I was at Seattle-Tacoma airport today for the first time in almost three years— to fly out to visit my brother in San Diego.
It seemed to me that 1 in 10 travelers at the airport was wearing a mask. (I was one. Yes, I have had COVID, but I am trying hard not to get it again). My seat was all the way in front, and I could board in the first group, but I waited for almost everyone to board before I stepped on board.
We took off from the longest of the three parallel runways at Sea-Tac airport (16R/34L), in a northerly direction, and then our Boeing 737-900 bird made a sweeping turn over West Seattle to fly down south along the Pacific Coast.
The flight went without incident, but at our arrival at San Diego at 1.15 p.m. or so, we were held at the gate for 30 minutes before we could enter the terminal just as it was being cleared out completely. (Lots of people— thousands of people).
It was later reported that around 12:25 p.m. a traveler had taken a carry-on that had been identified for additional screening and walked away with it. When TSA officers couldn’t find him they decided to clear passengers out of Terminal 2 West & East.
Luckily, I could still get my checked bag from the carousel, and vamoose.
I am sure many hundreds of people missed their connections.
As I left the airport building, the line of people waiting to get back in, and of those that had just arrived to go somewhere, stretched as far as the eye could see, and then even further.
