Jeff Billimek’s Journal

Right now, I’m sitting in first class (seat 6A) on flight 383 from Salt Lake City to Anchorage drinking a crown & coke while the rest of the plane boards.

IROP stands for irregular operation. I was supposed to fly direct from Atlanta to Anchorage. I arrived at Hartsfield airport in Atlanta 1.5 hours before my flight was scheduled to depart. I figured that I would use the cool self-service check in kiosk to check in and check my bag.

Uh-oh.

There is a big sign that the kiosks are for carry-on bags only. I thought I remembered that you could use the kiosks for checked luggage too. Maybe it changed. So, I get in the big long line for the ticket counter. At this point I think that it’s all good still since I have well over an hour. The line isn’t moving very fast. The minutes dwindle by and I start to get worried. I finally get to an agent and when I tell him that I’m checking in for Anchorage, he explains that I’m too late.

At that moment, I felt like I was in a dream. It was surreal. I wasn’t going to make my flight. You’re supposed to check bags at least 30 minutes before departure. I was 8 minutes over-due. The agent explained to me that there are other kiosks to use when checking a bag.

He gives me a solution: I can get to Anchorage by way of Salt Lake City, but I’ll get in four hours later. I have no choice and do that. On the way to gate A23, I call Larry and explain the situation. He’s a little upset but understands.

While waiting to board, I call Michele’s parents to find out how she is doing. She was admitted to the hospital for dehydration and a 104.5 degree fever. They are going to discharge her sometime tonight and she’ll stay with her grandmother. I hope she’s ok. I miss her already.

Work was good. I met with my manager about stuff I’m working on. At this point, she told me that I was leading the ‘every engine’ team which is great on many fronts: I get to prove myself as senior developer material and get experience with more architecture type things, which is where I’d like to branch out to.

I’m writing this and all my Alaska journal entries on my iPAQ 3955 PDA in pocket word. I’ll import them into movabletype when I get home.