Watertown, NY February 28, 2012 8:00 AM EDT
When I woke up this morning at 4:15, I said, “What happened to that alarm I set to wake me up so I could shower before I left for the airport at 4:15?” Then I said, “It IS 4:15!”
I managed to get out the door at 4:25 and arrived in what I thought was plenty of time. The ticket counter was slow (I think they were waiting for their second reprinting of a 42 page report on an Epson dot-matrix printer, hadn’t heard THAT sound in a while), and despite the diminutive size of the Watertown Airport, security was very thorough…and slow. My extra weight helped me avoid losing my pants while I sent my suspenders through for screening and re-dressing was fairly quick, but the plane was boarding when I got through.
It’s a very efficient operation, though. The woman who was printing the report gave me my boarding pass and was there to take it back when I boarded. Later I noticed she was driving the de-icing tractor. The pilot got on and said Air Traffic Control was delaying our take off for 3 minutes. I’m guessing that’s how long it took the woman to park the tractor, take off her coat and walk to the control booth (I didn’t actually see a tower).
Robin McClellan 