Journal - August 14

Why Alaska Airlines is Blowing It

Today I took a two-part flight from San Francisco to Seattle, ran into a Whitman student in the bathroom of an airport in Oakland, met someone from Iowa, had an above average ham sandwich, and decided that Alaska Airlines is the devil.

Ok maybe that's an exaggeration, but how can they be forgiven for the woe that their airport lines sow?

There I was, early for my flight, bright-eyed for Seattle, ready to go through a short line and board my plane. To my side were Kiosks, unlabeled, which I chose to ignore as I had a bag to check. The line took surprisingly long, as periodically the two clerks managing the 40 waiting persons would shout out the name of a party, and that group would cut to the front and receive service. As I got to the very front, the line slowed even more. Hoards of people had their names called in turn behind me, and I continued to patiently wait. As even more were summoned, I would have been quite irritated were it not for the pretty girl just ahead in line who kept smiling at me in a pain-sharing sort of way.

This travesty of a queue continued as detailed for another 10 minutes before a clerk finally had the decency to look up and mention that they were calling the other parties because they had gotten their tickets at the kiosk.

My mild aggravation was as mighty as an average cow, deep as a pond, and fiery as bell peppers. How dare they!! Not only was there no official recognition of this system to let flyers know what they were missing out on, but the marginal time saved by electronic check-in was more than erased by having to wait for the called persons to hear their call, and awkwardly bustle through the entire line, cutting everyone.

I wanted to complain but didn't feel quite adamant enough to say anything. I wanted to throw my bags down in light disgust, but that would serve no purpose. I wanted to voice my disapproval, letting ring clear the resonating notes of truth and justice across that fetid swamp of ignorance and bureaucracy embodied in the clerk smirking before me, but that would create a small outcry. My voice was trapped by the non-severity of Alaska's transgression as was my body by their oppressive line-system. Alaska, let it be known that you, of all airlines, are doing it wrong.