Airlines- and the collapse of western civilization

Its a looong story, but the short of it is that for some reason no one can explain to me, I was not allowed to board my flight out of Thief River Falls at 6am. Every other passenger in the terminal boarded...even though I checked in first, had all my affairs in order, etc.! So, I came back to the airport at 2.30, waited until 4, was delayed in Hibbing and again in Minneapolis. I missed my connection overseas at LAX by HOURS!

All day I tried to get a NWA supervisor to speak with me regarding this situation, with no luck. I literally ran my cell phone dead on hold with NWA "customer care". If I ever get the chance to meet the TRF/Bemidji supervisor, Roger Tuttle, I may just punch him in the face on general principle! The only people worth a damn at the entire Thief River Airport today were security: TSA, TRF PD (Yes, I mean you Seth!), and especially Les Johnston the TSA supervisor-Thank you Les for being not only damn good at your job, but for being a stand-up guy!!

With no overseas flight and an uncertain stand-by ticket to LA, I was at the point of despair. I asked the gate agent James M. if he could possibly help me... the man was AMAZING! He simply took command, made decisions, and even berated the Qantas "customer care" agent for being an idiot- got me an overseas flight and confirmed my flight to LA! I'm exhausted or I would sing this man's praises even more... perhaps I'll amend this later.



I took this snap on my camera phone, while James was saving the day! NWA sucks beyond belief- I literally had delt with more than a DOZEN other NWA people, all of whom could (or would) do NOTHING! This man deserves something beyond a mere promotion; he may actually be single-handedly running the entire airline for all I know! I should also note that at LAX Mr. Kamran Kaiser went above and beyond as well, helping several of us brain-dead travellers find a hotel even though the ticket area was clearly closed.

So, in a mere 24 hours I've made it to Los Angeles. However, on the bright side I do have all my luggage including the bike.
I also spoke with a shiney-new grad student on the shuttle bus. She will be doing an anthropological study on spirit guides in Papua New Guinea while living with the natives. She genuinely believes that she will subsist for 2 months collecting rain water! She will do this as method of avoiding dysentery from the regular water. I would LOVE to hear about this in 2 months time- honestly, I think they might just eat her on general principle!