It’s a special kind of hell to be delayed for three hours due to “weather in the area,” only to be told that the pilots didn’t make their connection from Cancun and can’t fly us to doubly-land-locked Nebraska. I hope they enjoyed their Piña Coladas while I waited in line for my voucher and 3 hour stay at the hotel Best Western.
I now expect these delays and have made the best of the inevitable. I know exactly which Starbucks is quickest for my burnt caffeination, which restaurants won’t give both me and my wallet a stomach-ache, and which bars don’t attract over-confident businessmen attempting to flatter un-impressed women just trying to get home to their husbands.
I have always made it to my destination, albeit typically 10 hours later than expected and incredibly exhausted. I am greeted on either side by my lovely Nebraskan parents or my beautiful Louisianian wife and dog — both equally valued as “home.” I suppose that makes all of the flight woes worth it.
…and boy, are my arms tired.
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