And So It Begins

After a 90-minute drive to LAX (extra traffic because of the Taylor Swift concert, perhaps?), we arrived at Terminal 1. We quickly found the Norse counter – mostly because of the long line rather than clear signage. There appeared to be four ticket agents to serve an international flight, one behind a sign that read ‘Exemption’ and another behind a sign that read ‘Minneapolis.’ Interesting? Why, yes. Confusing? Of course.

The line moved realllly slowly. And every single person flying Norse had to wait in the line, no matter if you had luggage to check or not, as it was impossible to download or print your boarding pass at home or the airport.

Waiting in line in front of the Norse ticket counters

It took us 30 minutes to get to a ticket agent. I had been studying the agents, as Tim had mentioned that Norse was extremely particular about weight and size of carry-on baggage. All of us carried the same backpacks we used for our 2022 South America trip; Tim also carried his laptop bag and I carried a tote that was (cough) packed to the brim (hey, I like my snacks). Tim eyed my tote bag. “I’m not sure that’s going to pass muster,” he said. I hugged my tote bag and replied, “Oh, I’ll make it work.”

And so to ‘make it work,’ we needed to avoid the stickler lady at station #2 who was demanding bags be weighed and measured and handing out consequences left and right. As we inched closer to the front of the line, I worried that we were going to get the Stickler; it wasn’t looking good for me and my robust tote. All of a sudden, there was a feeding frenzy at the ticket counters. Instead of one line, there were three. Some people came out of left field and jumped in front of ticket agents; turns out these people had been sent away to repack their bags to fit Norse’s luggage policy. Other people ran into the Exemption line (why?) and confused me all over again.

We narrowly missed getting called up by the Stickler. We ended up at the counter one over from her, with a Brazilian man who didn’t even ask to see our carry-ons. Obrigado!

Boarding passes in hand, we took an escalator up one level and made our way through security. And here’s where Wyatt would like me to tell you what happened to him: “I was going through security with Taylor and we were told to go through a special gate. A person at the gate asked me if I was traveling with my mom and dad. I said yeah and I pointed to Daddy and said, “That bald guy over there is my dad.” And then I went through the gate but I got stopped on the other side. I had to get my hands swabbed. Then they let me go.” Wyatt’s first hand swabbing; it clearly left an imprint.

We then walked around a corner and into another line. We waited for a couple of minutes, and then were sent down an escalator, around another corner, outside, and onto a bus. The bus drove us to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, where we got out, went up an escalator, and found ourselves directly in front of the Chicken Guy.

At this point, the time was 6:10pm and our flight started boarding at 6:30pm. So Chicken Guy it was for dinner. We all ordered chicken tenders and questionable fries and walked over toward our gate, plopping our bags down at 6:32pm.

Soon, the Norse team began the boarding process. And then – then I saw the Stickler. She was at the gate! We positioned ourselves in the boarding lane furthest from her, and I tucked my tote bag behind me as much as I could. I needn’t have worried – we got through to the other side without an extra look.

There was no WiFi on the plane, but there were good movies. Tim, Taylor, and Wyatt watched movies and I read my New Yorker magazine and ate M&Ms (this trip is already a success, if you ask me).