Consolidate Airline Inc.

So D and I flew out to Carleton for our 5th reunion this week (really fun!) and had some odd flying experiences … we booked on Northwest from Santa Barbara, through LA, to Minneapolis. When we got to the tiny airport in SB, there was no Northwest counter, so we checked in with American which was listed as operating the first leg of the journey anyway.

When our American flight landed in LA, we of course had to get to the Northwest terminal. Nothing in LA is very well planned … this involved getting on a bus for a quick tour of the runways before we pulled up to these random closed, unlabeled doors. After a few seconds, the bus driver let us off when the guard came out. The guard was this tiny old LA blonde woman who informed the 25 of us that she needed us “up on the curb.” Then, she explained “When I open the door, you all have 15 seconds to get through or the alarm will sound. 15 seconds. So I need you all to work with me, okay? Are you ready?”

Seriously.

We performed admirably, despite the fact that Danielle was completely cracking up laughing. It was really funny, but I’m pretty sure the lady was serious.

Anyway, after that “behind the scenes” tour of LAX, our second and final flight from LA to Minnesota was on a Delta plane. We booked on Northwest, but flew American and Delta. Now, Delta and Northwest merged or are merging or something, but it was still an odd feeling. It’s like Forest Gump would say, “Life is like booking an plane trip, you never know which airline you’re gonna get.”