Northwest, make that Northworst

I like traveling, really, I do. I used to like flying. Now, not so much. And when it comes to Northwest, not at all.

In the past couple of years, I don't think I've ever taken a Northwest flight that was on time, except for today. Figures.

It was the connecting flight home from Indiannapolis that was on time. The originating flight from Minneapolis was an hour late. It arrived at exactly the same time the connecting flight was scheduled to leave. When I got off the plane, the customer service rep that met the plane told me what gate the Boston flight was leaving and told me they were holding it, but to run or it would leave.

I started to run, and then said to myself, "Wait a minute. It's their fault it's late." I did walk fast. As I approached the gate, they announced it was the final boarding call for me (by name). So I did run then. The woman at the gate was motioning to me to hurry or they would leave without me. I reminded her that it was, after all, their fault: It was their flight that had been late in the first place.

She said that she had to get special permission from her supervisor to hold the plane because they were concerned about their flights being on time.

C'mon. I told her, as she was hurrying me onto the plane, that she had to be kidding. But apparently, they have so few flights that are on time, that they'd rather inconvenience their passengers, not to mention pay the hotel bill to spend the night (it was the last flight), rather than hold a flight for two minutes. Talk about scrounging for stats.