Today With Patty – July 31, 2007

by Patty

Before I tell you about my trip to Branson, Missouri, I want to tell you about my experiences with the airlines, the good and the bad. I flew into Kansas City on Express Jet, the regional spin-off of Continental Airlines commuter division. For the most part, I was very pleasantly surprised. It is obvious that they have some difficulty issuing tickets, but everything was very nice, things ran smoothly and I had more food than I usually get on international destinations. I had a really good turkey and cheese sandwich, although there was a Dec. 7, 2007 date on it, and I was very worried and sure hope that was not the expiration date.

But here is the amazing thing – beer costs just $1 on Express Jet. There was a guy across the aisle from me who was trying to order a six-pack to go.

So I got to the airport to head home, and I was very early, because I am catching a ride from Branson to Kansas City as my cousin was driving back to Denver. I had a good three hours to kill at the airport. No problem – that is why I have my Admirals Club membership from American Airlines. I found out that the Admirals Club was at Gate 79, and my Express Jet flight leaves at Gate 74, so I thought, “No problem. I will scoot into the Admirals Club, catch up on my e-mails and then jog on down to the gate.”

But I waited and waited and waited and waited in line at security, and when I handed the guy my boarding pass, he pointed out that I had three S’s on mine, which meant that I had to be removed from the line and have a special search. I am pretty sure that the “SSS” stands for “Superduper Strip Search.” I mean, they practically unclothed me, patted me down, went through all my electronic equipment – it was a really long, drawn out process. Then, after I did that, the man asked me, “Why are you coming through this gate if you are leaving through Express Jet?” I explained to him about the Admirals Club. He told me, “Oh, you realize you will have to go all over this again at Gate 74?” Well, I did now.

So I got to the Admirals Club, and I found out that while the Kansas City airport has free wireless Internet provided, you cannot access it at the Admirals Club. Oh no – you must pay $10 to T-Mobile. I decided not to do that and said to myself, “I will just read for a while and leave earlier than I planned, so I can go get strip searched again and avail myself of the free Internet.” So I opened my book, and lo and behold some yahoo proceeded to holler at his mother on the phone in the club for a good hour.

That is today’s installment on my Branson trip. Tomorrow I will tell you about the children, the Wal-Mart and customer service at Stillwater Resort.

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