Effective Ways of Filling Time at the Airport

The sneaky little rascal, back in my possession

Pro tip: When you face a three-hour layover in your international travel and need to find a way to make the time pass quickly … just leave your laptop on the airplane and wait to discover you don't have it until after you’ve: 1) deplaned; 2) walked down an endless corridor; 3) gone through passport control; 4) waited 20 minutes for your bag to arrive; 5) rechecked said bag; 6) gone up through the terminal; 7) gone through security; 8) waited for the train to other terminals; 9) taken said train to your terminal; and 10) walked up two flights of stairs and through that terminal to the United Club lounge.

You will find, if you follow these simple instructions, and then, in a panic, go to an agent and ask for help, and she makes several phone calls to various people in the airport, one of whom said she would go look and call back but then never called back or answered the phone again, that the remaining time before your connecting flight will pass incredibly quickly, forcing you to decide whether to stay and hope that someone, or the cleaning team, or someone will report finding your bag before you have to leave, or, resigned, head to your gate and your onward flight.

Ok, so, in my case, while I waited in the lounge, I filled out the United Airlines online Lost & Found form, and the very kind agent who was helping me said that everything found by the cleaners would be dropped in a lock box, which would be opened every 3-4 days, with the contents itemized and … sent to Houston, from whence perhaps they could be recovered.

She also took down my phone number and promised to call if that woman in the international terminal got back to her. When it was time for me to head off to my gate I checked one last time, and she expressed her real sympathy, and took down my email address, and I thanked her, and … 

… and her colleague, who had been at the desk next to her when I first arrived but had been gone since, walked up, literally as I was turning to head out, with my laptop bag, asking if that was it.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

Turns out, that woman we had called in the international terminal had gone to look for the laptop after all, and had called back to say she found it, during the two minutes when “my” agent was away from her desk. Her colleague had taken the call, and not being sure if I’d have time to go all the way back to that terminal to get it and return (which would presumably mean repeating all the steps mentioned in my first paragraph, maybe twice), he — perhaps with the ability to bypass some of the more time-consuming elements — had just taken off to get it on his own, hoping to get back before I left … and not telling either of us!

This really is one of those moments they’re making commercials out of these days, with United employees going above and beyond to help passengers. And trust me, I know, we’ve all had major problems with giant airlines and air travel in our lives, whether in the form of crowded airplanes, or rude passengers, or lost luggage, or delayed flights, or whatever. But sometimes, man … sometimes. This was awesome.

I got their names: Brayan Gomez and Cherrie David. Anybody who goes through the United Club lounge in the B terminal of Denver Airport, please stop by and tell them they’re awesome. 

Arizona skies from overhead