Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: Checking TSA wait times, Delta cuts perks for Congress, United introduces Relax Row, and assessing dog-friendly National Parks.
How to Check TSA Wait Times At Your Airport (& Get Through Faster)
Last week, we gathered as a team in Colorado Springs for some in-person co-working. It was a fabulous trip, but it gave me a first-hand look at the TSA line issues cropping up around the country during the ongoing partial government shutdown. I believe I’m the only team member without TSA PreCheck® or CLEAR+, so I was probably biting my nails a bit more than the others when I saw the painfully long line (shown above) at the Denver airport. All in all, it took me about an hour to get through security – not horrible but much longer than usual. And this was at ~5:30 am. Thankfully, I’d arrived at the airport an hour and a half ahead of time and made it to my gate with about ~10 minutes to spare (which some would say means I arrived 10 minutes too early). So does that mean we should all be allowing a full 1.5-2 hours before our domestic flights? Thrifty Traveler addresses this in a post that collates links to check TSA wait times. While this seems useful, it puzzles me a bit that the Denver wait time resource currently shows an estimated 2-6 minute wait time (at the time of writing this post.) Have the wait times really cut down from ~45 minutes to 6 in just a week’s time?
(For those with New York Times membership, they have this resource for live, updated wait times at airports across the country for general and pre check.)
Genius: Delta Cuts Perks For Members Of Congress Until Shutdown Ends
Because of this partial government shutdown, TSA agents have missed the last 3 paychecks, and many are starting to call out. This not only puts a strain on us as travelers, of course, but on the airlines trying to continue operations as normal, too. Delta has decided to do its small part to speed up some kind of resolution, pausing the perks normally offered to members of Congress until this shutdown ends. These perks include things like “expedited security screening, escorts through the terminal, a dedicated reservations line, more ticket flexibility, etc”. We’ll see if any other airlines follow suit on this bold move, and if this makes any kind of difference.
I actually checked the date when I first saw this to make sure it wasn’t April 1st, because I was not aware that anything like this existed, and it just seemed fake somehow. I wasn’t aware, for example, that Air New Zealand has already had something like this called the “SkyCouch”. For anyone unfamiliar (like I was), the SkyCouch (and now United’s “Relax Row”) is basically just a mattress topper, which is used to transform an entire 3-seat economy row into a lie-flat sleeping surface. They seem to be mostly designed and marketed for families traveling with small children, and in fact, this review of Air New Zealand’s version says, “know that choosing a Skycouch increases the odds you will be seated around many children”.
And United advertises the following:
This new, dedicated row of three seats is outfitted with individually adjustable leg rests that fold up at a 90-degree angle to create a more room to sleep, stretch out or watch a movie. The United Relax Row is ideal for families traveling with small children, solo travelers and couples who want the value of United Economy but with a little extra comfort. Customers traveling in United Relax Row will receive additional amenities for their flight including a custom-fitted mattress pad, a specially sized plush blanket, two additional pillows, as well as a plush toy and Children’s Travel Kit for families.
Which National Parks Are Dog-Friendly?
I’m very glad I visited so many National Parks before owning dogs because the major National Parks are much more restrictive than I would have realized. While the official National Park Service website has a little bit of information about pets, the best way to find out about a park’s pet policies is to dig around each National Park’s own website. But if that sounds as tedious to you as it does to me, you can also check out this outline created by Four Wheel Campers last year. The folks at Four Wheel Campers separated some of the major National Parks into 3 categories: parks that are dog-friendly, parks that have some dog-friendly hikes but aren’t as dog-friendly as the first list, and parks that have only limited dog-friendly activities. As you can see from Stephen’s picture above, White Sands National park is one of the dog-friendly parks. Surprisingly, Grand Canyon (which many of you know is a favorite of mine) also is considered somewhat dog-friendly, with dogs allowed on the South Rim trails and the Greenway Trail (though not below the rim.)
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Wish the workers (and travelers) weren’t held hostage. That said, these are not normal times. Clearly, things are not going well. 219 days until midterms. We deserve better.