Tuesday/Wednesday, August 15-16: Going Home

I’d scheduled a 7 AM shuttle Tuesday morning from a nearby hotel, so set the alarm for 5:50 and woke up at 5:15.  OK- that worked.  I had coffee and some breakfast, finished packing and walked the 5 minutes to the hotel.  At 6:50 I got a call from the shuttle company- the driver was at the hotel and couldn’t find me.  After a bit of wandering on both parts, we met and I boarded.  By the time they finished pickups the van was full, but we were at the airport by 8 AM.  Check-in and security were very fast and I proceeded to the lounge, where I stayed for a little less than an hour since it was outside Passport Control and I wanted to get to the gate in time. 

A few enhancements for your morning coffee.

Boarding was a very opaque process; before there was any official boarding call people began to move through the lines to get their boarding passes scanned.  I brandished my “Priority Boarding” pass and found myself in the same small, crowded, Standing Room Only area as everyone else.  After a couple of trips to the desk I determined that (a) we were supposed to go upstairs to board and (b)  the reason the stairs had a rope blocking them off was that the crew had not yet indicated they were ready to board.  Nice of them to let us know.  Miraculously, they got all of us loaded by the posted flight time.  I just wish they’d been more honest about the boarding time.  The lounge was far nicer than the waiting area!

 

The cattle pen.  Moooooo.

I spent a quick overnight in Boston, managing to get in a workout the evening I arrived as well as the next morning.  Over breakfast I overheard some JetBlue flight crew members speculating about a possible merger with another airline and saying they needed to unionize before that happened or they’d all get furloughed.  It would be unfortunate if JetBlue merged- from what I’ve heard they’re a cut above the other airlines as far as seat pitch and customer service and I’d hate to see them join the lowest common denominator.

It was my lucky day in a few ways:  while my flight to Washington National was on time, the flights to DCA before and after were both posted an hour late, and my upgrade from DCA to MCI cleared.  Unfortunately, because I was in Peon Class from BOS to DCA, I was dinged an extra $35 for my second checked bag.  Ka-ching.  

After a couple of hours in DCA, our flight to MCI took off more or less on time.  Ah- the pointy end of the plane again- a nice, big seat and a glass of wine to enjoy as we floated through the clouds.  Too bad flying isn't like this more often.

Oops- my wine glass needs refilling.

I arrived home just before the thunderstorms started- great timing.