Text 12459, 82 rader
Skriven 2011-06-20 17:12:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip rep 496
====================
UA 775 LAX BOS 2235 0708 320 2A Ch9^

The United-Continental merger involves clashes of cultures,
procedures, customer bases, attitudes. This was manifested
in the changed boarding procedures dictated from on high,
which confused and annoyed everyone, staff and passengers
alike (these changes were rescinded a couple days ago).
An uneasy gate crew and a totally panicked cabin crew
combined with lots of clueless people including a gaggle
of Chinese businessmen gave a feeling of chaos to boarding:
the purser came on the horn periodically admonishing people
to put up their bags and sit down in a more unpleasant than
normal tone, with passengers milling about and putting their
belongings every which where, and the whole scene was
reminiscent of one of the more familiar circles of Hell.
Surprisingly, the staff's nagging and anxiety got us loaded
on time, and off we went.

The snack was a hot turkey and cheese sub, gooey and salty,
with cream of mushroom soup and a chocolate-chip cookie.
I had a couple bites of turkey, having scraped off as much
cheese as possible and enjoyed the soup and cookie with a
glass of Courvoisier. Next stop: not quite the land of Nod
but the twilight sleep that drugs are said to induce.

Tail winds, shortcuts, and the miracle of schedule padding
ensured that we landed a good half-hour early. Due to the
miracle of Channel 9 (a United exclusive) I heard the air
traffic instructions as they happened.

I asked Lynne at the club if there was a provision for
getting connecting passengers to Continental, hoping for a
nifty airside tour the way they used to do it with US Air
and still do at some other stations. No such luck - what
they do offer is a golf cart that shuttles between the
terminals using the walkways in the parking lot. To wit:
you have someone at the ticket counter call the driver,
who meets you upstairs, and you get whisked to the other
area, upstairs from the other ticket counter. There are
both escalators and elevators. The route taken is amusing
and circuitous and ensures that it takes as long as it
would for a reasonably in-shape person to walk.

CO 515 BOS EWR 0840 0955 738 3F
In the security line: a couple without ID and a woman with
an expired passport. The blueshirts were surprisingly gentle
with these people but let properly prepared and credentialed
people go ahead of them.

A short visit to the President's Club, where watery orange
juice and stale pastry were the order of the day.

At the gate I remarked to the agent that I'd seen her a week
previously. She smiled a little at being recognized.

A very short sweet flight. We landed way off at the end of
the pier by Smashburger, so I had one with Smash sauce,
which seems to be just a mixture of the ordinary condiments.
The burger itself is comparable to the competition, Five
Guys, In'n'Out, Fatburger, etc. etc. etc., nothing special,
on the large side (5 oz, perhaps?).

I discovered that the PC bar didn't open until noon (state
law, the attendant claimed); luckily, I also discovered that
Gallagher's had opened at 9.

CO3218 EWR BWI 1259 1405 DH4 1A
There was a large amount of lousing (term of art - people
not called for boarding but clustering around the gate
like lice), which made boarding difficult. They put a
quite old couple in the exit row, and I wondered whether
to say something about this. I decided not to, as the
irritation factor all round would be high. I did hang
around to watch them leave the aircraft (involving going
down the aircraft stairs and then up the jetway stairs and
then the jetway incline). As I suspected, they were hardly
able to walk, and it took them a good ten minutes to do
this. I later saw them tottering along the concourse.

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