It’s just a little bit of snow. But schools are calling for delayed starts
or cancelling out right.
I’m flying to DC for a meeting of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. Last night Alaska preemptively cancelled over 100 flights—including my direct flight to DC this morning. They offered a flight on Friday through Portland, arriving an hour after my reason for travel would have ended. That would not do.
The wait to talk to a human being was 3 hours. So I requested a call back. In the meantime, I tried for assistance from the texting channel. I waited 90 minutes. “Joe from Seattle” managed to book me to DC through Kansas City with a scheduled arrival of 8:30 pm tonight. Here’s hoping everything goes smoothly from now on. (In case you are wondering, the return call from the Alaska service center did occur three hours later as promised. So their estimate was accurate.)
Travel is always an adventure. With reduced schedules, full flights, and lean operations, unanticipated changes create chaos. If you choose to venture about as I do, be prepared to adjust and take everything in stride. Otherwise you will drive yourself crazy.
Math in the Time of Corona 