About half of the passengers on our plane home had to make connecting flights (including our girl from Alaska) and we left San Francisco a half hour late. Everyone was concerned and worried the whole flight to Seattle. Right before we landed, a flight attendant got on the PA (speaking over a public address system was clearly not one of her strong suits) and announced, “Those of you with connecting flights, um, out of Seattle, we’re, um, we’re, well, we’re really only about 20 minutes late and that’s, that’s really not that bad.” Unless your connecting flight left 20 minutes after our scheduled landing.
As long as we were at Seatac, I went over to the United ticket counter to inquire about the possibility of getting more than one gate pass for when Chloe leaves. I was informed that if passengers are over 12 years old the FAA deems them old enough to go to the gate by themselves: “FAA rules, not ours.” Yeah, right. Kind of hard to argue that she’s going halfway around the world for a year but I’m worried that she can’t make it to the gate by herself. I’ll do some more checking, but it sounds like it’s not unheard of that a ticket agent will give you a pass if she’s in a good mood or you cry, which will most likely be no problem. I read about one girl who said the ticket agent finally agreed to give her one gate pass, then told her to choose which parent would get it. She said she looked at her parents, burst into tears, and the agent gave her two passes. If nothing else I’ll ask, with a few twenties in my hand, if it’s possible to buy a gate pass.
I never want to go through this again and I’m not a fan of Pollyanna, but there were some good things that happened. Chloe got to meet the kids she’ll be flying with to Chicago, Copenhagen, and Madrid. If I can’t go to the gate, she won’t be alone, although she will be the youngest. We haven’t flown since 1999, so this was a good refresher. Chloe lost her boarding pass to San Francisco between security and the gate and we discovered that it was easy to get another one. She realized that the neck pouch document holder we got, while silly looking (it was a popular accessory among the old people in the security line), will be her friend. She’s going to make a list of everything she’s carrying so she can check it to be sure she’s grabbed everything from security – it’s easy to forget a jacket or wallet or camera during the rush through security. This little trip made the big trip seem more real. If there are any problems between here and Pamplona, she’ll be familiar with the hassle.
One more thing. Before we went to Scotland, my sister-in-law gave Chloe a small white seal, hand crocheted and stuffed, for good luck. We took it with us and had no major problems and even got lucky in a few dodgy transportation situations. That’s good, but it also meant that we have to carry that damn seal whenever we go anywhere. I told Chloe that she definitely has to take it with her to Spain. Chloe threw it in her backpack before we left for San Francisco. That’s one thing, right after her passport and plane tickets, that I’m going to be sure she has when she leaves for Spain.
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