Commute Across State Is All In A Day’s Work

It’s one thing to commute to downtown Spokane for work. It’s quite another commuting to downtown Seattle, or in the case of Jim Correll, Bellevue.

Correll, the vice president and Spokane manager of CH2M Hill, a regional engineering firm, has to fly to Bellevue a couple of mornings a month for meetings, and usually makes it back to Spokane in time for dinner.

He’s got the routine down so smoothly his family may not even know he left town.

“No big deal,” Correll says. “Connections are very easy to Seattle.”

“I could get out to the airport at say 7:30, be to SeaTac at 8:30, be in the office at 9 or 9:30 and then catch a 5 o’clock flight back to Spokane,” he says.

He has to get up a little earlier on days he has to fly, but he says he doesn’t really wake up until he’s on the plane.

The flight itself takes 45 minutes, giving him time to sort out his planning and get whatever reading he needs to do done.

“And I always take a good book.”

It doesn’t sound that much different than an STA ride from the Valley.

“It has no impact on the hours worked. Normally I don’t get away from the office until 6, so it’s about the same, Bellevue or not.”

“If I had to do it a couple days a week, it would be too much.”

If there’s an early morning meeting, he might head over the night before and stay in a hotel, but if at all possible, he prefers to get over and back on the same day.

“I get worn out when I have to go to hotels and eat meals out. If I can be home, maybe I’m home a half hour later, but it makes it so much easier.”

“For a one day deal, I don’t eat out at all.”

As far as making plane connections goes, the Horizon flights are frequent enough that if he misses one it’s not long before he can catch another.

“And if I get out of a meeting early, I just head for the airport and catch the next flight.”

Ironically, the biggest problem he has with commuting across the state is the traffic congestion around Seattle.

“It’s a lot easier if you have one other person with you because traffic can be really bad. If you can get in an HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane. It makes getting around a lot easier.”

Nancy Pappas, a spokewoman for Horizon Air, says the commuter airline caters to business travelers with hourly flights between Spokane and Seattle during the day.

She says the airline service business travelers are most interested in having is frequent flights to choose from and convenient access to planes.

“It’s like our old slogan went: ‘You’re not late for the flight you missed, you’re early for the next one.”’ On the 650 flights Horizon operates daily in the Northwest, about 60 percent of the passengers are business travelers, Pappas says.

, DataTimes MEMO: On Your Way is a Valley Voice column focusing on commuter lifestyles and issues. Your views on any of the topics discussed are invited. Please write: On Your Way, The Valley Voice, 13208 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA 99216. Or fax us at 459-5482.