Getting Lisa Home
Sep. 17th, 2025 05:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeLisa and Kuma are home. But that last segment was on the verge of going completely wrong.
The flight from Munich to SFO was long, but we did get Lisa into a Premium Economy (old business class -- seats like domestic first class, not just the more-legroom Economy Plus), so she was not jammed and crowded.
She cleared Immigration and Customs with only the normal amount of hassle, and was able to re-check her bag fairly easily. Since she wasn't changing airlines, we had hoped that would go well. There were courtesy phones near the baggage carousel that allowed her to call me, so as far as we knew, the only thing to deal with was the four-hour layover at SFO for the 45-minute flight SFO-RNO. I wished her well and started to take a nap because her flight was scheduled to arrive about the time I normally am getting ready for bed.
A little while later, Lisa called me back with terrible news: SFO Security wouldn't let her back airside. Despite her carry-on luggage being the same things she took out from Reno two months ago and what she took with her at Munich earlier that day, they insisted that she needed to go put much of it into her checked luggage. Except that some of the things they said she needed to check were things that the guidelines said you were not supposed to check, like spare batteries. They did not like her Panasonic Toughbook computer, which is old, heavy, and armored enough so that if you drop it, the computer will be okay, but your foot might not be.
United pulled her checked bag. I thought that this was going to cause a bunch of hassle, but other than me needing to take a day off of work, get Lisa into an airport area hotel, and drive down there early the next day, it would not be too bad. I'd also end up with a missed appointment fee for a medical appointment I had on Wednesday because it was less than 24 hours in advance. Except that there must be a huge number of people descending upon the Bay Area.
I thought that with the large number of IHG hotels near SFO (within courtesy shuttle range), I could cash some of my points and get her a room. Except they were all full. The only IHG hotel that showed any availability "nearby" (a relative term) was the Intercontinental downtown San Francisco, which would have cost more than $1000! Similarly, other non-IHG hotels around SFO were either completely full (most of them) or had astronomical prices, some more than $1000. What's going on around there?
Okay, other possibilities might be to get Lisa to San Jose on Caltrain and bring her home on the Capitol Corridor train, although that means a long bus ride. But it turned out to be already too late in the day to get her to a connecting train at San Jose. Her luggage is very heavy, and she cannot carry it long distances. I considered that if we could get her to Emeryville, she could spend the night and ride the Zephyr home the next day. But besides the fact that getting to Emeryville from SFO is very awkward and difficult for someone with heavy bags, it turned out that hotels were either full or enormously expensive. Hotels in San Jose were similarly full or $1000-plus range.
It was looking increasingly like I was going to need to make an emergency drive to SFO, collect Lisa, then drive far enough to get a decent hotel for a few hours of sleep. (The closest IHG with reasonable availability was in Livermore and cost $199/night before tax.) There is no way that either of us could have driven home overnight.
I was just about to toss together an emergency overnight kit when Lisa called me back. (I'm skipping several other calls where we hashed out the different unworkable plans.) In desperation, she went back to the United check-in and told them what happened. Someone from United took charge of her, checked her bag again, said they'd hold it at the counter until they confirmed that they could get her through Security, took her to Terrorization, found other people than those who had bounced her before, and after three or four people did a whole bunch of searching of her and everything she had, decided that she wasn't really a threat to national security and let her airside again. Lisa called me from phones that were within sight of the gate, exhausted, fretful, but at least she was probably going to get home tonight.
Here's what I looked like as I pulled myself together to head for Reno. Further complicating things was that every-single-day traffic jam between USA Parkway and Sparks that means if you leave Fernley after 2 PM you can expect to travel through more than ten miles of jammed traffic. Just as I started the van, Lisa called again to confirm that she could see the departure gate and that she was keeping an eye on things. I was keeping track of the time and when United sent me the notice that her flight was boarding, she let me go and I headed for Reno.
It is about 35 miles from our home in Fernley to Reno Airport. The short-term parking garage is right across the terminal access road. Traffic was so bad that I later worked out that as I was parking the car, her flight from SFO was on final approach. I used the toilet in the terminal and walked to passenger arrivals. Reno is not a large airport. About ten minutes later (and about 15 minutes before her flight's scheduled arrival time), Lisa appeared. She told me that they boarded the flight quickly and as soon as they had everyone on board, they buttoned up the plane and left early.
Reno only has four luggage carousels. Her bag was coming out just as we got there. I'm guessing that the way United had to get her through Terrorization meant her bag was among the last ones put aboard and thus one of the first ones taken off. In the end, I was at the airport less than thirty minutes. We made a brief stop at a convenience store to get snacks and drinks, and we drove home.
We got Lisa into her cave (the travel trailer) and she worked on getting things running again and trying to get to bed ASAP. I had to stop and have something to eat, as my earlier plan to eat at the airport while waiting for Lisa was scuppered by the travel kerfuffle.
So everything worked out in the end, but I guess it's a good thing she had such a long layover at SFO or else that too would have failed and she would have spent the night sitting by luggage carousel 9 waiting for me to come and rescue her.
The flight from Munich to SFO was long, but we did get Lisa into a Premium Economy (old business class -- seats like domestic first class, not just the more-legroom Economy Plus), so she was not jammed and crowded.
She cleared Immigration and Customs with only the normal amount of hassle, and was able to re-check her bag fairly easily. Since she wasn't changing airlines, we had hoped that would go well. There were courtesy phones near the baggage carousel that allowed her to call me, so as far as we knew, the only thing to deal with was the four-hour layover at SFO for the 45-minute flight SFO-RNO. I wished her well and started to take a nap because her flight was scheduled to arrive about the time I normally am getting ready for bed.
A little while later, Lisa called me back with terrible news: SFO Security wouldn't let her back airside. Despite her carry-on luggage being the same things she took out from Reno two months ago and what she took with her at Munich earlier that day, they insisted that she needed to go put much of it into her checked luggage. Except that some of the things they said she needed to check were things that the guidelines said you were not supposed to check, like spare batteries. They did not like her Panasonic Toughbook computer, which is old, heavy, and armored enough so that if you drop it, the computer will be okay, but your foot might not be.
United pulled her checked bag. I thought that this was going to cause a bunch of hassle, but other than me needing to take a day off of work, get Lisa into an airport area hotel, and drive down there early the next day, it would not be too bad. I'd also end up with a missed appointment fee for a medical appointment I had on Wednesday because it was less than 24 hours in advance. Except that there must be a huge number of people descending upon the Bay Area.
I thought that with the large number of IHG hotels near SFO (within courtesy shuttle range), I could cash some of my points and get her a room. Except they were all full. The only IHG hotel that showed any availability "nearby" (a relative term) was the Intercontinental downtown San Francisco, which would have cost more than $1000! Similarly, other non-IHG hotels around SFO were either completely full (most of them) or had astronomical prices, some more than $1000. What's going on around there?
Okay, other possibilities might be to get Lisa to San Jose on Caltrain and bring her home on the Capitol Corridor train, although that means a long bus ride. But it turned out to be already too late in the day to get her to a connecting train at San Jose. Her luggage is very heavy, and she cannot carry it long distances. I considered that if we could get her to Emeryville, she could spend the night and ride the Zephyr home the next day. But besides the fact that getting to Emeryville from SFO is very awkward and difficult for someone with heavy bags, it turned out that hotels were either full or enormously expensive. Hotels in San Jose were similarly full or $1000-plus range.
It was looking increasingly like I was going to need to make an emergency drive to SFO, collect Lisa, then drive far enough to get a decent hotel for a few hours of sleep. (The closest IHG with reasonable availability was in Livermore and cost $199/night before tax.) There is no way that either of us could have driven home overnight.
I was just about to toss together an emergency overnight kit when Lisa called me back. (I'm skipping several other calls where we hashed out the different unworkable plans.) In desperation, she went back to the United check-in and told them what happened. Someone from United took charge of her, checked her bag again, said they'd hold it at the counter until they confirmed that they could get her through Security, took her to Terrorization, found other people than those who had bounced her before, and after three or four people did a whole bunch of searching of her and everything she had, decided that she wasn't really a threat to national security and let her airside again. Lisa called me from phones that were within sight of the gate, exhausted, fretful, but at least she was probably going to get home tonight.
Here's what I looked like as I pulled myself together to head for Reno. Further complicating things was that every-single-day traffic jam between USA Parkway and Sparks that means if you leave Fernley after 2 PM you can expect to travel through more than ten miles of jammed traffic. Just as I started the van, Lisa called again to confirm that she could see the departure gate and that she was keeping an eye on things. I was keeping track of the time and when United sent me the notice that her flight was boarding, she let me go and I headed for Reno.
It is about 35 miles from our home in Fernley to Reno Airport. The short-term parking garage is right across the terminal access road. Traffic was so bad that I later worked out that as I was parking the car, her flight from SFO was on final approach. I used the toilet in the terminal and walked to passenger arrivals. Reno is not a large airport. About ten minutes later (and about 15 minutes before her flight's scheduled arrival time), Lisa appeared. She told me that they boarded the flight quickly and as soon as they had everyone on board, they buttoned up the plane and left early.
Reno only has four luggage carousels. Her bag was coming out just as we got there. I'm guessing that the way United had to get her through Terrorization meant her bag was among the last ones put aboard and thus one of the first ones taken off. In the end, I was at the airport less than thirty minutes. We made a brief stop at a convenience store to get snacks and drinks, and we drove home.
We got Lisa into her cave (the travel trailer) and she worked on getting things running again and trying to get to bed ASAP. I had to stop and have something to eat, as my earlier plan to eat at the airport while waiting for Lisa was scuppered by the travel kerfuffle.
So everything worked out in the end, but I guess it's a good thing she had such a long layover at SFO or else that too would have failed and she would have spent the night sitting by luggage carousel 9 waiting for me to come and rescue her.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 04:00 pm (UTC)Often once you get to Walnut Creek and further east, hotels are more reasonable when SF is sold out. However, one time, I think there was an Apple Event at Moscone, a friend was trying to get her aunt a room anywhere in the Bay Area. The only place with availability was Motel 6 in Pleasanton area and was $650/night! The average usually for them is like $80/night!
I wish I'd known, I would have gone to fetch her if you couldn't get her on her flight, closer for me and we could do an exchange someplace along the way so your drive wouldn't be so long, or had you both stay with me overnight so you'd be fresh on the way home in the morning. I'm glad it got sorted and none of that was needed!
no subject
Date: 2025-09-17 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-18 12:26 am (UTC)customer service is not quite dead!
Date: 2025-10-03 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-18 10:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-19 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-29 01:33 pm (UTC)