When you travel as much as I do, you develop an appreciation for the "rhythms" of certain travel processes.
I know when a flight is going to start boarding because certain activities start happening in a definite sequence in the gate area.
I can tell when a flight is going to be delayed when I'm sitting on the plane at the gate because something just doesn't "seem right" although I can't usually identify exactly what it is.
When I land at most airports-whether at my final destination or at a connecting hub-I can almost always "guess" the right direction to take to the ground-transportation area or to my connecting flight.
Time to Go to the Airport...
My travel rituals are "refined" to the point where I know what I can and can't wear through the metal detector, where I can find a healthy snack in most airports, and what time I have to leave home or my hotel to have enough time to safely make my flight.
In some cities, this time varies depending on what time of day it is-if I'm taking a late-afternoon flight, I have to leave extra time to allow for rush-hour traffic.
If I'm taking an early - morning flight, this usually isn't a problem. And if it's an airport I'm already familiar with, as is the case with most major US locations, I have it down to a near-science.
So a 6:00 am flight from Las Vegas back home to Raleigh should have been a piece of cake.
Wake up at 4:00 am, 30 minutes to get ready and packed, 25 minutes to the airport, and I'm there a little more than an hour before departure time.
Since the hotel shuttle wasn't running that early, I inquired the night before about getting a taxi. I should point out that this hotel was in a somewhat outlying part of town, not on "The Strip" where you can get a taxi literally any time of the day or night.
The front-desk clerks were very helpful and explained that I should call when I'm leaving my room in the morning and the bell desk would have a taxi ready and waiting by the time I got to the front lobby.
It Should Have Taken One Call...
Taking her at her word, I called at around 4:25 am as I was preparing to head downstairs, and proceeded down to the lobby.
When I got there ten minutes later (my room was at the far end of the hotel) I expected to walk right out and see my taxi.
When it wasn't there, I asked the bellman outside to check on it for me. He came out a minute later and said there were none parked at the curb, but they had called and one should be there in a few minutes.
When ten, and then 15 minutes had passed with no sign of a taxi anywhere, I went inside myself to find out what was going on.
The other bellman said he had called, but it could be another 15-20 minutes before it arrived. When I told him about the instructions the front-desk clerk had given me the night before, he grimaced, hesitated, and said, "Um, that's not really correct."
Can I Start Getting Nervous Now?
Sensing my unease with this, he asked what time my flight was. When I told him, he asked me to wait outside for a minute and then went back behind the front desk.
Two minutes later, he emerged from the front doors holding a set of keys, and directing me towards a large SUV parked at the curb.
He said, "There's no way you're going to get there in time if we wait for the taxi to come, so I went in and got permission to take the company van and drive you there myself."
It Pays to Do the Right Thing!
He loaded up my bags, and headed out on the nearly deserted highway to deliver me to the terminal door.
The line at security was running a bit slowly (why do they insist on training new people at peak departure times?) but I made it to the gate with about 15 minutes to spare, and made my upgrade as a bonus.
There are times when lapses in communication and errors in the process create situations that are neither appropriate nor acceptable from the customer's perspective.
I know when a flight is going to start boarding because certain activities start happening in a definite sequence in the gate area.
I can tell when a flight is going to be delayed when I'm sitting on the plane at the gate because something just doesn't "seem right" although I can't usually identify exactly what it is.
When I land at most airports-whether at my final destination or at a connecting hub-I can almost always "guess" the right direction to take to the ground-transportation area or to my connecting flight.
Time to Go to the Airport...
My travel rituals are "refined" to the point where I know what I can and can't wear through the metal detector, where I can find a healthy snack in most airports, and what time I have to leave home or my hotel to have enough time to safely make my flight.
In some cities, this time varies depending on what time of day it is-if I'm taking a late-afternoon flight, I have to leave extra time to allow for rush-hour traffic.
If I'm taking an early - morning flight, this usually isn't a problem. And if it's an airport I'm already familiar with, as is the case with most major US locations, I have it down to a near-science.
So a 6:00 am flight from Las Vegas back home to Raleigh should have been a piece of cake.
Wake up at 4:00 am, 30 minutes to get ready and packed, 25 minutes to the airport, and I'm there a little more than an hour before departure time.
Since the hotel shuttle wasn't running that early, I inquired the night before about getting a taxi. I should point out that this hotel was in a somewhat outlying part of town, not on "The Strip" where you can get a taxi literally any time of the day or night.
The front-desk clerks were very helpful and explained that I should call when I'm leaving my room in the morning and the bell desk would have a taxi ready and waiting by the time I got to the front lobby.
It Should Have Taken One Call...
Taking her at her word, I called at around 4:25 am as I was preparing to head downstairs, and proceeded down to the lobby.
When I got there ten minutes later (my room was at the far end of the hotel) I expected to walk right out and see my taxi.
When it wasn't there, I asked the bellman outside to check on it for me. He came out a minute later and said there were none parked at the curb, but they had called and one should be there in a few minutes.
When ten, and then 15 minutes had passed with no sign of a taxi anywhere, I went inside myself to find out what was going on.
The other bellman said he had called, but it could be another 15-20 minutes before it arrived. When I told him about the instructions the front-desk clerk had given me the night before, he grimaced, hesitated, and said, "Um, that's not really correct."
Can I Start Getting Nervous Now?
Sensing my unease with this, he asked what time my flight was. When I told him, he asked me to wait outside for a minute and then went back behind the front desk.
Two minutes later, he emerged from the front doors holding a set of keys, and directing me towards a large SUV parked at the curb.
He said, "There's no way you're going to get there in time if we wait for the taxi to come, so I went in and got permission to take the company van and drive you there myself."
It Pays to Do the Right Thing!
He loaded up my bags, and headed out on the nearly deserted highway to deliver me to the terminal door.
The line at security was running a bit slowly (why do they insist on training new people at peak departure times?) but I made it to the gate with about 15 minutes to spare, and made my upgrade as a bonus.
There are times when lapses in communication and errors in the process create situations that are neither appropriate nor acceptable from the customer's perspective.
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