* * * * *
Travelling 1,200 miles, only to get stuck at the gate
The differences between the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
[1] and the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport [2] are night and day.
The Ft. Lauderdale airport is U-shaped; the Detroit airport is two linear
terminals, each nearly a mile in length. Hopping through Security Theater was
trivial in Ft. Lauderale; it was a nightmare at Detroit. I mean, if you don't
want people to use the plastic bins for the contents of pockets, then why are
they even there? Stop berating people who use them! The gates at Ft.
Lauderdale were loud and crowded; in Detroit—blissful silence. And no
Starbucks [3] at the gate.
At least Detroit provides an elevated tramway to traverse the nearly mile-
long terminal. That was fun to ride.
The flight back was uneventful the entire way, until we got to the gate at
Ft. Lauderdale. The jetway malfunctioned, and we were stuck on the airplane.
Everybody was getting up to retrieve overhead luggage and then it was
announced that we all had to sit back down because they were planning on
taxing the plane to a different gate. So everybody sat down, several minutes
of non-movement passed, then suddenly, the jetway moved into place (or
someone, or someones shoved it into place) and we could disembark.
And that was really the only issue we encountered. At least it happened on
the ground and did not involve the airplane.
Also, it appears the line at the Starbucks [4] had finally cleared. That's
nice—took only a week.
[1]
https://www.broward.org/airport/Pages/default.aspx
[2]
https://www.metroairport.com/
[3]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks
[4]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2021/06/15.1
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