A series of badly timed circumstances (feeling too sick to get on an earlier flight, oversold flights that only became more oversold as the day went on and a losing gamble on a connecting flight) found me stuck in the New Orleans airport. I got bumped from the last flight out and had with no where to go and very few options other than to find a place quiet place near an electrical socket to curl up.
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| The airport clears out and just a few unlucky souls remain |
It’s true I did have the option of getting a hotel room near the airport. In fact the airlines gave me a toll free number to call where someone would help me find a local room at a discounted rate because I was unable to make it on a flight, but I decided against that. For one, whether its warranted or not, I have a very bad opinion of hotels near the airport. I always feel like their service and cleanliness reflects the fact that most people are only there for one night, are in a desperate situation and have no real plans for coming back. I’m sure that’s an outdated opinion and that many hotels located near the airport are top quality, but still its an image that’s hard to shake. Secondly, I knew I needed to be on the first flight leaving New Orleans at 5:15 in the morning and I didn’t want to risk missing that because I missed my alarm. I figured lots of weary travelers dragging suitcases near my sleeping head would be all the alarm I needed if my trusty iPhone failed me.
So as the airport began to empty out, I tried to find a quiet space away from any traffic, but not so far away that I felt unsafe. It turns out all of the concourses in the New Orleans airport close after the last flight has arrived or departed, so a security person had to ask me to move on to the common space near the ticketing area.
While I was still not to happy that I had to spend the night in the airport, I was at least pleased to see that there were many places to sit, charge your phone or laptop and even some lounge areas to stretch out a bit. The one bad thing? It was FREEZING in that airport. While I realize New Orleans is sweltering for much of late spring, summer and early fall, there was no real reason to have the air conditioning cranked up so high in early March. Made me wish I’d stolen one of those nasty airline blankets.
By about 9:30 pm, aside from a few late arriving flights with passengers who quickly went on their way, very few travelers were left. There were actually more people working than there were stranded travelers, and workers mean one thing…noise. What I thought was going to be a quiet area quickly turned into a construction site, I moved to another area just as a custodian launched into a marathon vacuuming session. I even got to watch Pitbull’s future competition as he and his homies filmed their latest rap video on their iPads. I was really beginning to regret not remembering to pack my ear plugs.
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| Next Youtube sensation in the making – what goes on after hours at the airport |
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| You know it’s going to be bad when they bring out the table saw. |
After a few hours taking full advantage of the New Orleans Airport’s free WiFi (one benefit of not staying at the Houston airport where they charge you), I decided to try and get a few hours of sleep. The bright orange curvy lounge chairs had clearly seen their share of overnight guests, so I tried to find a clean-ish one, wrapped up in my jacket (thank God I had it with me) put a shirt under my head and tried to pretend I was in my warm bed at home.
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| My cozy bed for the evening. |
I’m clearly not very good at pretending.
Similar to trying to sleep on a plane, I nodded off from time to time but would be woken up by someone walking by or when I tried to find a less painful sleeping position. I tried listing to my ‘Night Mix’ on my iPod, but each time the song changed, I’d come back to reality. I finally had to give up when two older ladies, who’d arrived quite early for their package tour to Israel, came and sat on the other side of a divider from me and began chatting as friends do. That was at 3:15 am. Sigh.
If the circumstances, were different, I may have just said to hell with it, taken an cab into the French Quarter and found a late night jazz club to hang out in before picking up a few beignets on the way back for that early flight. But I knew when I did finally get back to L.A., I was going to have to head straight to the office for a full day of meetings and deliverables. Plus, I couldn’t really eat or drink anything thanks to some sort of a stomach bug that kept me from getting on an earlier flight that day.
So with a night in the airport, about 2 hours of broken sleep and a 5:15 am flight, I feel that I’ve gotten another notch in my well worn travel belt. Its not an experience I hope to repeat anytime in the near future, but I will say if you have to get stuck in an airport, the New Orleans option is not a bad one. It’s small enough that it pretty much shuts down at night (unlike someplace like Dubai where there are always flights coming in at all hours) and at least you can stretch out without having to be on the floor. My only advice – bring a warm blanket and some earplugs. Good night!
