Travel Rant

Yesterday was a full plate for me. I had an interview in Rochester, NY with an insurance company. Yes, I have already accepted a position with another company, but the flight was already paid for, and it is never a bad idea to have a backup plan (what if my drug test gets switched with someone who is on drugs?).

So I got on four planes in 14 hours. Squeezed in a four-hour interview, as well as lunch. I also observed a few things that are absolutely insane when viewed from a third-party point of view. Some of those humorous and insane observations:

1. Nashville International Airport is a bit... off.
Really, it is one of the weirdest airports out there. At 5:15, I pull into long-term parking (long-term for one day is $8; Short-term for the same is $22). The parking attendant explains that if I park in "Long term lot B" I will get to park for free (I was in Long term lot "A"). So she tells me where Lot B is and away I go.

Folks... There is no Long-Term Lot B at the Nashville Airport! Their little map with the coupon sent me to the Thrifty Car Rental Parking lot (plainly visible were signs saying no civilian vehicles).

So I go to Economy Parking. No, it was not free. But it was only 8 bucks.

2. "Bus Stop" signs don't mean there really is a bus that comes by.
At the economy parking lot, a bus never came. That's OK, I arrived early enough to hoof it almost a mile to the terminal.

Also, No bus would admit to carrying folks back to the Economy lot when I arrived back in town. So again I walked it.

3. Airline Problems? It must be Delta
I've flown most of the major airlines. I will never select Delta on purpose, because there are always problems. This time, the tickets were purchased by the company and they chose Delta.

Dang.

Things Delta frequently does, that others rarely do:
- Change flight terminals... sometimes without alerting passengers or the TV screens with the flight information on them.
- Make passengers get on and off the plane on the tarmac. All the other airlines use those nifty enclosed ramps. Those ramps are really convenient when it is snowing / raining / etc.
- Delta flight attendants have worse attitudes than attendants from other airlines. They generally have a superiority complex. God help whomever they decide to pick on for that particular flight... but it's always somebody! (never was me)
- Every flight I've ever been on that was delayed was a Delta flight. In fact, I've only flown one Delta flight that was not delayed. Never have been delayed on any other airline.
- Overbook flights. 3 of the last four Delta flights I've taken were overbooked. Again, I've never seen a flight overbooked from any other carrier.

4. Reagan International Airport makes you go back through security screening between planes.
I'm not sure whether I like this or not.

5. Rochester, NY was not as bad as I expected.
They openly admit they are not NYC... and they are proud of it!