Technical note: Still dealing with laptop issues as Natalie may have gone to a better place. Well, given that she has lived in Kansas City and Delaware that really isn't saying much but let's say I now have less hope for a quick and easy solution. I have gotten Julie back up and running but as an eight year old laptop she has a few quirks. Such as I am not sure how to hook her up to my cable modem so I am on dial up at the moment. I knew I kept that AOL account for a reason. Again, posts may be short and sporadic for the near future. I'll make up for it, I promise.
Now that I live in Philadelphia...well, I don't actually live in Philadelphia. Don't really live anywhere near Philadelphia. More like, "Now that I regularly fly out of Philadelphia I have had to learn to live with the wonders that is the Philadelphia airport and U.S. Airways."
On the surface the Philly airport has a lot going for it. Right off the expressway, on the right side of the city for me, a large parking garage connected to the terminal, and even a Chick-Fil-A inside. However, it still seems to annoy me to no end. First off, can anyone explain to me how the parking works there? There is a remote lot that I a) can't ever seem to find and b) the wait for the buses always seems to resemble the line for the last copter out of Saigon. As a result I pay more to park in the main garage. Every time I go I get a ticket and when I leave to pay I a) hand the cashier my ticket, b) they then ask what state my plates are from (for a reason that baffles me), c) am told that the machine can't read my ticket even though my time is clearly printed on it, and d) that they need to call in a supervisor. This happens every single trip. I was accused of trying to cheat the system this time around. Quite annoying given how freaking expensive it is.
U.S. Airways is the main airline in Philly and as a result is the one I use whenever I need to get anywhere directly. However you should really be careful of any airline where landing in a river is not an uncommon experience. That doesn't bother me (in fact, the actual flying of the planes has been the least of my worries). No, it is the cost cutting measures that are driving me insane.
First off, they charge to check bags. That is not a big deal for me because I just consider that a cost of doing business. It sucks and is horrible but I either need to check a bag or don't and that is never dependent on a company's policy. However that puts me in the minority as now on any flight you have people who have gone beyond bringing on a carry on and have now brought on luggage. This makes getting oberhead bin space a freaking war of attrition and people like me with our wee little overnight bags suffer for it.
This is also an airline that at one point started charging you for that half cup of soda that is three quarters ice. They've cancelled that policy now but I still spend a portion of my pre-flight routine buying gummi bears and Vitamin Water for the flight. (Don't ask why I now drink Vitamin Water. I've been brainwashed by the concept that flavored water is somehow healthy for me.) While they have assigned seats for some reason this makes boarding the plane more difficult than Southwest's Oklahoma Land Rush method. I even think their seats are three inches too short. But they are the one airline I can use to get where I need to go so I use them.
Do I have a point to this rant? Not really. But it makes me wish I had a few more options to get me where I needed to be. Either that or I must really start to work the bugs out of my teleporter.
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