Flying smarter...picking up better...

One of the small gestures in life that I have come to believe that people really appreciate is either taking them to or picking them up at the airport. Driving with them is a great time to talk.

Airport parking is expensive, airport parking is a hassle, and the entire travel experience as it relates to getting in an out of airports is painful. Whatever romance existed in travel is quickly drifting away.

But when a friend takes you or picks you up, the whole adventure is better. However one of the missing ingredients is timing. Certainly getting a friend to the airport is controlled by the basic idea of the plane leaving say at 8 A.M.

I have learned that it takes me one hour from the moment that I walk out my door to the moment that I get to the gate. I don’t think that in twenty trips of late that that time has varied by more than 5 minutes either way, regardless of time of day, traffic, weather, etc. And I have gone from being the last person on the plane to the first. Who needs the aggravation of getting left behind or having no place to put your computer bag.

But the reverse is hardly true. Yesterday on a flight into San Francisco, I waited for over an hour for my single bag, and noticed that even though the 757 that I was on was jammed with people there were only 8–10 waiting for bags. Maybe most were flying to other places like the young couple sitting next to me who were headed to Maui. Or that they had carry-on luggage.

But they shared with me a great tip and site, i.e. FlightStats.

Later yesterday when I went back and looked at my flight on Flightstats it had exactly the information that I wanted. I need to pick up someone tonight, and plan to use it so that I am not wasting time sitting either out front or in some needless line.

The site is no an ActiveWord. And I plan to bookmark the site on my Treo. Not a perfect solution, but getting better.

Comments

[FlightStats Mobile]

Buzz, thanks for checking us out. When you bookmark it on your Treo, use the mobile version of the flight tracking software: http://mobile.flightstats.com. Makes it easier to keep track of arrivals and delays while you're on the go (and avoid wasting your time waiting).

[Airport Parking Master]

"Airport parking is expensive, airport parking is a hassle, and the entire travel experience as it relates to getting in an out of airports is painful. Whatever romance existed in travel is quickly drifting away."

I have to agree. But I almost exclusivly use offsite parking or parknjet parking. I get a free ride to the airport and the rate are usually less than half if I parked at the airport.
And to put the Romance back in, book a park sleep fly package where you stay at a local airport hotel the night before your flight, and take the shuttle in the morning. Its almost like parking for free.
Steve