Text 23217, 62 rader
Skriven 2012-04-02 01:47:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 472
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UA 951 IAD LAX 1715 2002 752 1B
was 967 IAD LAX 1800 2040 777 33A

I got to the airport a bit early, knowing that the previous
flight was wide open. The 6:00 had gone from an old style to
a new style plane with fewer upgrade seats, and my decision
not to use a certificate on what had been a cabin with plenty
of seats had turned out to be foolish. Checking with the elite
desk I found that I was 7 on the list for 6, every one of the
passengers who had cleared having used a certificate, so
said the agent. So the early flight it was.

Boarding was an ill-tempered melee, with the crush not
dispersing inside as one of the guys in row 6 having an
issue with his carryons and not deigning to "step inside
your row to let the other passengers reach their seats." I
admit that he harriedly apologized to no one in particular
as he did whatever he did.

Lots of shrill announcements about sitting down as soon as
possible so we could achieve an on-time departure, but after
that it turned out to be a pretty good-natured cabin crew.

Starter: shrimp cocktail - two pretty big firm ones in a
not-too-ketchupy sauce.

There was a salad of the usual saddish greens and one olive.

The dinner of Asian noodles and beef was respectable - a
block of actual short rib meat (when they advertised short
rib, what came was seldom that), cut from frozen into a rib
of exactly the same size as the next one and the last one,
then with one corner of mine cut off ... tasted by the cook,
or a blob of fat or gristle or freezer burn removed, or what
I don't know. We were served relatively late in the flight
owing to turbulence, so the thin wheat noodles were very
crunchy around the edges, and the accompanying broccoli had
lost much of its vegetable identity and smelled more like a
primitive chemical warfare weapon. Oddly, neither they nor
the noodles was objectionable to taste, and the hoisin-based
sauce that the beef came in covered a multitude of sins.

Dessert, ice cream sundaes, came from a cart, with nuts,
strawberries, caramel, hot fudge, whipped cream, and
Maraschino cherries for the choosing.

We landed a good half hour early, some of that time as usual
taken up with finding a marshal or a gate or something.

The Sheraton Gateway is a really easy shuttle ride, and the
room, not on the lounge floor but one below, as I am a mere
gold, was neat and pretty though rather dated in decor. The
bed had a lot in common with a mortuary slab, though, and I
didn't sleep long or all that well.

Breakfast in the lounge was not a special event. I had a
glass of orange juice, a very sweet chocolate chocolate-chip
muffin, and a banana.

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