Saturday: American Airlines vs. Starbucks

Years ago, 4:30 AM was the mark of a long night.  As much as I liked the nights where 4:30 AM was the result of great parties, more often than not it was the result of projects or working the graveyard while attending class during day.  Regardless of how it was achieved, 4:30 AM was the end of a long day.  A badge of honor for having the fortitude to last until just before dawn.

4:30 AM should never be the beginning of a long day, but that’s where I found myself on Saturday.  Thinking I’d have the airport and red-eye flights to myself, I booked the first flight out on Saturday.  Imagine my surprise when I found the airport full with several hundred people in lines for nearly all airlines.  I nervously scanned the lines to see if they led to my carrier.  The preferred vendor route – from a system that has suggested such options flying to Chicago, staying overnight at $109, then flying to Omaha the next morning to save $20 on a ticket – actually turned out to be the best option.  10 people in line.  I sure hope those other people made their flights.

After quickly checking in, and going through security with discourteous travellers, I boarded the first leg of an uneventful flight to Dallas.

Brief side note here to American Airlines: don’t skimp on the coffee at 6 AM.  There is nothing as uncomfortable as an early AM plane filled with caffeine deprived people.  At least have the courtesy to put signs up warning us.

 A short hour later and I landed at DFW airport.  I must tip my hat to Starbucks for seizing the opportunity with a brilliant piece of engineering/marketing in DFW.  The route the passengers take to de-board leads them directly by a Starbucks.  It seems counterintuitive to place a cafe where people are deplaning, but when it’s a coffee hoarding American Airlines on a red-eye it’s a masterful stroke.

After brief delays to reward Starbucks for their brilliance and to get my morning fix (double venti Italiano), and a slight layover, I was back on the plane for my flight to Orlando.

The flight to Orlando was interesting.  I suspect it is one of the more prestigious routes for a flight attendant (excluding international flights), but it shouldn’t be.  The coffee hoarding flight attendants were all very professional, but I think one too many screaming kids going to or from Orlando had an adverse effect on these attendants.  Smiles were painted on, and they avoided eye contact with everyone.

My neighbor didn’t have this problem.  Terry from San Antonio was all too happy for a Saturday morning, and proceeded to talk to me about his career (nursing), his children (14 & 18, both troublesome), his educational pursuits (pursuing his masters at UoP, really likes it), his political thoughts (like Hillary, not Obama)… and this was less before the plane took off.  My coffee had started to take hold of my body, which was good for both of us.

Another uneventful flight.  Some turbulence, but credit to AA for bumping me up to the premier bulkhead seats.  Nothing in front of me and we were first to deplane.  It almost made of for the coffee snafu in the earlier flight.

Orlando airport is fairly easy to navigate.  It’s really designed to bring people into Orlando.  The airport siphons people into one location, and pumps them into Orlando.  As efficient as they are at getting people off planes, they’re equally bad at helping people board planes.  Security is terribly long, and you have to travel to satellite nodes to board the planes.  No worries for now, just know I’ll have to deal with it.

Hertz had several buses available and I was given a modest rental Hyndai.  Not the Cadillac I had hoped for, but comfortable.

Having two hours to kill before my friend Jen arrived on her flight from Miami, I proceeded to stake out the nearby Starbucks.  There is one conveniently located 2 miles north of Orlando International.  Being that I’m attending a conference that is primarily about analytics and understanding consumers, I would be very fascinated to learn about Starbucks.  I don’t believe typical models of proximity to wealth applies.  Need of caffeine seems more driven off despair and stress than occasion.  Coffee is the legal morning stimulant.  A few of non-traditional thoughts for locations:

• For parents of screaming kids, the back side of any Disney park.  Not near the exit, because by the time they’re there they aren’t going to stop.  They just want to leave.  By the time they’re on the back side, they need a boost.
• Exits of airports.  Place them just on the other side of car rental agencies.  People want to rush to their cars, but they need caffeine once they’re settled in.
• Anywhere within 500 yards of where I live.

Jen made Orlando by 2:40, and we made her house 30 minutes later.  Put on my apron and prepared Steak au poivre (pepper crusted Chateaubriand with a cognac cream sauce), roasted asparagus, aged Gouda, and bread with roasted garlic.  Served with a nice Australian Shiraz.

The day started out cold, dark and decidedly unfriendly, but there’s nothing like a good dinner with friends to warm it up.

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