The Space A process, for us, begins with “signing up” for seats up to 60 days ahead. This is a retiree thing—others are not allowed to sign up until they go on official leave. We sign up, then we watch the Facebook page’s of the terminals to see when flights are available. The various Space A terminals will list flights up to 72 hours ahead (often not that far ahead). They may also list the number of seats available but that they are tentative.
This is the Facebook page for showing two flights with 53 tentative seats.
We have flown in or out of McGuire, NJ; Andrews, MD; and Westover, MA.
We choose a flight, then we rent a one-way car, drive to the terminal, and mark ourselves present for the roll call. Then, I wait with the bags while Jason returns the rental car and catches an Uber back to the terminal. Then we wait for roll call to see if we make it on the flight.
There are categories that let someone, who signed up after us but has a higher category than us, have priority seating. There are 6 categories and we are category 6—so, we are the last group to be called for seats.
Sound simple? Well, usually.
We saw a flight pop up Saturday, March 7th, on the Dover AFB Terminal for Monday, March 9th to Spangdahlem, Germany. There was also a flight for Mildenhall, England shortly after. Either one was good for us since it is easier to get where you’re going once you’ve crossed the Atlantic. And, we were flexible.
We picked up the rental car from the airport in Louisville on Sunday night. Fortunately, we only live 10 mins from the airport and rentals tend to be cheaper if you pick up at the airport. (Estimated cost with the one-way drop off and the fuel purchase option= $187)
On Sunday night, the flight was scheduled to roll call at 1800. Not to drag this out—after we left Louisville at zero dark thirty for the 10 hour drive, I checked the Facebook page when we were outside of Lexington and saw that the flight had been canceled.
The flight to Mildenhall had a roll call of 2345…that’s almost midnight. So, we decided to turn around and come home for a two hour nap.
Simple, right? I slept for an hour and a half and woke up to check the flight and it had been moved up. We jumped out of bed and hit the road…again.
Dover Air Force Base
We arrived at the terminal leisurely with an hour and half to spare before roll call. As I came out of the bathroom and headed for the desk to “mark” us present for the flight, the Airman said, “Are you guys here for the Spangdahlem flight?” I said yes and he said “You’re just in time. We started roll call 20 minutes ago.” Inside I was screaming “What the hell?” But my face said “Great!” I handed him our papers and Jason started to drag in the bags from the car. I was relieved that with all the difficulty we were still making it on the flight.
I was not sure at all we were going to make the flight. I still had to return the rental in a city (and Air Base) I had never been to at 2100 hrs.
Jason had to grab his military ID card (to be able to get back on the base) and headed out to take the rental to the drop-off. I lingered and kept an eye on the line where you check your bags and decide if you want a boxed meal. I was being deliberately slow, worrying about Jason making it back.
A little about the terminal and the passengers:
The terminal staff tend to be all very young, very low-ranking Servicemembers. Either Army or Airforce depending on what terminal you are at. Whatever ranking supervisor there is on duty is usually buried back in some office. So, in my experience, the terminal often seems a little disorganized.
The terminals are run the same way in a combat theatre also in my experience.
Looking around at our fellow passengers, I take a guess at who, what branch of service, and what their status is. At this time of year, it’s nearly all retired or single-active duty Servicemembers. Today, there is an old, really old, couple, and I am guessing he is retired from the 80s. There is a couple about our age and they are speaking German and they have an ungodly amount of baggage. Which tells me they live in Germany and they’ve been stateside for vacation and/or to visit family. It’s not at all uncommon that a German woman and her sister will both be married to Servicemembers and are stationed or retired in different areas. I hear him talking to someone and say that he is retired from the Navy.
There is an active duty MP with his pretty German Shepherd and his weapons in the terminal. Shortly after I notice him, the Aircrew come out and ask him to go ahead and board. Since he has weapons, he will likely be in the cargo hold for the flight.
There is another older couple, maybe our age but they look older, traveling with two red-headed boys who look like they are seniors in high school. They look like a very nice family.
Then there are various single guys that I am not sure if they are active or if they are retired. One looks like he’s the stand-in for Sylvester Stallone, but younger. A young skinny guy with a slight limp. Possibly medically retired.
The check-in line is empty and I hear the Airman say “Has anyone checked in MSG White?”
At this point, I am walking through the main gate. I am about a mile or so away from the terminal.
It was super weird to hear you referred to as Master Sergeant White! As I placed the bags on the scale, the Airman asked “Is your sponsor here?” I smiled and said “Yes, he’s right outside. Let me call him back in.” Totally lying because you had just texted me you were at the base gate.
It was not quite that simple, “right outside” meant about ¾ of a mile away. I ran from that point the whole way back.
Jason comes in, out of breath from running, and she gets us checked in.
I am currently just shy of 50 years old so “out of breath” was putting mildly.
I do all the talking.
And then, we wait, and wait, and wait. That’s the thing, they never tell you an exact time and you just have to be patient because it’s a free freakin’ flight to Europe.
I ran ¾ of a mile (not in workout clothes) and we still ended up waiting like 3 hours after I got there.
I have done this to Jason soooo many times. LOL. Remember I left the passports in the hotel room in Ramstein when we took the trip to Alsace on the tour bus??
It wasn’t funny then. It’s not funny now.
LOL. I don’t know why I thought we wouldn’t need passports to cross from Germany to France. Anyway…
The aircrew is generally very nice. Once you leave the terminal, you board a bus (an old school or military bus) that drives you out to the plane. There is no fancy awning to protect you from rain. There is no ramp that gently rises for your walk to the door. There is a metal staircase that is ALWAYS wobbly. There always seems to be a gusty wind. The initial step onto the bus and to the plane staircase are incredibly steep. It’s not luxury, but it is free.
I remark on the hospitality of the aircrew because the passengers are not always ideal, and it is not the air crew’s job to be flight attendants. Their job description does not include customer service. On this flight, the old couple I mentioned before… he is obviously retired and she must be his German bride from 1910… okay, not 1910, are both in the elderly category. And the semi-disabled category. And in the heavily overweight category. Heavily.
She has really swollen legs like the one woman at the German American club. Do you know who I am talking about?
No.
Thanks, Cavalry Scout. So observant.
Anyway, this husband carries a folding step stool for her to get into and out of the bus. I am not sure why they don’t wait and let everyone else get on and get off first. But they don’t. And the other passengers stand in the wind, after midnight, to board the bus and to start the staircase. And the aircrew is very nice and patient and willing to help.
And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a crew be really nice. Remember when we flew from Westover and that woman was flying with two toddlers, the baby, and she was pregnant? She had all those car seats and traveling by herself?
I remember.
There is no way she could have done all of that without the aircrew helping.
To my dismay, the C17 has been retro-fitted with airline seats. I prefer the jump seats. Plenty of space on this flight, so Jason and I have a row (three seats) to ourselves. People have a tendency to spread out excessively. Like the retired Seaman and his German wife take a row of three seats across from each other for themselves. We do not do that because we know that the crew will want to lay down on this flight too. And, there are 5 or 6 active duty Servicemembers traveling together and they should get to lay down also.
Jason is out before they even dim the lights. He’s in his element. Head back against the seat, sleeping the sleep of the dead from all those years of boarding military aircraft not knowing when the next opportunity to sleep will be.
So I stretch out across the two seats and put my head on his lap for the 8 hour flight to Spangdahlem. I breathe deeply. My itchy wanderlust finally soothed.
My legs were cramping because I couldn’t move. If you don’t know why read the sentence above again.
SHE AND HE WANDER 