Back from Boston

This is a short post because I'm wiped out. Ten hours to get back home. Why? Well, normally I'm willing to accept blame when I do things that cause plans to go awry. However, today's misadventures I have to lay at the collective feet of USAirways. Let's start with my first flight of the morning, which was going to be Boston-Charlotte. Ehhhhhh! Wrong! UScare changed my flight to Boston-Washington because my BOS-CLT segment was delayed. Would've been nice if the skycap had told me that.

Then I get to DCA (Washington-National, which some of us call Reagan National to irritate the locals), where I've got a two-hour layover. No problem. I check the monitors for my gate, go get lunch at Friday's, then grab a seat at the gate listed on the monitors (Gate 25). It gets to be around 3:57, and there's no plane at the gate. WTF, over? So I go check the monitors again: the DCA-HSV flight moved to Gate 36. Anyone care to guess where that gate was? If you guessed the concourse I was just in, you'd be correct. And unlike some airports that allow you to go through security only ONCE, DCA makes you do it for every concourse. So I missed my plane.

The gate agent was helping another Huntsville passenger with the same problem. The agent didn't realize her error, as she said, "I made an announcement here before the plane left." Right. You made an announcement at the NEW gate. Where was the fa-king announcement at the previous gate announcing the departure change? Any compensation forthcoming? Of course not. However, the agent at least booked me on the next flight, which left at 7 p.m. Another three hours in DC. Yippee skippee. It is then that I am informed that UScare has a shuttle bus to take passengers from concourse to concourse to avoid having to go through security twice. Wouldn't THAT have been a useful piece of information to know at 3:57 p.m.?! In a word, GAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

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That said, I actually had a pretty good time in Boston. Managed to get in some sightseeing, got some business discussed for the Mars Foundation; had an enjoyable dinner/chat with my sister's buddy Lynn; bought a couple souvenirs; took NO pictures (because I'm lazy and didn't feel like lugging around the camera or having it stolen); and picked up some useful information about Ares at the JANNAF conference I was actually there to attend. I always get suckered in by those Northern cities in the spring and summer. Occasionally I need to visit in winter to remind myself of why I live in the South.

I had 178 emails awaiting me when I got home, and no doubt I have more awaiting me when I get to the office tomorrow. However, since the company is so adamant about sticking to my 40 hours, tomorrow will be a short day. Huzzah!

More ranting later, I'm sure.