Text 8012, 149 rader
Skriven 2008-05-30 07:44:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: to Hap's 379
====================
US2133 BOS LGA 1500 1611 319 2A

Got to the airport quite early, on the off chance there
would be room on the earlier shuttle, only there wasn't
anything in first. Not a big thing, just go to the club and
do a little work. Security was a little daunting - long
lines, few screeners, fewer ID checkers. The TSA people
seem to have felt overworked and were more snappish than
usual. I had my thumb (unconsciously and by habit) hooked
into my pocket while going through the metal detector, and
the guy made me back out and told me to take my hand out of
my pocket and go back through. I have no clue what I could
have been concealing with my thumb in my pocket. Whatever.

It was a heavy day, for some reason, and the snacks at the
US club were meager and picked over. I went to a cubicle
and tapped away for a while, then went out to check - Miss
Vickie's potato chips had been put out, which was okay, not
so nice as Cape Cods, but close enough for a hungry boy.

We boarded a bit late with the promise of a ground hold, so
I envisioned missing my connection (when this happens, the
very good staff at LGA are not averse to putting me on the
shuttle to National); but in fact we pushed back within a
few minutes of schedule and took off not awfully long after
that. And it's like a half hour flight, so we easily made
schedule (one reason why US's on-time stats are so good is
that 71 minutes are allotted for a 200-mile flight, plus
some of its operations, such as the shuttle, really do work
quite well).

A full drink service with refills: Glenlivet was the
order of the day.

My new favorite in the snack basket is the cranberry nut mix
- despite the presence of sesame sticks, which last time I
checked were neither cranberry nor nut.

I discovered that the previous BWI flight was still on the
ground and went to the gate just as it closed. Not a long
wait, though, for my flight, which went smoothly.

US4593 LGA BWI 1659 1833 DH8 2A

A genial and very leggy flight attendant who (blondely) forget
her safety spiel and then stumbled trying to read it off
the cheatsheet.

The aircraft was clean, the seat upholstery pristine. It
was almost like being in a new aircraft.

They say that row 2 is noisy because of the proximity to the
props. I noticed no major difference.

We took off expeditiously and landed a few minutes early.

==

UA 439 BWI DEN 1711 1909 320 1A Ch9 Y Empower N

Here security was a total snap and it was about 5 minutes
from checkin to airside. Of course, the fact that I had
loads of time meant, as a corollary to Murphy's law, that
my flight would be delayed. So I hung at the club, chatting
with the concierges and generally relaxing. Soon came the word
that our equipment, a turnaround from Denver, was further
delayed, so Debbie protected me on the subsequent 6:05 flight
just in case and just in coach. Courvoisier at the club is now $7.
As there are no UA international flights leaving from BWI, I was
unable to use my free drink coupons.

Wandered back out at revised boarding time. My seatmate turned
out to be a very young kid, kind of inappropriately dressed
(his clothes looked as though they'd been found in a dumpster
and then had been worn for a week) - turned out that,
according to him, he'd been trying to get out for 4 days.
He did look, as well as very scruffy, very tired.

A green salad with Mandarin oranges and almond slices came
with the standard Asian sesame ginger dressing; pretty good.

The fish smelled like something the dog rolled in but was
actually kind of not unpalatable. It was topped with a
tomato sauce with cured olives, unsightly but again not
gagworthy. Couscous was surprisingly good, properly
seasoned and neither sand nor mud. A side of spinach
looked like pond slime - in deference to my seatmate's
esthetic sense his marinara sauce had been poured over his
spinach instead of his fish, so that he didn't have to see
it. I closed my eyes and downed mine, remembering Popeye
cartoons of old.

Lemon cheesecake, fairly nice, for afters.

The promised Astica Malbec didn't taste particularly
Malbecky - started out a tad acidy then went sweet on the
palate with some plums and blueberries and the pencil
shavings that make one say Cab - which it turned out to be.

Why is it that whenever there's a two-hour cushion between
flights the connection is right next door, and whenever
one lands less than 30 minutes before the next plane leaves,
the gates are half a mile apart, as they were this evening?
Okay, I know I'm giving Murphy too much credit and it just
seems that way.

UA 509 DEN SEA 2055 2241 320 3D Ch9 Y Empower N

A rather severe-looking first-class attendant who turned
out to be attentive and quite pleasant.

More of that Astica stuff, which seemed to get better as the
flight went on. Mini-pretzels only with the wine, and I thought
that boded ill for the catering; but after a bout of moderate
mountain wave a deli plate was offered. I passed. But when my
seatmate's snack came, I saw what appeared to be real food -
fresh-looking fruit, cheese without unintentional mold, and
roast beef rimmed with real fat. I changed my mind.

It's not a bad deli plate. Nothing to pay five bucks for,
though. The cheese, a waxy Cheddarish and a waxy Swissish,
reminded me about the old joke set in the old Mamma Leone's
in New York -

 Diner: Waiter, this cheese tastes like soap!
 Waiter: Sir, that's impossible.
 Diner: Why?
 Waiter: Because soap has a taste.

A slice of deli ham, okay; the roast beef turned out to
be real but also really salty.

Fruit: cantaloupe, red seedless grapes, and blueberries,
all pretty good.

I went to the land of Nod and can't report on if there was
dessert. Didn't smell any cookies baking, though - that
always used to wake me up.

We landed 7 minutes early. The Hapster was there with bells
on and a turkey wrap in hand, as he's been on an airplane
and knows what the food is like. I ate it merely out of
politeness, as I wasn't hungry. It was better than airplane
food and kept me occupied during the hour we sat in
construction traffic just outside the airport.

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