My Travel Ordeal

Stories such as the one I am about to tell are not uncommon, but I'll go ahead and share anyway.

I was flying from Salt Lake City via Denver to Fargo Saturday. I made it to Denver OK, but then learned that my next leg was delayed two hours. Great, I thought. I'll have to be picked up from the airport at 12:30 am. Later, though, the flight was pushed back another half hour, then another hour. All told, it was to be 3.5 hours late. Lo and behold, 11 pm approaches, and I'm ready to board, at which time I learn the flight is canceled, as was the flight to Billings at the next gate. So that means there are four planes worth of people (the two canceled flights and the two planes of people who missed connections) who need accommodations and reassignment. We all headed for the one customer service desk. I've heard that, in this situation, you should call the customer service line to get taken care of instead of waiting in line. However, Frontier Airlines does not have a 24-hour phone number, unless you want to order a gift card. So I stood in line for an hour, commiserating with a young gal from Billings and an old couple also headed to Fargo.

At this time, I figured my options were 1) the 10:40 am flight the next day, 2) the 7:30 pm flight the next day (in which case I'd tell them just to send me back to Utah), or 3) another airline. I ended up receiving a noon flight on United, which wasn't too bad of a resolution. I also got a night at the Doubletree, breakfast and lunch vouchers (worth a paltry combined $12), and $150 towards a future flight (I was expecting a larger amount for this). I did not roll into the Doubletree until 1:30 am, thanks in large part to the fact that the Denver airport is in the middle of nowhere (25 minutes by shuttle to the hotel). Also, what's up with this piece of "art" at DIA?

(Note: CC license for this photo here.)

Which of the four horsemen of the apocalypse rides this one? My money is on "famine."

I was faced with two more ignominies before I could reach my destination. First, likely due to my recent flight switch and my one-way status, I was selected for additional screening at the airport (pat-down, luggage search, etc.). Although intrusive, this may have sped my way through security, and I had nothing overly embarrassing in my luggage, so it wasn't too bad.

Second, after I was ensconced in my first-row seat on the little 50-seater airplane that would take me to North Dakota, the flight attendant asked for a volunteer from rows 1-4 to move to an exit-row seat further back. Nobody else piped up, so I thought I'd be a good guy and get some extra leg room, so I raised my hand. I immediately felt volunteer's remorse as I saw that I would be sitting to an apparent ex-football player that probably weighed 275 pounds. In the window seat. I was able to survive his bad smell, loud nasal exhale, and blocking of the armrest for the two-hour flight. I'm not sure why the attendant needed two people in the exit-row seat. This guy could have handled the door in an emergency, although he may have gotten stuck in the opening, resigning us all to a fiery death. As things turned out, I guess I would been the sole survivor of such an incident.

Finally, I leave you with a recommendation. Chef Jimmy's Bistro is a good place to eat at the Denver airport.