Priority Boarding Only!

In Dallas, last Saturday, on our way from St. Louis to Vail, Colorado for a ski vacation, two ground crew attendants attempted to control the crowd trying to board an AA flight. The flight was late and most passengers were travelling with young kids, who were starting to squirm and whine.

In fact, the crowd was not rowdy. No-one pushed. The problem was that every single person was crammed in the line-up labelled “Priority”, which is reserved for AA’s platinum and gold members and first-class passengers. Not one single person was in the regular line-up!

The attendant kept using the loudspeaker to announce the brief delay and to demand that, “Y’all need to step back! This is priority boarding only!” I thought this was uproariously funny and assumed that AA had been overly generous with points, allowing a disproportionate number of travellers to enjoy privileges normally reserved for high-paying customers and frequent flyers.

I was wrong.

A short flight brought us to Vail-Eagle, a beautiful new airport nestled in the Colorado Mountains, a short drive from world-class Vail ski resort and family-friendly Beaver Creek resort. I anticipated that our bags would arrive first on the baggage carrousel because my husband’s Platinum status meant that our suitcases had been checked with bright red “priority” tags.

I was wrong.

Our bags were nearly last to appear on the carrousel after approximately 50 other suitcases tagged with bright red “priority” tags! Every single bag was priority checked! Are you starting to get it? It took me awhile. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention? To be fair, I’ve only lived in the United States for seven months and I never dreamed I’d get to ski at Vail, a destination that seemed so far away when we lived in Canada.

As we hopped into our $350 40-minute shuttle to the $500 per night hotel, I began to realise why every person and every bag had been priority checked ... let’s just say that Vail, Colorado is not exactly your average cheap vacation spot!

Even Beaver Creek’s tongue-in-cheek “Not exactly roughing it!” slogan recognises the fact that this is luxury skiing at its best. Runs are carefully groomed every night. Young people on four-month visas from all over the world cheerfully work tables at fabulous restaurants serving fine wines, imported beers, and local specialties such as elk, bison and trout, as well as imported delicacies.

Even the sunny blue skies looked like they’d been bought! Did Vail arrange for a foot of fresh, fluffy powder to fall all day on Friday? How did they do it? This place is magic and ... yes, very expensive. As we wait at the airport to return home, pockets a bit emptier, faces a little more tanned, and grateful for being able to take such a wonderful family vacation, I count my blessings and wait for the Priority Boarding call!!!