Sorry for the lag time, but here's what happened after that last post from O'Hare.

The airline figured we'd depart only 8 minutes late despite the fact that our aircraft arrived at the gate right about when we were scheduled to depart.

They were wrong.

I know. Shocker, right?

We didn't leave all that late, all things considered, though  I think we taxied to Boise before we got clearance to take off. But, take off we did and the flight was reasonably uneventful. We landed safe and sound in Phoenix. PJ picked me up, brought me home, and hadn't changed the locks on the house. Oh, and not too much was destroyed in the checked bag.

I have to say that United Airlines personnel were in general very professional and quite pleasant to deal with during the entire trip despite the glitches at the gate in Chicago which I've come to expect simply because it's O'Hare. Not only were 75% of my flights on time, 50% actually landed early.

But what a difference between the Hartford and Phoenix airports. I had a checked bag each way on the trip. It was much easier to retrieve my bag in Hartford. Fewer people crowded around the baggage carousel. Faster off-loading. OK, it's not nearly as busy an airport, but the people there were also a bit friendlier.

In Phoenix, which videos on airport shuttles tell you is the world's friendliest airport, people were crowded around the baggage carousels, pushing and shoving, not allowing people near the belts so they might be able to get their luggage and get on with their lives because "ME FIRST! ME FIRST!" is a way of life here.

It's not just the airports. There are vast differences between CT and AZ, but I'll leave that for another post.

Suffice to say, if you're going to fly the friendly skies, I still recommend United. Just avoid flying through Chicago O'Hare if at all possible.

        

 

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