Fargo Airport Review (my ANA report), with Almost No Pics!
messydesk
Posts: 20,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
Like several of us, I spent time at the ANA show this week. It was supposed to be a full 3 days, Thursday through Saturday, and my 7:30 am Chicago-Denver flight was going to get me to the show around 10:15. United wasn't going to have any of it, however. They decided to cancel my flight to do maintenance, and rescheduled me for a 2:30 flight that would have had me running to make one-way traffic.. They were nice enough to put me and the other 150ish passengers on standby on the 8:55 flight, though. I had the customer service guy checking for connecting alternatives that wouldn't mean an entirely lost day, as inviting as it may be to get the opportunity to spend an extra 7 hours at O'Hare. First attempt, Chicago-Cleveland-Denver. 5 minutes of puzzled tapping away at his terminal had him printing out a standby boarding pass from Cleveland to Denver. Next try, Omaha. Same effort, same result. Then I started rattling off every city on the departure board that left within the next hour -- Lincoln, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis, Sioux Falls, Cololrado Springs, Madison, and finally Fargo. Yep, I flew between two United hubs by connecting through Fargo's Hector International Airport, serving the Fargo-Moorhead-Dilworth-West Fargo metroplex. I wondered a bit about the "international" part, and a little research shows that there are two charter flights to Puerto Vallarta scheduled for next February, plus customs service available for supply transports from Canada.
Upon arrival at Gate 5 (of 5), which was also my departure gate a couple hours later, I decided I'd see what amenities the airport had to offer. My first stop was the food court, by which I mean a snack counter at which I could order a ham and cheese panini with chips and a beverage for less than $10. The tax alone at O'Hare would have come close to that. Now, I say panini because that what the sign said, but sadly this was merely a compressed grilled cheese sandwich with ham and sliced tomato. It didn't even have lines on it. The person taking my order told me to have a seat in the lounge, and she'd bring it out to me. One nice thing about the lounge was the outlets every couple feet around the perimeter. This is a view toward my gate from the lounge. The rest of the airport was pretty much the same, but in the other direction.
Bustling, no?
As I was enjoying my recommended weekly allowance of salt, fried, compressed sandwiches, and Mountain Dew, people started arriving for their flight to Las Vegas. Then the lounge activity started picking up, which brought the bartender out of hiding. One nice thing about a small airport, it that the acoustics are such that you can understand the announcements. There's only one guy making them, and everyone stops to listen, because chances are the announcements affect their flight. This was the case for the Las Vegas flight, which was moved from gate 1 to gate 3 -- about 50 feet. Another announcement for the Las Vegas flight was reminding passengers to "please act normal when boarding" because they'd refuse boarding to anyone who appeared to have been drinking too much.
Well, eventually it was time for me to schlep back to Gate 5 for my flight to Denver. This flight had a first class cabin, and I got upgraded, which meant I could act normal and then order a drink once I was safely on the plane. Train to Union Station, ride to Convention Center and I was at the show by 4, which gave me enough time to set my stuff up, confirm dinner plans, take a couple pictures for someone, and share my review of the Fargo airport with others. John Agre (CRO) seemed just a touch jealous that he didn't have this experience to include in his road report.
Thursday night was dinner with the VAM guys. About 16 of us at Maggiano's. Way too much food, but it was all good and it was great to be out with everyone. Some people took leftovers home, and we gave some to a couple homeless guys on 16th St.
I ended up not buying many coins, but still enjoyed hanging out with fellow coin folk. I lost all my auction bids, picked up a few Morgans I wanted. Accumulated the PCGS Sample Slab Suite for the show. My flight home was delayed for over an hour by weather on Saturday. Todd Pollock blamed me for the airport closure that left him sitting at the gate on his outbound flight for over 2 hours. After getting back to O'Hare after 1 am, I had to wait for 20 minutes to the train to the bus to the parking lot so I could drive home, where I arrived after 2.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Comments
Ain't travel grand?
There are (a few) worse places than Fargo.
"please act normal when boarding"...LOL
Ummmm.... In Fargo, doesn't "International" mean going to Minnesota?
Well at least nothing happened in Fargo that would get a TV season made about you.
I'd say your report gave the CRO Road Report a run for its money. "Act normal when boarding," that's priceless!
I was unable to go to the ANA World's Fair of Money this year, and was feeling pretty bummed about that. But reading about messydesk's travel fiasco helped to take away a bit of my disappointment. It is amazing how even the best laid plans to attend a coin show can be completely destroyed by an experience such as this. I can still remember the days when the air travel experience actually added to the pleasure of a show. Alas, I fear those days are gone forever.
As a North Dakota State University graduate, who remembers a time BEFORE that modern and expansive new airport terminal was built, I'm glad you enjoyed your stay.
Look for Messydesk on season 4 of Fargo. He'll be the guy in the Hawaiian shirt with a paisley carry-on eating the prop Panini in the opening airport scene.
That's probably because everyone was told to act normal.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Agree - Act normal while boarding - was that related to drinking or being a coin nerd??
I imagine that in Fargo, the threat of acting normal or you don't get to leave is a statement not to be taken lightly.
lollll...I actually live in Fargo. Have been in and out of that airport a million times. You can usually show up about 30-45 minutes before your flight and be able to get through with no problems. There is even a pre-check line.
AA, United, and Delta all fly from here. Direct flights to Denver, MSP, ORD, and seasonally to ATL. Hope you enjoyed it!
The contrast between large and small airports is amazing. I see it when I visit my daughter in NC... Charlotte or Atlanta compared to Jacksonville... Which is strikingly similar to Fargo.. Thanks for the report.. Cheers, RickO
Yeah. Small airports are so relatively nice to fly out of. The Long Beach airport is similar but its expensive to fly out of it relative to LAX 20mins away unless you're just going to NorCal or Vegas or Phoenix etc