06.06.05
In the Heart of Texas
5:47 PM (or 12:48AM Paris time)
Houston, Texas
While waiting at CDG I realized Continental had given me one hour between landing in Houston and when my Portland flight was due to take off. One hour (actually more like 30 minutes before boarding starts) might be enough time if all you are doing is walking from one gate to another but when you come in to the US from an international flight you have to disembark, walk from the terminal to the immigrations area (not close) get through immigrations (a line), get your luggage (wait for it to show up on the carousel), get through customs (another line), get through another security screening (more lines and the taking off and putting on of shoes) and then get back to the terminal. The flight from Paris had to approach the airport from the West and got in about ten minutes late. Moving as fast as I could I found myself jogging toward the gate with 5 minutes to takeoff. I got to the gate to find out the flight is delayed a half an hour, which is good news for me. I have to give Kudos to Continental for how they handled people with connections. Near the baggage carousel there was a portable podium with a lady who told me where to go to catch my flight and had a boarding ticket for me ready on the next flight to Portland in case I did not make it. I must say that while the flights have been cramped and all that Continental has in general been a good company to deal with. I am annoyed that after jumping through some hoops to get a seat with a laptop power adaptor I got on the plane to find out they had only powered up the first four rows but oh well çest la vie.