Saturday, May 18, 2013

the sprint

I'm flying home on Sunday: Asiana Airlines OZ272 departs Incheon International at 6:40PM on May 19 and lands at Seattle-Tacoma Airport at 12:40PM on the same date. The problem: my flight to DC on Alaska Airlines departs at 2PM, and as Murphy's Law would have it, that flight's gate is all the way across the airport. It's going to be a real pain trying to sprint from Terminal S to Terminal C (map here). Before I can even sprint, though, I've got to deplane, go through passport control, and claim my bags. After that, I charge across the airport to Terminal C, check my bags, then go through the slow, slow line of airport security. What's the likelihood that I can do all that in an hour? I say "an hour" because my arrival time, 12:40PM, refers to wheels on the ground, not to when we actually hit the gate. From what I've seen in researching my flight, the plane won't be at the gate until as late as 12:59PM (see here, but information may change).

This is starting to look like a lost cause. I'm going to do what I can to make it to my flight on time, but I'm prepared to bite the bullet and purchase another ticket if need be. I can't simply switch flight times: this is an Orbitz.com e-ticket, which means no changes and no refunds.

Damn.

Run, Fatboy, Run!

ADDENDUM: The probability that my Asiana flight will land about 20 minutes late in Seattle is almost 100%.


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For whatever it's worth...

I took that same Incheon-Seattle flight last summer. As I recall, I got through immigration/baggage/customs, then on a shuttle bus to the rental car counters, into a car, and on the road before 2 PM.

You just might make your flight.

Aaron

Kevin Kim said...

Here's hoping.

John said...

Any chance you can get by with just a carry on and backpack? I don't like your chances if you have to recheck bags and go through security again. Surely anything you leave behind can't be worth more than a plane ticket. Hell, I could even mail whatever you leave behind back to you when I return to Korea. Or to put a more positive spin on it, hold it until you come back to work...

Kevin Kim said...

John,

That's precisely what I've got: a carry-on and a backpack. The backpack is big, though, so it has to be re-checked as check-in luggage. I'm hoping that, at the very least, my bags make it to DC on time even if I don't.