Two ways of doing something

I know that since North Platte is three times larger than McCook, its airline service is going to be significantly different than ours and it is. Many of you remember that after my last flying fiasco with Boutique Airlines in Denver, I said in this column I would never fly them again and I meant it. On two trips to Arkansas since, I drove the first one and took United out of North Platte last weekend. The difference in the two airlines was as dramatic as daylight and dark.

The flight to Denver from North Platte leaves at 6:45 a.m. so rather than traverse Highway 83 just about the time the deer are shuffling around, I decided to drive up the afternoon before and spend the night. I stayed at the new Hilton hotel in North Platte called Tru and was disappointed. Even though the price per night was essentially the same as Embassy Suites which has been my go-to hotel for the last quarter century, the benefits were not. There was no manager’s free happy hour the night before and there was a build your own breakfast the next morning instead of the full-service breakfast Embassy serves. All rooms at Embassy are two room suites with a full-size living room, bedroom, and a mini kitchen and Tru had none of these things. In fact, the room was the smallest room I think I’ve ever stayed in and was stoic almost to the point of being Spartan. I guess minimalism was their goal and if it was, they certainly achieved it but, because of that, the price per night was way too high.

The airport is only a mile or so away from the Tru hotel so I drove it the next morning and was greeted by a friendly boarding agent and professional TSA professionals who got me through boarding screening quick and effortlessly. When we boarded, I was pleasantly surprised to find a 60 seat United jet airplane waiting on us instead of the small prop propelled single-engine plane that serves McCook. The plane was about half full for our flight to Denver which lasted only thirty minutes, half the time it takes to fly Boutique from McCook. And there was a flight attendant on board compared to none with Boutique although she didn’t serve the cabin because the flight was so short. We left on time and the flight was seamless.

On the way back, there was none of the trepidation I had flying Boutique that for whatever reason, I may not have a plane to take to McCook. That’s happened to me twice, resulting in two all-night stays in the Denver Airport and it seriously hampered my return flight from Arkansas because I worried the whole time about whether I was going to have a plane to catch once I got to Denver. There was no such concern with United. The plane was on time and, amazingly, there were only five empty seats on the flight to North Platte which again was as smooth and worry-free as it could have been.

So the biggest decision you have to make if you fly out of North Platte is whether to drive up early in the morning to catch your plane and then return late at night or to spend the night either one or both nights. Doing the latter certainly adds more money to the bottom line of your trip but provides you with a sense of well-being in regards to the deer population between here and North Platte. Obviously, if you’re looking for the cheapest way to get to Denver, you would drive up the morning of the flight and back to McCook after the flight gets to North Platte around 10 p.m. If you’re not concerned about hotel fees, you would do the opposite.

I should say here that I’m not demeaning Boutique Airlines by writing this column. I promised I would never fly them again and so I wrote this column detailing the differences between a United jet and a single-prop Boutique airplane. I’ve never had any fault with the employees at McCook and still don’t. They’re good, honest people who work hard at what they do and I‘ve never had a difficulty flying to Denver from here. It’s the Boutique employees in Denver that have caused me and other passengers problems and as long as that attitude and behavior continue to exist, I won’t give them my business.

In closing, I chuckled when reading my good friend and fellow columnist Dick Trail’s column this past Tuesday. His tender sensibilities were obviously damaged by the criticisms he reads about Donald Trump. He recommended we support the President because he won the election and to quit whining about his behavior. It’s too bad the Republicans, including my good friend Dick, couldn’t take their own advice during the eight-year tenure of Barack Obama. He was strung up daily by the conservative media and Republicans in general and the tone of their attacks was no different than the criticisms Trump is receiving today. Trump was even a birther, believing that Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii.

So the solution is simple. Don’t criticize things from the opposition that you also do because it makes you look silly. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I wish politics had an air of civility to it too but it doesn’t and I don’t know if it ever will again or not.

So, if one side takes pot shots at the other side, you can believe the other side is going to return fire.