AIRPORT ANXIETY
They say opposites attract. As for airport travel, nothing could be more true for my husband and me.
The flight we took to meet our new granddaughter in November was the tip of the iceberg. We almost missed that coveted flight due to my inability to leave the house until it was spotless, well, more or less. After all, the bathmat needed to be washed and hung to dry! Does the kitchen need to be sparkling clean, or is it my airport anxiety wishing we get to the gate and hop on the plane as it is ready for take-off?
My husband, on the other hand, would prefer sitting on one of the meticulously cushioned seats, which his cousin Herbie Gordon and Eric, Herbie’s son, now the owner of Everlast Seat Covers in Linden, New Jersey, masterfully crafted for the terminals. The family owned-and-operated business Herbie opened upon his return from WWII military service, which he operated until his death, with his wife Beatrice, the office manager at his side, now is run by Eric. Beatrice told me that Herbie was the only one who could taper the corners of the seat covers perfectly, a craft he taught their son.
Instead, that day, as my husband sat by the front door of our house and asked if I was ready for him to call an Uber, to his dismay, I kept saying, “Not yet.” Finally, checking the time, in a panic, I gave the go-ahead. Once on our way in the Uber, I could see my husband’s tension mounting as we hit a detour to the airport.
When we arrived at Newark Airport, now formally known as Newark Liberty International Airport, 50 minutes before take-off, an agent scoffed that we were too late to stow our luggage and make the flight. I ran from agent to agent to find someone who would listen.
Then, it was my turn to listen when the special agent for “latecomers” came around from the kiosk to look me in the eye as she tagged our one piece of luggage for stowing. She lectured me on the mandatory need to arrive one hour before domestic flight times and two hours before international flights. She continued by cautioning that our luggage may not arrive at LAX when we did and that we may need to return to the airport in Los Angeles to retrieve it.
I held back on all the comments I wanted to make and anxiously said that was fine and we would have no problem returning to LAX for our luggage. Nothing could deter me from getting to meet our granddaughter when scheduled.
What I felt like saying to the angry agent was, if we’re so late, why are you standing here and lecturing me instead of letting us get to the gate? With that, we ran through the airport, where, along the way, we dropped off the lone tagged suitcase. Did I learn my lesson?
Huffing and puffing, we finally got to the TSA line, where we tossed our bottled water, pulled off our shoes, and whisked through security. With the clock ticking, we gathered our belongings and ran to the open door of the runway.
Last November, we were “those people” who zoom onto the plane and rush to a seat as the flight crew is ready to close the doors to the aircraft. Give me a break; our delayed entry wasn’t that bad. We were in our assigned seats for 10 minutes or longer before they told the flight attendants to make a final check and be seated for take-off. Phew!
After the six-hour flight, we meandered through the airport. Making our way down a few escalators, we found our lonely luggage standing next to the baggage claim belt as if to say, "You made it!"
We made it to a grand meeting of our baby granddaughter Stevie Hunter. Trust me, Baby Stevie Hunter was more than worth the run through the airport and the airport agent’s grief. After two glorious weeks, we took a vacation within a vacation and visited Death Valley National Park with our cousins.
Upon return to the Los Angeles area, our cousin Jeffrey drove us to LAX for our flight home. I cringed when he suggested he needed to get back to his home to get ready for work the next day and would drop us off at the airport five hours before our scheduled flight time. But, was my husband ever happy!
I find everything about airline travel exhausting and aggravating. There are so many notorious changes on each flight. Aircraft changes, crew shifts, and canceled flights, to name a few. Gate changes are a given.
Maybe the most exceptionally aggravating are seat changes. Why pick seats before purchasing tickets when the airline agents so callously change the ones you chose without asking?
Those topped the list of drawbacks before the coronavirus pandemic. The expanded list of aggravating airline travel problems worsened with the mask mandate necessitating sitting with your mouth and nose covered for many hours.
On one flight, en route to Florida pre-pandemic, as we were ready for take-off, a drug addict plopped down in the one empty seat next to mine. He was dozing and dribbling on my sleeve along the way to our destination. Arguably, a mandated mask would have been an advantage then.
When Cousin Jeffrey dropped us off five hours before our scheduled take-off it meant an additional five long hours masked at the airport and having my ears pinched by the elastic of the face coverings as we flew 3000 miles to get home. With that, I could only think of the sweet revenge of getting to the airport at the last minute on our next flight.
That grueling incident in November prompted me to survey how our children feel about travel. The results are in. Rina and Moss agree with their father and prefer to get to the airport hours before flight time. Rina’s husband, Eric, voted for an early airport arrival. He added, “, especially on international flights.” Judd, our eldest, says he and his wife, Dena, are neutral.
Did I learn my lesson? Check with me on our next flight.
