The Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly (but not necessarily in that order)
OK, before I start just a quick word about Juneau. Although the state capital of Alaska it is a small town dependent primarily on government and the cruise industry. There were four cruise ships in the day we arrived and three on the following two days
On our arrival we had walked the centre and visited the State and city museum and the following day had taken the Mount Roberts Tramway and visited the Mendenhall Glacier. The Tramway gave us stunning views of the area,
So back to the flight. Our itinerary was JNU-ANC-FAI with a two hour layover in Anchorage - well that was the theory.....
…...and the night before we left Seattle, shortly after I arrived in that fair city another email popped into Chris’s inbox from AS announcing that we had both been upgraded to First on both legs of the trip.
I was really loving Alaska Airlines by this time.I should say that since Juneau is dependent on the cruise ships where very few would be joining there, really good hotel accommodation was difficult to access. We had booked into a 3* place which in reality was little more than a motel but had free wi-fi (a must with us) and was redeemed by being very accessible to the centre of the town and having a good restaurant and store next door as well as free transfer to and from the airport. However the wi-fi didn’t seem to be too Apple friendly as far as my iPad was concerned although it functioned better on the iPhone.
Thus it was that we were brought to the airport by the shuttle, in the pouring rain with another guest who commented on it and said that it was just like Ireland. I was dying to ask her whether she knew that by hearsay or experience but given the experience of the previous week, I couldn’t really contradict her. 
As I said in an earlier TR, Juneau airport is really small with check-in jostling for position with baggage claim just around the corner. We checked in at the First counter and were held up by a guy in front of us who wanted to change his flight to another one and was extremely peeved that First was not available on his new flight - and let the world know! Tough! Build a bridge and get over it!
Once he had moved on we approached the desk and were quickly checked in. Incidentally, I really liked their check-in desks. They are of podium style and consist of two conjoining circles and the check-in agent turns between one and the other so that when one person/group has checked in there is no delay while waiting for them to clear the desk area although I did feel sorry for the agent who is on his/her feet for the duration of their shift. It also looks less cluttered.Once checked -in we headed upstairs to Departures. There was a bar and restaurant land-side but little else. We joined the queue for security aware that there was no Fast Track or premium line. Not so the man that was in front of us at check-in. He swanned up to the head of the queue and was sent back post-haste to the end of the line.
We both agreed that he was a complete DYKWIA! Security was hassle-free and soon we were through to the Departures lounge - where it all kicked-off! The Departures lounge in JNU has roughly the same footprint as the LHR Clubhouse and has three gates and a few customer services desks. Food and drink is only available from vending machines and there are no airline lounges. In other words, it was both basic and busy. Quite frankly I did not mind. The wi-fi was both free and good so we found seats overlooking the runway and I settled down to catch up all that had been happening in my little world that I had not been able to access over the last couple of days.
I hadn’t been there for long before I became aware of a woman in the seat backing mine who was chatting to the guys sitting behind me. She had a laugh that was somewhere between a giggle, a cackle and a bray and it really was grating and she was giggling/cackling/braying constantly as she chatted to the men on either side of her.
At one stage she plonked herself on the lap of the guy beside her and continued with her manic laughter. At this stage Chris and I were at the eye-rolling stage but really there was nowhere to move to so we just had to suffer. For whatever reason one of the security personnel came round the corner from the security line, appraised the situation and thundered at her, “Ma’am, please sit in your own seat” to which she complied with much giggling/laughter. Shortly after that a lady emerged from security. She was tall, elegant and elderly. If her life were to be enacted on film, she would be played by the excellent Dame Maggie Smith who would still fall short of this lady's imperiousness. She was a lady who commanded attention but as is the wont of the hard of hearing had a booming voice which echoed round the lounge. She was also having difficulty in sorting herself out after the demands of the TSA to divest herself of her outer garments. In fairness to Ms Manic Laughter she sprang up to help her and they chatted as she tried to sort out this lady’s attire. Of course given her booming voice and the other one’s laughter we were all privy to the conversation and I wouldn’t have missed this exchange for the world:Booming voice lady: Thank you dear. Are you an ex-smoker?
Manic laughter giggled and agreed
Booming voice lady: Well there’s only one thing worse than an ex-smoker and that’s an ex-whore!
Cue snapping of heads up at that remark but then...
Manic laughter lady: Well that’s me on both counts.
Cue a perking up of all the straight men in the area and all of the women in a spectrum of fascinated to downright disapproving!!
Manic laughter lady then went on to say that she had been denied boarding on her flight to Anchorage earlier because of drinking too much whiskey!! Anchorage? Great! It was odds on that she would be on our flight.
While all this was going on our plane had arrived albeit 15 minutes late but we had known that as Chris had tracked the flight which was a milk run from Seattle stopping at places like Skagway and St Petersburg and somewhere else en route to Juneau and our flight had been put back from 12:40 to 12:56. However it wasn’t long on the ground when it was announced that the plane had gone tech and there would be a further announcement at 2pm. OK, so it was only an hour later and it was cutting in to our connecting time so less Board Room time but stuff happens and we settled down to wait. Passengers with onward flights were paged from time to time to be re-routed but although we listened attentively our names were not among them.
In the meantime Ms Manic Laughter had returned to her seat behind me much to the delight of the two men there who questioned her on her previous career!! Eventually she must have got bored with them as she announced that she had to go and check on her reservation and headed off to the Customer Service desk and from there, heaven knows where as her laughter was not to be heard.
At 2pm we learned that there would be a further announcement at 2:40pm and things were beginning to look a bit dicey for our connection to Fairbanks which had Chris scurrying to his laptop to check on later flights. This was when we learned that our flight was the last one of the day ex-ANC for Fairbanks. Any other day there would have been two later flights but not on Saturdays. In addition the only other flight to Fairbanks was leaving at 5:45pm on Era Alaska and after that.......zilch! Around about that time we started chatting to another lady who was also on our flights and we debated as to whether they would hold back the flights for us or re-book on the Era Alaska flight but there was still no word from Customer Services but at that stage it would be perfectly possible to make our connection. Just before 2:40pm the monitor indicated that we would be boarding at 3pm for a 3:15pm departure and at that stage an announcement was made to that effect with the rider for all passengers to Fairbank that they were in negotiation to hold back our flight so that we could make it to our destination. We heaved a sigh of relief but realised we were not out of the woods just yet.
In the meantime a familiar laughter was heard in the departure lounge. Yes, Ms Manic Laughter had returned but fortunately was at the far end of the area well away from us. 3pm came and went and at 3:20pm boarding was finally announced! Immediately Ms Manic Laughter cackled with glee and skipped the length of the lounge clapping and whooping and returned finishing up directly in front of the gate podium …....
…..... from where she was immediately whisked away by security and was later denied boarding!!
Boarding was quickly accomplished - after all everyone was anxious to get on their way. The captain came on to say that during the flight into JNU there appeared to be a generator malfunction which needed to be sorted out before the plane could continue but promised that he would try to get us to Anchorage as quickly as possible. We pushed back at 3:45 and with an hour and a quarter’s flight time I couldn’t see ourselves making the connection as I really did not expect them to hold the FAI flight back by the best part of an hour. However at that stage there was nothing we could do except enjoy the flight.
After take-off the cabin crew in First came round for drinks orders and to inform us she would be serving a chicken and pasta salad. I asked for and received a white wine and the chicken came with an orzo pasta salad which was delicious - well at that stage we were a little bit more than peckish.
The flight passed pleasantly, after all having iPads and laptops certainly helps, and soon we were descending into Anchorage. As we were taxiing to the gate the flight attendant came on the PA to say that the passengers for Fairbanks were booked on to another flight and needed to deplane immediately. She asked passengers to remain seated to allow us to get off first and asked for the three parties to press their call bells so that she might see where we were. Eight dings were heard!!
Ourselves and the lady we had been talking to in JNU were in First but there was another couple in Economy who quickly joined us. The ground agent told us we were booked on an Era Alaska flight which was due to leave at 5:45 but was being held back for us. We were told that our bags wouldn’t make it but would be delivered to us first thing the next morning but to get to the gate as quickly as possible as “they know you are coming and will be waiting for you”. We dashed as quickly as we could to the gate which was at the furthest end of the terminal to find people boarding two flights but no-one waiting for us. As we looked around the small area we heard a door bang in the corner and turned round to see a gate marked “Fairbanks”. We dashed over and I looked out of the window to see the gate agent, a young girl who looked no more than 18, walking over to the aircraft. It was a Dash-8 and cargo was still being loaded. A few minutes later the gate agent returned and when we said we were booked on the flight she told us that the flight was closed and we could not get on. She said the door of the aircraft was now closed but I was looking out of the window and it wasn’t. We explained exactly what we had been told by Alaska Airlines and under duress by us insisting that we were expected she slouched off (in the manner of teenage girls with the sleeves of her sweater pulled down over her hands in what seems to be the universal fashion for them) to check it out. A couple of minutes later she slouched back and just said, “No” and that was that. 
We asked to speak to a supervisor but were told there was none there but at that stage it was too late; the plane had departed. We had no option but to return to Alaska Airlines.Chris was the first one there and headed to their Customer Service desk but some of the others who were slower in arriving went to the First class check-in but were soon re-united with us. It must be said that Alaska Airlines rose to the occasion magnificently.
The minute they heard of what had happened they immediately started to look for accommodation for us and book us on a flight the next morning. There was a secondary problem for us in that Chris had booked for the hotel in Fairbanks with points and he had till 6pm to cancel otherwise he would lose them. It was now 5:50pm so I sent him off to do that while the excellent CS agent continued to work to try and get accommodation for us. He came back with his mission accomplished and we all turned our attention to our bags. Were they still here or had they gone down to Era Alaska (we had forgotten that our bags were to be delivered by AS)? Two of us were directed to the baggage area and were told that no bags had gone to Era so we said we’d go upstairs and get the baggage tags. No need, just describe them. We did and within minutes our bags were trundled out. Our names were checked alongside them and we arrived back like a Roman emperor bearing the spoils of battle. 
Shortly after that rooms were secured for us all in the Embassy Suites, a taxi was booked for us all and we had all been re-booked on the 7am flight to Fairbanks, all of us refusing an offer of the 6am flight! To add to it, we were all booked in First, although for us and the lady it was the cabin we were already booked in but the other young couple were delighted. Shortly after that the taxi arrived and we were soon checked into a very nice room in the Embassy Suites with two complimentary drinks in the bar each.
We were delighted and planned our evening of bar food, some laundry in the guest laundry (which we had planned to do in Fairbanks) and Chris would invite someone he knew in Anchorage to join us. This was all decided upon while the very nice man in Reception checked us in. He then asked for a credit card for incidentals and as it was my turn to do this, I opened my purse to get it and......…....discovered it was still in Juneau!!
. Gin ( as used by HL and the rest of us Tanquerey swigging V- flyers ) you must understand, is used for medicinal purposes only 
