It’s funny how the most adventure, and fun, can happen when we least expect it? Or is unplaned adventure the only true adventure?
To set the scene, after a cloudy early morning in Ketchum and many phone calls to the Hailey Airport (KSUN), we headed to Angenie and Peter’s favorite Nordic ski area - Prairie Creek. For those unfamiliar with Sun Valley’s airport and its challenges, here’s how flying out of Sun Valley works in the winter:
The airport lies at the bottom of a long valley with mountains of 1000-2000’ of prominence on either side. The valley is about a mile wide.
This alone makes flying into the airport challenging. It’s not possible to abort a landing at the very last second; a pilot needs to be able to make this decision before dropping below 1000’ above the ground. Because of this, the cloud ceiling in Hailey needs to be above 1000’ and the pilot needs to be able to see 1 mile before landing. The good news is that this happens about 70% of the time. The bad news is that 30% of the time, flights into Sun Valley are either cancelled or diverted to another airport, such as Boise.
What ‘diverted to Boise’ means is a 2-hour bus ride after landing. Or, if you're trying to take off, it means a 2-hour bus ride before taking off. Which means getting to the airport 4 hours early instead of 1.
In other words, after Angenie’s half dozen phone calls, it was pretty clear that we would not be bussing to Boise. And so we had time to make a trip out to Prairie Creek and skate ski about 15 kilometers. The weather and views there were phenomenal. When we wrapped up our skiing around 1:30 p.m. (my fllight was scheduled for 4:50 p.m.) the idea of a flight diversion for weather seemed almoat laughable.
And so it was that when we arrived in Hailey around 3:30 and saw the low-lying fog that had engulfed the airport (and, it seemed, only the airport), it was a bit of a surprise. And indeed, as we pulled up to the curb at the airport, my phone buzezd with an alert from the Alaska Airlines app. “Flight cancelled”.
Yikes. We headed inside to learn about my options.
They were:
- Drive to Boise and catch the 6:15 flight to Seattle in the morning.
- Fly to LA out of Sun Valley in the morning, then connect to Seattle. Arrive Seattle in the evening.
- Try to take the Hailey to Seattle flight again the next day.
All flights out of Boise for the evening were full. There would be no more flights out of Sun Valley today.
I did a quick check of the weather forecast. It looked like it would be snowy and cloudy in Hailey tomorrow.
I went with the early morning option out of Boise.
The next stop was the car rental counter. I asked a few folks if they were driving to Boise. No, either their car was full, or they had just come *from* Boise via a bus because of their diversion.
It was starting to look like I’d be driving myself to Boise.
And then a small woman came hustling over. “You’re going to Boise?” We both were on the 6:15 to SEA out of BOI. We would drive together. We had the same first name and she seemed quite nice - not like a murderer at all.
It turned out that she already had a rental car and just wanted to return it to a different location, so about 30 minutes after arriving at the airport, I was in her rental SUV and we were driving through the fog.
I took the role of navigator and hotel-searcher.
She kept thinking.
“I just had a thought”, she said. “I’ll call the Alaska MVP desk and see if they have any spots available on earlier flights.”.
In hindsight, the idea was a bit far-fetched. We were just at the airport talking to someone from the airline. The last flight from Boise to Seattle was scheduled for 8:45, and it was full.
But it turned out that there *was* another flight, and it took off at 7:40. At this point it was about 5 p.m., and Google Maps estimated it would take 1 hour, 57 minutes to get there. “We can make it,” I said.
Because of spotty cell coverage, it took several calls to Alaska, using both of our phones, to get things sorted out. At one point, because of confusion over a shared phone and shared first names, I was the one with a confirmed reservation for 7:40. (I realized this when I went to the Alaska Airlines app to find more info about the flight). The Alaska Airlines app did tell us that there were already 7 people on standby. Yikes.
The drive went quickly. I learned about MVP programs for airlines. (No change fees. Bonus miles. Free upgrades. ‘Being treated like a human’.). I learned about other-Susan’s volunteer work in Nepal. She had a black lab. Kids on the east coast. And she never seemed to give up. Never lost her calm. Loves Sun Valley.
When other-Susan learned that there was a 7:40 flight to catch, the gas was applied a bit more liberally. We were at the rental car return by 6:40.
Things are the Alaska Airlines counter did not go as smoothly as the drive. Other-Susan checked her luggage, aided by the MVP line (or lack of a line). She tried to make some magic to get me on the flight.
The woman working at the counter was pretty sure it wouldn't be possible to put me on standby for the 7:40 flight. I was scheduled to fly the next day. My original reservation was for tomorrow. My origin wa supposed to be Sun Valley. So !any problems that the computer couldn’t handle. There was no way to get me on standby, get me past security.
The minutes ticked by. 7:03. 7:04. She called over Maria, who had worked there for 30 years. Her presence magically helped resolve the problem. Just like pair programming.
With the key to the security gate, we headed over there quickly. TSA pre-check was supposed to be our key past that line, but there wasn't a pre-check line there. Not at that time.
7:12. The flight was boarding by the time we got to the gate. Other-Susan boarded. My hopes were up when a gate agent said that ‘a bunch of people hadn't boarded yet.’. I heard ‘15’. But then a bunch of people showed up at the gate. At least 10. Sigh.
I took a seat and waited. There were a number of other folks hoping to make it on the flight. Based on what I’d seen on the Alaska Airlines app (7 on standby), my chances looked grim.
But then I heard my name called. Telling me to go to the podium. I nearly fell over myself picking up my boots and two bags to get there as fast as possible. I wanted to call out “I’m here!”.
It was a miracle. I made it onto the plane.
I lie. It wasn't a miracle. It was the work of one person who persisted to help out someone - me - for no good reason. She persisted in somehow getting me to the front of the standby line. (After doing some research, I learned that it's not even possible for non-MVP people to be added to a standby list.) But I will be eternally grateful for it and cherish the memory of what - to me, for that day - was an angelic act.
I hope to be able to pay it forward some day, some how!
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