Smooth travels
20/07/24 03:31
We’ve dropped off our children at airports often enough that we have a routine. I drop off the passengers and my wife curbside. We unload their luggage and they head for the check in area while I park the car. Airports around the world are surprisingly similar. Most have the departure level above the arrival level and after dropping someone off at the departure level, it is easy to circle around to the parking garage. Parking garages tend to run alongside terminals so that it is possible to choose a parking spot that makes it fairly easy to reunite with the departing family members for a quick good bye before they have to pass through security.
At Vancouver International airport, flights to and from the United States are at the end of the terminal that drivers reach first when coming to the airport. Like other urban airports, curbside is a bit of a misnomer because there are usually two lanes of cars dropping off departing passengers. That area was not particularly busy when I dropped off our daughter, grandson and my wife last evening. it didn’t take me long to get the car into the garage and find a parking place though I did park quite a few rows from the end of the terminal where flights to the US were departing.
Having family members from the US arrive and depart from Vancouver International is interesting because they fly on international flights and have to go through immigration and customs as part of their journey. When we drove across the border eight miles from our home we all had to show our passports and answer a few questions. Then our daughter and grandson boarded an international flight and had to clear customs when their plane landed in Charlotte, North Carolina on their way home. With that bit of fanfare, however, using Vancouver International is way easier for us than the next closest big airport, Seattle-Tacoma International. Vancouver International is 36 miles from our home and we don’t have to drive through the city of Vancouver itself as the airport is on our side of the city. Sea-Tac, on the other hand is 125 miles away and requires driving through the city of Seattle with all of its traffic. 45 minutes each way verses 2 hours each way means Vancouver International can be the airport of choice. That choice was supported in this trip for our daughter and grandson by lower fares for them to fly in and out of Vancouver. We discovered similar results in previous travel. We have twice used Vancouver as our airport of departure for trips that we have taken.
Yesterday was unique, however, because the airport and passengers were still recovering from the chaos caused by the previous day’s worldwide IT outage. When I got inside the airport terminal there were very long lines at most of the check in counters. After I found our family members, I discovered that although the computers of the agents had been restored, the automatic check-in kiosks were still unable to accept credit card payment and could not process baggage checking. The lines at American Airlines, which our daughter and grandson were taking were significantly shorter than some other carriers, but they moved slowly. It took the better part of an hour for agents to serve six groups of passengers before our daughter’s turn. Fortunately, we had heeded the airline’s advice to arrive at the airport three hours before the scheduled departure and so were not pressed for time.
As it turned out, the agents were moving customers from some lines to others and when she had made it to first in line, our daughter was escorted to the priority lane and her status was upgraded to priority which meant that baggage check in was expedited from that point forward.
Our good byes were rushed a bit. As we walked back through the terminal towards our parking spot, we noticed that the lines were long only at the check in counters. I stopped and got a cup of tea for the drive home and did not have to stand in line and was served quickly. My debt card was accepted at the coffee and tea shop and it also worked at the automated terminal to pay for parking. Just like driving in Canada requires a bit of mental math as one adjusts to distances and speed limits in kilometers, making a purchase requires an adjustment as US dollar is worth about $1.40 Canadian. Initially prices appear to be high for a cup of tea and parking, but once the exchange rate is taken into consideration, prices are a bit lower than they are at Sea-Tac airport. Using our debt card, which has no fees for currency exchange, makes transactions easy. Although I was carrying cash in anticipation of some IT systems not working, I had forgotten to take our Canadian currency with me. Many businesses in Canada don’t accept US currency because of the confusion surrounding exchange. We have a few dollars of Canadian currency on hand from previous trips to Canada. We need to get in the habit of taking that with us when we cross the border. However for this trip everything worked well and we did not need cash for any of our transactions.
There had been no delay crossing the border into Canada, but when we came back into the US, customs had only two lanes open and there was about a 20 minute wait for those ahead of use to clear customs. Going through was a simple procedure for us as we had nothing to declare, we had a clear and easy to understand reason for crossing the border, and we live very close to the border so agents recognize the name of our town. I suspect that most of them have their homes in the same town.
Our lives were so minimally affected by the IT crisis even though the flight our daughter and grandson were initially booked to travel on had been cancelled. Because the delay was caused by computer problems on the east coast, she knew about it and was able to re book through a west coast agent, whose computer had not yet crashed. We got the bonus of an extra day with our daughter and grandson and the neighbor who is meeting them at the airport when they arrive was easily able to make the change because it is a weekend.
There are still lingering disruptions for some travelers around the world, but we got lucky and our lives were not disrupted. We stood in line just enough to have compassion for those who had to endure much more significant crowds, delays, and being stranded for hours at airports.
At Vancouver International airport, flights to and from the United States are at the end of the terminal that drivers reach first when coming to the airport. Like other urban airports, curbside is a bit of a misnomer because there are usually two lanes of cars dropping off departing passengers. That area was not particularly busy when I dropped off our daughter, grandson and my wife last evening. it didn’t take me long to get the car into the garage and find a parking place though I did park quite a few rows from the end of the terminal where flights to the US were departing.
Having family members from the US arrive and depart from Vancouver International is interesting because they fly on international flights and have to go through immigration and customs as part of their journey. When we drove across the border eight miles from our home we all had to show our passports and answer a few questions. Then our daughter and grandson boarded an international flight and had to clear customs when their plane landed in Charlotte, North Carolina on their way home. With that bit of fanfare, however, using Vancouver International is way easier for us than the next closest big airport, Seattle-Tacoma International. Vancouver International is 36 miles from our home and we don’t have to drive through the city of Vancouver itself as the airport is on our side of the city. Sea-Tac, on the other hand is 125 miles away and requires driving through the city of Seattle with all of its traffic. 45 minutes each way verses 2 hours each way means Vancouver International can be the airport of choice. That choice was supported in this trip for our daughter and grandson by lower fares for them to fly in and out of Vancouver. We discovered similar results in previous travel. We have twice used Vancouver as our airport of departure for trips that we have taken.
Yesterday was unique, however, because the airport and passengers were still recovering from the chaos caused by the previous day’s worldwide IT outage. When I got inside the airport terminal there were very long lines at most of the check in counters. After I found our family members, I discovered that although the computers of the agents had been restored, the automatic check-in kiosks were still unable to accept credit card payment and could not process baggage checking. The lines at American Airlines, which our daughter and grandson were taking were significantly shorter than some other carriers, but they moved slowly. It took the better part of an hour for agents to serve six groups of passengers before our daughter’s turn. Fortunately, we had heeded the airline’s advice to arrive at the airport three hours before the scheduled departure and so were not pressed for time.
As it turned out, the agents were moving customers from some lines to others and when she had made it to first in line, our daughter was escorted to the priority lane and her status was upgraded to priority which meant that baggage check in was expedited from that point forward.
Our good byes were rushed a bit. As we walked back through the terminal towards our parking spot, we noticed that the lines were long only at the check in counters. I stopped and got a cup of tea for the drive home and did not have to stand in line and was served quickly. My debt card was accepted at the coffee and tea shop and it also worked at the automated terminal to pay for parking. Just like driving in Canada requires a bit of mental math as one adjusts to distances and speed limits in kilometers, making a purchase requires an adjustment as US dollar is worth about $1.40 Canadian. Initially prices appear to be high for a cup of tea and parking, but once the exchange rate is taken into consideration, prices are a bit lower than they are at Sea-Tac airport. Using our debt card, which has no fees for currency exchange, makes transactions easy. Although I was carrying cash in anticipation of some IT systems not working, I had forgotten to take our Canadian currency with me. Many businesses in Canada don’t accept US currency because of the confusion surrounding exchange. We have a few dollars of Canadian currency on hand from previous trips to Canada. We need to get in the habit of taking that with us when we cross the border. However for this trip everything worked well and we did not need cash for any of our transactions.
There had been no delay crossing the border into Canada, but when we came back into the US, customs had only two lanes open and there was about a 20 minute wait for those ahead of use to clear customs. Going through was a simple procedure for us as we had nothing to declare, we had a clear and easy to understand reason for crossing the border, and we live very close to the border so agents recognize the name of our town. I suspect that most of them have their homes in the same town.
Our lives were so minimally affected by the IT crisis even though the flight our daughter and grandson were initially booked to travel on had been cancelled. Because the delay was caused by computer problems on the east coast, she knew about it and was able to re book through a west coast agent, whose computer had not yet crashed. We got the bonus of an extra day with our daughter and grandson and the neighbor who is meeting them at the airport when they arrive was easily able to make the change because it is a weekend.
There are still lingering disruptions for some travelers around the world, but we got lucky and our lives were not disrupted. We stood in line just enough to have compassion for those who had to endure much more significant crowds, delays, and being stranded for hours at airports.
