On the runway

10 hours.

Richmond "International" Airport is the smallest airport that I frequent. It is fairly empty on most days and has a whopping 12 gates. O'Hare it isn't. Under no circumstances should I have to run to catch a flight. Unless of course, the pilot decides to close the doors and leave 10 minutes before the scheduled take off time.

As I'm standing in line yesterday, I hear my name announced over the loud speaker followed closely by the phrase "you have 2 minutes to report to the gate." There is a man in front of me who can't seem to accept that he has to remove his keys from his pocket before he goes through the metal detector. I'm antsy.

I proceed through the terrorist checkpoint, grab my shoes and run (hair flying, fat flapping, shoes dangling from forefingers) to the gate. They seal the door after me. We are moving before I get to my seat. We are on the runway and then we sit. And sit. And sit. For an hour.

I arrive at Dulles (for those of you who know the east coast, you are thinking - why in the hell did she fly to Dulles? Is it even possible to fly from Richmond to Dulles? I answer - yes, yes it is) and my plane to Phoenix is late. We sit in the airport for 3 hours. We load, depart from the gate, get in line and then sit. And sit. And sit. For nearly an hour before going back to the gate to get more feul since air traffic control changed our route. Another hour later we taxi and fly.

No, United doesn't provide food on their flights unless you pay extra for it.

Why is it that we pay and pay and pay for consistently shitty service? We expend more time, energy, and money for less return. When did society stop working on an ROI basis? Why is it acceptable to not care?

These are the things I pondered while on the runway yesterday.