Janet Yellen has been announced as President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to become Treasury Secretary.
This is a rare pick that has been praised by the left (as a Keynesian “The Squad” is happy with her selection) and who has serious economics credentials.
She’s a former Chair of the Federal Reserve, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and UC Berkeley economics professor (early in her career she taught at Harvard as well). Her husband George Akerlof is the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics.
Reading about her preparation and work habits, I was struck by this claim in the Wall Street Journal,
Ms. Yellen prepares for tasks meticulously and doesn’t particularly like surprises or risks. She tends to arrive hours early for flights to avoid mishaps and to ensure choice space in overhead compartments.
A regular weekly traveler spending an extra half our at the airport in each direction will spend 52 extra hours at the airport each year or more than 2 days each year unnecessarily waiting. If you’ve never missed a flight you’re spending too much time in airports, although admittedly there are flights where arriving late has real consequences – either because of the importance of a meeting on arrival, or because of limited connecting options.
The Onion once parodied early airport arrivals, “Dad Suggests Arriving At Airport 14 Hours Early.”
But no matter where you stand on how far ahead to show up at the airport, the future Treasury Secretary is simply wrong if she believes doing so will ensure her access to overhead bin space. To be sure,
- Check-in order at Southwest matters for boarding order and thus bin space priority.
- There are world airlines without advance seat assignments, when you show up determines where you sit.
- And some airlines – like Tahitian domestic carrier Air Tahiti – have no seat assignments at all. Showing up early lets you stand in front of the line to board. But their turboprops don’t have much overhead bin space in any case.
Other people seem to think ‘arrive early for access to overhead bin space’ is a thing, too.
I'm with Janet Yellen on getting to the airport extra early – much less angst & better shot at overhead bin space!
— Joanne Bamberger👩🏻💻👩🏻⚖️ (@JLCBamberger) November 25, 2020
Arriving on time so you can queue at the gate to board, sure. But arriving hours early for flights for this purpose makes absolutely no sense that I can figure.
She’s just 5′ 3″, by the way, so if you fly with her be polite and follow the lead of The Points Guy‘s Ned Russell and help her place her bags into the overhead.
Highlight of my day (week? Month?) – I helped Janet Yellen put her bag in the overhead bin on my @united flight 🤩
— Edward Russell (@ByERussell) July 17, 2019
(HT: @EvanSparks)
With WiFi and a laptop, being there early is not wasted time. I’m pretty productive in a lounge. And it is lower stress to be there early.
I doubt that she told the WSJ that she arrives early to get overhead space. More likely the writer of the article just assumes that’s one of the reasons a meticulous person like her arrives early.
If she is so cautious, she should advocate a new type of IRA like account where you can put unlimited contributions tax free. Only taxed if you withdraw it and not reinvest it. That would bring a feeling of security to us Americans
If not waiting is a plus, I have had the door reopened for me 3 times! And missed a flight only once. And successful over thousands of times. Delta opened the jetway door. United forgot to close the jetway door and I caught them as they just closed the aircraft door. Express Airlines 1 saw me banging on the glass and reopened the door and ground level gate door.
@derek, white privilege – check it.
I arrive at the airport early all the time so I do not become an inconvenience to others and have to resort to measures like banging doors, which the science says is highly correlated with micropenis.
People who want to be productive at airports often can be productive at airports. Combine a motivated worker with a laptop/iPad and a phone for email/hotspotting or other internet/communication connectivity, and there is no reason why the typical airports on her repeatedly beaten path can’t be productive work spots or even a place to get things done so she’s more productive with her work.
Arriving very early at the airport need not be a waste of time. Informed travelers with sufficient resources and tools at their disposal can quite easily plan ahead to make the extra time at the airport a productive part of the limited time to be had in the real world.
Considering that the trip from Berkeley to SFO can have horrible traffic, I would leave early as well. I am with @GUWonder, Yellen probably has access to lounges. I also believe Yellen understands cause and effect very well and doesn’t believe in taking chances. Bravo for her! Definitely the kind of leader that the US needs!
Gary – not sure why you have an issue w arriving at airport early. I have over 8 million miles and have traveled extensively for 35 years. I still try to get to the airport 1 1/2-2 hours before my flight even though I rarely check a bag and have pre check.
I don’t consider the time “wasted” as you apparently do. With WiFi at pretty much every airport and the ability to do work from lounges it makes things very easy to be productive. I’m retired now but when I was working I still got there early. That way I could respond to emails or calls up until the last minute and be most responsive.
Frankly your comment that if you haven’t missed a flight you are spending too much time at the airport is about the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen you post (and that is saying a lot).
WSJ fail by putting words in her mouth. Yellen is smarter than that.
I agree with Yellen. We always left plenty of time, for unforseen events happening. A flat tire, traffic tie ups. Long lines at security. Once a flight was held for us. We had to wait in Barcelona 2 or 3 hours to have a pilot fly to Barcelona to take us home. We arrived in US when our connecting flight was boarding. They told us we wouldn’t make the flight. However the supervisor took over and said they will hold the door open. We did not put on our shoes even and ran quite some distance to board our flight.
Normally I agree with you Gary, but calling the airport time lost just shows the difference in mindsets. Some people who arrive early end up wasting their time at a bar or watching inaneTV. Others, including often me, find the airport time productive.
I will note that I no longer arrive early or late, I don’t fly now and will start back once the vaccine is fully out for any one and that it has proven effective beyond tge short clinical trials.
Yellen and the Libs do not want you to keep your $$$ esp if investing in an IRA tax free??? they want to take all of your hard earned $$$$…. Remember the DNC Liberal Mantra redistribution of your wealth to those who want it without hard work…
And, for some reason, someone “thinks” that this is noteworthy?