As I drive toward the airport, I wonder if this is the first time in years that I’ll miss my flight. Packing wasn’t the issue. It had been a quick affair, requiring less than five minutes to throw everything needed for a quick weekend trip into a duffel.
No, it was the regrettable decision of heading back to the office before leaving town. I have plenty to do. But it could have waited, and I lingered too long. Now I’ll arrive deep into boarding time. And it doesn’t take long to fill the seats of a CRJ-200. Will I make my flight?
Perks of a Regional Airport
Parking is as annoying as ever. I hate the turn into the lot. The entrance is narrow, and I hit the curb half the time. I find the first available spot in the lowest section of the lot, immediately grateful for the tiny size of our local airport.
As I approach the terminal, I barely make out the announcement: “Paging Ian Snyder, if you’re in the terminal, please make your way to the gate.” I’m here, I’m here. Just give me a minute.
Or maybe two minutes. TSA PreCheck turns security screening into a 90-second affair, from ID check to retrieving my belongings off the conveyor. There is one of me to a whopping four TSA staff.
The gate agent calls my name before I’ve finished collecting my stuff. I’m his one remaining passenger, and his relief is as great as mine. I’d made it with a couple minutes to spare before boarding ends.
All’s Well That Ends Well
I spend most of a minute finding an overhead bin to store my bag, one of the few downsides of being last onto the plane. Luckily, I didn’t have to gate check it, continuing my streak of 2+ years without gate checking anything. Even frequently flying CRJs.
I settle into my seat and check my phone. It’s been just shy of 8 minutes from the moment I parked the car. Wow. It’s always quick flying out of Arcata, but not this quick. I don’t think I’ll ever replicate this experience.
There is a side of me that wants to, though. It would be amazing to plan every trip this close to the wire. I’d save tons of time. But it comes with risk. Hit a few extra stoplights on my way to the airport, and I’m hosed. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. Add in a 5-minute cushion and I think I’ll be fine.
While nowhere near as stressful, this experience also brought last fall’s near-fiasco to mind.
How close have you cut it to missing a flight? I’m wondering who else flies out of a regional airport where you can push things this close to the wire.
A great report! BGR was one of the first centers at which TSA tested the “ID Only” option. It has enough wealthy vacationers to have a PreCheck (and typically 4 security officers plus supervisor during the morning and afternoon shifts). The surface parking lot is a disgrace in terms of maintenance (watch those potholes) but it would enable that same 8-minute jaunt.
The ID-only scan does help.
Gotta make it up to Maine one of these days. Been on the list a while. It’s just so far from California.
What airport?
Arcata-Eureka (ACV)
DId you miss the earthquake???
I slept through last weekend’s earthquake while it apparently shook up the place in the early hours of the morning. Acquaintances in the same area got up and saw things shaking, but I missed it all in my sleep.
About flying out, I cut it close at some regional airports in the Midwest, but the place where I used to most often cut it closest (without missing flights) was DCA — but that was before the TSA came into being.
At some small regional airports, the TSA can shut down the screening checkpoint even before the departure of the flight/flights. Before TSA, the screening checkpoints at some of these airports used to remain open until the last passenger flight had departed.
Crazy you slept through it! It was a violent one.
Yeah…I think ACV shuts down TSA screening during some periods of the day. Luckily, they hadn’t by the time I’d arrived.
Nope. Was here for it. Woke me up in my house. Not much damage in Ferndale overall, but Rio Dell, where my parents live, somehow got hit much harder.