Text 6214, 121 rader
Skriven 2013-10-28 20:40:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: mileage running in Y 386
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UA1284 EWR SFO 1735 2107 738 21A

I didn't bother to stick around to see about an upgrade,
which wasn't going to happen anyway. The exit row is pretty
good, especially if the passenger in the B seat is either
small or cute. On this flight she was neither and spent a
fair amount of time spilling into my seat space; she could
have leaned the other way, into her husband, but no.

Ah, well, all I wanted to do was sleep anyhow.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be dimming the cabin lights
for takeoff. You will find individual reading lights in the
passenger service unit above your seat." Only problem - we'd
been taken off for two hours. And this announcement woke me
up (actually, the microphone clicking woke me, so I got to
hear the whole thing), and I stayed awake for the rest of the
flight. Luckily there's at-seat AC power on this equipment.

The idiot in the spot in front of me tried to recline his
seat (it doesn't recline). His effort knocked this computer
silly, as it was on my tray table attached to his chair.
He knew it doesn't recline: before takeoff, the gate agent
came aboard with upgrade boarding passes, and one was for
the girl sitting there; she got the seat corresponding to
mine but on the other side, actually a substantial upgrade
as the legroom is the best on the plane, and her new chair
did recline. This guy asked for her place and was informed
that it didn't recline. He spent much of the flight bouncing
around on it, which didn't help him but jounced my computer
annoyingly, disconnecting my power a couple times and being
in general a pain in the butt. Luckily the plump lady next
to me was quiet and polite, although when it was time to
deplane she wouldn't, trapping me at the window until I
asked her (nicely) if I could get past.

We actually came in 40 minutes early, so I had time to go
to the club and determine that the Red Sox had blown the
game, which seems to have given great glee to most the
folks out on the west coast (strange, as San Francisco is
supposed to have great affinities with Boston). The house
Bourbon here is some kind of cheap blend whose name I
didn't recognize; not too bad, and it did the trick,
numbing me appropriately and providing a topical
antiseptic for my ear.

Also the Pass-O-Guava machine is fixed and dispenses a
thick, tart, not-too-sweet beverage. Acai-mixed-berry is
also on offer along with the usual orange, grape, apple,
and cranberry, but it tastes nasty (as do the rest, except
for the grape, which is pleasantly Nehilike artificial).

Whoa - I discovered that my next flight was going out of
gate 34. This means taking a bus underground and around
and hither and yon to Terminal 1. You need to allow a ton
of extra time for this. A young fellow had had something
similar dawn on him; he ran up to the dock at 87A, panting
and anxious and out of breath, the concierge Dave not
helping things by saying stuff like, relax, you're probably
going to make your flight. It's ten minutes of worrying
from after they finally get the shuttle going. When we got
there, the guy found that he was going to make his flight,
which was late anyway.

I, on the other hand, looked for my bag on the rack where
I'd put it, and it wasn't there. After a breathless moment
or two it was discovered that Dave, trying to be helpful,
had unloaded it for me and put it off in the dark where
I couldn't see it. Dave gently pointed me to it and then
to the elevator.

The waiting area here is dingy, cramped, and unpleasant.
Used to be that Continental was here with a comfortable and
friendly President's Club, where you could stay until half
an hour before flight time and only then have to endure
the public space. Now the club is gone, replaced by a
counter with barstools and electric outlets and insufficient
wi-fi.

UA6220 SFO RNO 2255 2359 CR7 3B

Row 3 is the most spacious on this Canadian beast, with 3B
having the most legroom of any aircraft that I know of.
Usually I take 3A, which has enough legroom and nobody
whacking you with their backpack or kicking you as they
go past, but this time I wanted to stretch out. The other
disadvantage of this seat is no free booze, but I'd had
enough already anyhow over the last few days.

Some Japanese guy came and sat next to me after stowing his
three carryons. I don't know why they let him get away with
that. Later he asked the burly black Aussie-accented FA
permission to use the rest room, which was denied. When the
FA was out of earshot I told him to go anyway. He said he
didn't want to get yelled at, and I said I understood - what
I didn't say was that he hadn't gotten yelled at for having
three carryons, so what made him think he was going to get
yelled at at all. I also told him that the pilot was not ever
going to turn off the seatbelt sign (I was right), and the
flight attendants wouldn't yell at him (also right).

Adding the Reno legs shaved between 100 and 200 off my
ticket, I don't know why, making the trip cost about the
same as a direct Newark-Washington. I could have stayed at
the Best Western for 60 for the five hours I needed or the
airport for free. I decided to spend the money at the slot
machines, but in fact I didn't even do that.

I camped out near the gate but was kicked out of the secure
area as soon as the last flight deplaned. Did the FIDO mail
until the checkpoints reopened, sustained by a $1.50 packet
(2 oz) of chili cheese flavor Fritos, which have a surprisingly
chililike aroma but taste of nearly pure salt.

They have just instituted PreCheck at this airport, a novelty
to staff and passengers alike. Presenting my boarding pass I
was treated with something like awe by the TSA agent, and I
was through about as fast as I could walk.
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