Contour Airlines Again?

Josh suggested the idea of coming to see him and Shelby in Madison Wisconsin.  Then, we’d head down to Chicago to the Champions Classic to watch Kentucky play.  Donna had no desire to go to the ball game, so I tried to decide what options I had to get to Madison (besides a 7.5-hour drive).  So, I decided to give Contour Airlines another try.

It turns out that Contour flies to O’Hare from Marion Illinois which is about an hour drive from where I live.  I could then take a bus from O’Hare to Madison.  The cost was much less than a rental car plus I only had to drive an hour instead of over seven.  I felt adventurous so I decided to give it a try.

The Contour app is still terrible.  You cannot get your boarding pass from it; you must use the web version.  So, I ended up just getting my boarding pass printed at the Williamson County Veterans airport (it’s the actual airport name in Marion).   The airport is very nice.  I hadn’t flown out of there in years.  It reminded me very much of the design of the new Barkley Airport here.  I got my boarding pass with no problem and sat down in their very nice waiting area.  Security was easy and quick.  The waiting area to board is nice.  They do take your carry on unless it’s very small since compartment space is at a premium.  We boarded on time and headed out.

We were told that the fly time was fifty-seven minutes.  They were correct on that.  However, we didn’t get to the gate until over 30 minutes later.  Why do you ask?  You sit on the tarmac for a considerable amount of time.  Also, there is a BUS that takes you to the arrival gate.  You pick up your carry on they’ve stowed and restow it on the bus.  The bus takes you to the arrival gate.  You then take a train to the place where the rental cars are (called the MMF or multi-modal facility).   The buses leave at the hour during the day (check the schedule to be sure though).  I knew the next bus left at four, so I hustled to try and catch that one (as opposed to waiting till five).  Turned out I needn’t bothered.  The bus was almost 30 minutes late.  The driver stows your luggage underneath the bus and scans your ticket.  The buses are nice and I had a comfortable ride to Madison.  There are stops at Rockford Illinois, South Beloit Illinois and Janesville Wisconsin.  These stops are strictly to pick up passengers, you don’t have time to get off.  The bus took about 2.5 hours to get to Madison where Josh and Shelby picked me up.

So, a few days later, Shelby dropped me at the Park and Ride and I caught the bus to O’Hare.  On this route, they drop you at whatever terminal you are leaving from.  I took the Blue Line train from O’Hare (the station is at Terminal 2) to my hotel in downtown Chicago.  I then walked a few blocks to my hotel.    When I left Wednesday morning, I took the Blue Line to O’Hare.  I got my printed boarding pass from Contour again.  I headed for my gate.  Turns out that three different commuter airlines share the gate.  When we were going to board, they shouted out your flight.  You line up and then get on the shuttle bus out to your plane.  The flight back to Marion went fine.  I was even able to grab some Krispy Kreme donuts heading out of the Marion.

If you are thinking about trying this, consider the following.

• The Contour App is terrible.  Leave enough time to get your boarding pass at the airport.
• I would be very wary of a tight connection at O’Hare.  You think you have plenty of time when you touchdown, but with the shuttle and the immenseness of O’Hare, you very well may not.
• Buy your bus ticket online before you get there.  You don’t have to pick a specific time; your bus ticket is good for a year.    A roundtrip ticket is a better deal than two one-way tickets.  The website is www.coachusa.com There are several possible bus bays you can be picked up at.  Listen very carefully to the people with the bullhorn, they will tell you where to wait.
• If you are going downtown, use the train.  It’s a lot cheaper (2.50) than any other option.  Plus, you can often get there quicker if the traffic is bad.
• Be listening for your flight at the gate in O'Hare back to Marion.  It's easy to miss if you are not paying attention.

Would I do this again?  Yes, I would.  It’s certainly a viable option to get to Chicago from the Paducah area.

Coming Home from The Land Down Under

Sorry for the delay in this last post. I’ve been on a “Facebook Fast” for the past week. And if you think you know why, unless you’ve heard it from me – you are probably mistaken in your surmise of why. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

As the old saying goes “All good things must come to an end”, so we finally had to come home from our trip. We got up at 4:30 am to head home since we’d been told to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight was to depart. We met Josh’s co-worker Owen in front of our hotel. Our plan was to try and catch a cab from there and if we couldn’t try to get an Uber. Within a minute a cab drove by and we hailed it for our trip. We actually go to the airport a little more than three hours early. We found out though that international check in didn’t actually open til precisely 3 hours before our flight (which must have been the first one of the day). We checked our baggage and headed for security. We made it through security with little pain. My passport was looked at several times. Finally we reached what I thought was the last found where they reviewed my electronic visa. The guy looking online said there was an issue. I couldn’t figure out what it could be, I had gotten into Australia with no problem. Turned out when I applied for my electronic visa – I had put my full name in my Family Name and my first and last name in Given Name. Turns out you should put your last name in Family Name and first name in Given Names. So, I was shuffled off to a separate counter where another official looked over my info and finally let me through. We headed to our gate and sat down to wait for our flight.

I gave Donna a call to let her know all was well. I then got up and went to look for something to eat. I went light and only got a doughnut and a Pepsi Max. I worked a bit and rested a bit. We boarded the plane with little difficulty and then things started to go south as we say. Even though it was morning, they served a dinner of chicken teriyaki with ice cream for dessert. I know I should have known better from our trip down, but I ate it. Within an hour, my stomach felt bloated. I tried to sleep on the way back but it was very difficult. They served breakfast later and Josh said he knew something was wrong with me since I had fruit and yogurt. Somehow, I survived the trip and we made it to the Los Angeles Airport (LAX). Once you get to the US, you have to go through customs and immigration again. You have to pick up your checked baggage. You then take the card you filled out on the way there and go to a kiosk and input your info and have your passport scanned. You drop off your checked baggage at the proper place and then pass through one more security checkpoint. We exited the International Terminal to head to the United terminal. Theoretically, you should be able to shuttle there. We waited about twenty minutes and saw every shuttle imaginable except the intra airport one. We finally just gave up and walked. It was a nice little walk since it was on the opposite end of the airport. We got to security only to find that with construction there was a line that stretched out on what felt like a temporary catwalk up in the air. We finally got through and looked forward to heading to the United Club.

We headed into the first club we reached. Josh had a one time pass his company had given him. He gave it to the woman at the desk and started to head through. I mentioned that I wanted to buy a one time pass (like I had at O’Hare). She then said “Oh, we are not selling one time passes because of construction”. I was dumbfounded. I mentioned that my son had just used his one time pass and we’d now be separated for almost four hours. She just simply shrugged her shoulders and said “I can’t do anything to help you!”. So, I just told Josh to go ahead into the Club and I’d meet him at the gate later. I walked to the gate and sat down to wallow in my pity. I worked a bit on my laptop when a woman walked by in a Cardinal jacket. I remarked that it was nice to see another Cardinal fan in LA (showing her my Cardinal jacket). She said “I’m the mother of one of the Cardinal players”. I asked which one and she said “Randal Grichuk”. Randal is a young player for the Cardinals that they acquired from the Angels before the 2014 season. He looks like a good young prospect. I told her I thought he’d be a good player for the Cardinals if he got enough playing time. She said her and her husband were in town to watch him play against the Dodgers. I remarked that she must be very proud of him and she told me she was. She then went to sit with her husband. Later, they lined up to wait to board their flight right in front of me. I met Mr. Grichuk and told him I was glad his son had gotten the only hit off Clayton Kershaw the day before to keep the Cardinals from being no-hit. He remarked how tough Kershaw was and I mentioned I’d just settle for us continuing to beat him in the playoffs (which he laughed at). I told him I thought his son was a good player but he (like most dads would say) said “He needs to hit more consistently”. They got on their plane and I must have ended up falling asleep because Josh finally surprised me by showing up at the gate. We got on the plane and headed for O’Hare. My stomach still felt horrible. I even took the precaution of pulling out the air sickness bag just in case. I made it OK though.

Once we got to O’Hare, we found Owen still there. It turned out his flight to Madison had been cancelled. There was a huge line of thunderstorms south of the airport. The issue was that a lot of flights couldn’t get in to O’hare to then head to other destinations. Josh went to get something to eat. They have a lot of great places to eat at the O’Hare Airport but I still felt too unsettled to take a chance. Josh brought me a banana which was perfect. He then found out his flight to Madison was delayed because the plane couldn’t get there. It kept being later and later. He finally decided to just to ride home with Owen (his wife was coming to get him). I told him I’d be fine there and to head on out. I finally got the idea to go to a store in the airport to see that I could find for my stomach. I finally found some Gas-X pills for an outrageous price (10 pills for 10.00). I took a couple of those and that seemed to fix my issue. I kept checking my flight to Paducah and it was still showing at leaving on time (the plane was already at O’Hare). I scoped out some hotels close to O’Hare just in case I needed one. We left on time though. The pilot ended up having to fly east all the way to Dayton Ohio to get around the line of storms. We didn’t get back until midnight (an hour late), but I was just glad to get home that night. I personally thanked him when we were exiting the plane for getting me home. My lovely wife was waiting to pick me up – I’d missed her so much. I got my baggage when it came out and we headed for home. I crashed until 9:00am the next day.

The amazing thing was I actually lost weight on the trip. That has never happened to me in my adult life. I spent the next few days getting my sleep pattern regulated but it really wasn’t that bad. Would I ever go back? Yes, armed with new knowledge (bring my own food on the plane with some Gas-x tablets and know how to fill out my Visa application correctly). Even with the plane issues, I still had a lot of fun with Josh and it’s one of those unforgettable experiences I’ll remember my whole life.

Flying to the Land Down Under

The big day to head out on my trip had arrived. I would be able to fly out of our local airport (Barkley Regional) which would leave at 6:25am. So, I wanted to get there about 5:30 which required me to get up about 4:30am. I got there no problem. I checked my bag and the young man very kindly explained how things would work once I got to Melbourne. I got through security with ease (one of the nice things about Paducah) but we waited after security for about 20 minutes before boarding. I am constantly reminded by Josh that I get to Barkley too early every time. We got on the plane, took off and got to O’Hare on time.

When I got to O’Hare, I headed straight for the United club in the F concourse. I’d heard it was one of the nicer new ones and I had over 5 hours to kill so I went in to buy a one time visit pass. They are normally 50.00 but because I got there before 8, I got a pass for 35.00. The new lounge is beautiful. There are plenty places to sit and relax with plenty of outlets and free wireless Internet. They also give you all the soda you want (I filled up on Coke Zero). They supply breakfast with various items – I got some scones and bagel sticks. I relaxed on a large couch and did some work and just rested. They brought out lunch about 11:00. I had vegetable soup and crackers and even tried some hummus. They had something called Brownie Brittle for dessert. Since Internet costs 9.99 at O’Hare plus I got breakfast, lunch and soda for free, it really ended up not being a bad deal. I finally had to pack up and head for my flight to LAX.

My flight to LAX went fine and I got there about 4:00 LA time. I grabbed a bottle of soda and a candy bar and started looking for TVs. The Cardinals were playing the Dodgers (in St Louis) so I figured someone there would be showing the game. I figured incorrectly, no one was. I ended up keeping up with the game on my phone while waiting for Josh and his co-workers to get there. It was very good to see him when he arrived. We went to dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s for our last “American Meal” before our trip. Josh and I bought a couple of candy bars for the trip to Melbourne. It was going to be a 15 hour flight.

We got on our plane and headed out. There was in-flight entertainment on the back of each seat. Josh and I played Yahtzee against each other and I started flipping through TV shows. Then I made a mistake. For the first time I can remember in many years, the flight provided airline food for free. I ate the dinner they provided thinking that even that I’d had trouble with the food years ago, I’d be fine today. Well, the food disagreed with me and I had an unsettled stomach all the rest of the way. I watched several shows (including a pretty good mini-series about Harry Houdini) plus listened to Mike Matheny’s book “The Matheny Manifesto”. I put on a mix of 80’s music to try and sleep. I dozed a bit but never could sleep. Too many people would jostle me when they walked the aisles. They offered us additional food (a snack and breakfast) but I could not eat much of it. While you are on the flight, they give you paperwork to fill out. You have to fill out a customs/immigration card stating they you are not carrying in things like explosives, fruits/vegetables, meat, etc. I had also had to say I was carrying in medicine. You fill out a separate form questioning you about Ebola – they want to know if you’ve been to Africa recently. You need this to get through Immigration/Security.

We finally landed and started the process. The automatic passport readers were out so we had to have our passports manually scanned. I handed the officer my Ebola paperwork. He glanced at it for a split second and we headed on. We came to another group of officers who looked at my passport and then my card I had filled out. They asked about medicine and I told them it was prescription. As I tried to get it out of my laptop bag, she said it wasn’t necessary and waved me on through. So much for needing that letter I got from my doctor. We went to baggage claim to reclaim our luggage and showed our passport one last time as we walked past a young man looking at our luggage for anything suspicious. We got by no problem and were finally officially in the country!

Josh and several of the young men with him stopped at the local location of Optus (one the local phone carriers in Australia) to get a Sim card for use while in the country. My company had graciously upgraded my phone plan to international while I was gone. Once that was finished, we haled a large cab (there were six of us) and headed for downtown Melbourne.

That’s plenty for this post. My next post will tell you of our first adventures in the city of Melbourne.

United Airlines...

Recently, our local airport (Barkley Regional) changed carriers. We used to fly Northwest to Memphis. Now, it's United to O'Hare. I've heard good and bad about the new service, but never tried it myself. I had to make a trip to our company headquarters a few weeks ago, so I would find out myself.

I was in Lexington visiting Josh, so I ended up flying out of Bluegrass Airport. They run a similar service to O'Hare as Barkley except they run four flights a day. I knew I was in trouble after Donna dropped me off and I went to the kiosk to check in. I heard the agent tell the guy in front of me "Well, we'll need to adjust everyone's itinerary". Turns out there was bad winter weather in Chicago and all flights were backed up. I ended up with a backup flight to Dulles (instead of Reagan) for my trip. I sat at the gate and they kept bouncing the times of departure around. My original time was 10:40, but they moved that to 12:30 then 1 then 1:30. I had checked the FAA web site and they said flights were delayed 2.5 to 3 hours.

Our pilot ended up loading us on the plane about 12:30 just in case a slot opened up before 1:30. Well, it didn't. So, we just sat there for an hour before we left. We got there just in time for me to miss my flight to Reagan. Turns out the gates for the smaller United flights (from Paducah and Lexington for example) come into a totally different terminal than the main United flights. It's easily a 15 to 20 minute walk. I got an alert saying I had already been moved to my backup flight to Dulles. I went to the gate and the agent assigned my seat. I showed her my baggage claim and asked about my luggage. She assured me that my luggage would be routed automatically to Dulles on my new flight.

I got on my laptop to change my rental car arrangements from Reagan to Dulles. I also saw there was a Winter Storm Warning for Bethesda. So, I changed my hotel to the closest one to HQ. I also set up up my final night at at Hampton Inn close to Dulles so I wouldn't have a tough drive that morning.

The flight to Dulles went fine. I waited for my luggage and it never came out. I went to a kiosk and was told "It was en-route". I waited some more and finally found a United baggage person. They checked and said "Oh, your luggage is at Reagan". I was incredulous and started to make my point about how I was told "it would be rerouted to Dulles automatically". I was then told that "Well, you'll just have to go to Reagan and get it".

Well, this is not as easy as it sounds. Reagan is a good 30 mile - 45 min drive. It had started to freezing rain. Plus, I had no idea how to get there and my cell phone (with GPS) was on its last legs. It finally died on me as I got close. After several wrong turns, I finally got there. My luggage was sitting in the baggage claim office. I grabbed it and managed the stumble my way (after a few more wrong turns) back to my hotel.

The rest of the trip went fine. I went to a fine Wednesday night Bible study at Clarkeville church of Christ. The preach there was from Fulton KY. I had little trouble getting to Dulles the next day and the trip home was fine. It was sure nice to see Donna waiting for me when I got off the plane and into Barkley.

I learned some lessons. One, I have a phone charger that I could use in a car still in shrink wrap! I unwrapped that and put it in my laptop case for future use. Two, I need to be more certain of my luggage re-route next time. Three, I should have checked the conditions at O'Hare before I ever went to the airport. I could have stayed in my hotel room for a few more hours and relaxed.

There isn't much I can do about O'Hare and weather. In the winter, it's going to have a lot more issues than Memphis did. I'll have to allow for that. What disappointed me was nobody at United ever said "I'm sorry about your luggage" Their attitude was almost as if "Oh well, that's just the way it goes".

I may give them one more shot. I will give the Nashville to Baltimore route on Southwest another serious look next time though. The main disadvantage to that is at least when I do get to Paducah, I am 15 minutes from home. At Nashville, I still have a 2.5 hour drive in front of me.