The Delight of An Early Morning Flight

November 17, 2010 | Uncategorized

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it when you’ve gone to an airport early in the morning  — I mean really early, like 5:30 or 6:00am — but it’s a totally different world than it is later in the day.

I’m at the airport in Philadelphia right now. I wound up overnighting in Philly because my flight from London was delayed and my connection was missed, so US Airways had to give a number of us hotel and meal vouchers. And to tell you the truth, although I was expecting chaos as the ground staff rerouted everyone after we deplaned, it was a flawless and well-choreographed operation and only took a few seconds to get my vouchers.

That’s why when I need to make a connecting flight I always try to book it through the same carrier. If they screw up I don’t want to have to be the one scurrying around trying to find a room at 11:15pm.

Anyway, when we got back to the airport for the first flight out this morning I couldn’t help notice how dazed most of the people in the terminal were. People just stood staring at the departure displays seemingly forever trying to comprehend where they’re supposed to go. While that’s normally not terribly difficult, when you’re short on sleep, have new flight data to follow and are in an unfamiliar airport it takes a bit longer for your mind to kick into gear.

And I think that management at Philly’s airport seems to understand one’s need for a good shot of caffein at this point since they had the very good sense to put a Dunkin’ Donuts stand right beyond the security area. Grab your bags, slip on your shoes and go for the java.

The only problem is that on this side of security you’re now interacting even more closely with the near-comatose you saw on the other side.

After I grabbed my coffee I couldn’t help but step back for a few minutes and watch the guy on line behind  me. I swear I thought he had gone into a coma as he stared at the overhead menu listing the array of different bagels, croissants, four sizes of coffees and 32 varieties of donuts. I’ll bet you my unused meal voucher he’s still there trying to decide between the jelly and Bavarian Cream.

I should talk. I’m the one who had to pay for the $2.50 coffee with an American Express card.

Jim Ferri