violist
Feb 18, 08, 4:29 pm
Itchy feet ... booked this 16 hr before the flight ...
UA 947 IAD LAX 1750 2022 777 9A Ch9 Y Empower Y
I got to the airport unconscionably early, figuring I might
stand by for an earlier flight and thus get to experience
both the Crown Room and the PC at LAX; checked seatcounter
to see about 967; but it showed, among other things, A3 F0
X3, so I figured to stick with my widebody minicabin and
wonder how F could be 0 and A and X 3.
The WorldClub was crowded to begin with; after the KLM A330
rolled in it was cheek-by-jowl. Still pleasanter than any of
the RCCs, though. I'm still thinking of comping to status on
NW and getting a life membership, that's how big the
difference is.
There's no Courvoisier, so I went for Bourbon (Beam white);
a bartender-cum-res-agent poured me about 5 oz in a tumbler;
in fact he kept pouring until I said whoa, nellie. After
which I didn't feel particularly like booze, so I went to
the cooler and got me a St. Pauli Girl NA, which has the
distinction of being alcohol-frei and skunked at the same
time. Guy in the cubicle across from me was too loud to
ignore as he talked to some buddy on the phone; a lot of
stuff about "FAA regulations," "Northwest sux," and the
kicker, "hopefully, Delta will bring them up to their level"
- I felt almost spiteful enough to join in the conversation,
but I was a good boy.
Bear in mind that he had just come in from AMS on a 330
and had told whomever he was having a phone conversation
(loud) with that it was a 747. Hope it wasn't one of us.
Cookies: chocolate chip, peanut butter chip, and oatmeal
raisin, all fresh and soft. Other snacks looked nasty.
About 5 minutes before scheduled boarding of my flight
I trekked to A for the shuttle to D, which all happened
without incident; got there and it was still 5 minutes
before boarding.
I had reserved 9A, but Mr. Flimsy Chicken had given me 8A;
I approached Shop Steward Theresa with some trepidation,
saying, "this may be a silly request": she looked at me and
replied, "no request is silly." She tappitied a bit at the
console, and lo and behold, 9A popped up. I suspect that
9A got op-upped but am not sure. Anyhow, I was happy, as I
prefer not to recline into people. P.S. - on this aircraft
row 9 had full recline and was very comfortable indeed.
A couple minutes before door close some guy came in and sat
next to me. There ended up being 3 empties in the minicabin.
Took off nearly half late - the cabin announcement was that
this was to accommodate late bags "and stuff like that," but
those listening in knew that there was slightly more going,
as there was talk about a cross-bleed test or something (I'm
aeroignorant enough to have missed the exact terminology but
not so much that this news gave me any anxiety).
Other amusement on Ch9: the captain of OS49 and his
outrrrrrageous Austrrrrrian accent.
Bumpy ride up to 400, then smooth and quiet.
Warm crispy nuts, with a sizable representation of
macadamias! A pity the Merlot managed to be tasteless and
tainted at the same time, no mean feat. The second bottle
was somewhat better (not corked).
The choices were lasagne with meat sauce or Mediterranean
salmon. The FA took orders front to back and first and
second choice; she gave each row the "I will do my best to
accommodate your choice" spiel. Very by the book, without
warmth, but still fine. Everyone within earshot asked for
the lasagne, so I was confident I'd get fish, and so it was.
A largish slab of overcooked tasteless pink protein with a
hint of marine aroma; couscouscous (an old buddy of mine
used to grade quantities as cous for not enough, couscous
for enough, and couscouscous for a whole lot); spinach that
reminded me of what my friend Trevor might cough up if he
had been overindulging on muddy water and crabgrass (he's a
golden retriever); and a fairly decent tomato-olive sauce.
Salad (only a few wilted leaves) with Asian sesame ginger
dressing. Eli's chocolate cheesecake (not bad) for afters.
The best thing on the tray was the couscous, which was
surprisingly fluffy and tender. Then the olives. Then the
cheesecake, which I couldn't eat all of, because I didn't
have enough pills. Then we draw a discreet veil or napkin
over the scene.
A nice double Courvoisier. Speaking of which, the crew was
both pleasant and attentive and responded nicely to the
magic words please and thank you.
Nice landing; we landed a bit early, so I decided to trek
through the tunnel and check out the CRC. A fairly genial
set of gatekeepers welcomed me in despite my bearing a UA
boarding pass; the club isn't that interesting (its
architecture might have been chic when Encounter was built,
and the main room is really quite uninspired), but it does
pour Hardy's VS Cognac. The bartendress poured me a double,
so of course I got snockered and read FT.
At some point, one of the lounge ladies wandered around
the room picking up the phones to check for a dial tone.
As this is a T-Mobile house, I was using dialup, and guess
what. She apologized profusely, but I took that as sort of
my cue to pack up and visit the PC.
Which is uglier than the RCC, if that is possible. When I
got there some guy was irate about not being able to get
back home to Newark [!] and spent five minutes (after I
got in line; he'd apparently been at it for a while before)
whinging at the desk person, who was the only staffer there.
The PC has free (intermittent) wireless and free booze;
otherwise it is comparable to the RCC for catering and stuff
but more crowded and with a marginally worse physical plant,
if you can imagine that. After taking full advantage of the
wireless but not the booze, I tore myself away and went
back to gate 75B, where Zone 3 was boarding. When I
approached the agent from the normal people's line, he
chid me mildly because I hadn't used the red carpet.
UA1492 LAX LAS 2245 2358 32S 3A Ch9 Y
Got the row to myself on a fairly uncrowded flight. Slept
through it, except for when the squalling kid in the seat
behind me got too squally ("I wanna go potty" was the
frequent refrain). Channel 9 was of course my lullaby:
our captain (who suggested it during her preflight welcome)
was a woman with a youngish sultryish voice; after landing
the cockpit door stayed shut, so I didn't get to compare
impression with reality.
Hotfooted it to Fremont St. to do some peoplewatching;
decided to go to "the El Cortez" for the famous
Mr. Porterhouse (for its name of course) but saw the
Jackie burger on the menu and had that instead (for its
name of course). It was a decent but rather underseasoned
burger - half a pound, rare as ordered - on a cheap bun
sided with ratty lettuce, tasteless tomato, mild onion,
and pickle chips that had seen better days; also decent
but rather underseasoned shoestring fries and a little
paper cuplet of ossified mayo. Next time Mr. Porterhouse
for sure. Beer can be got, so I asked what was on draft.
"Miller, I think," my server said, but I'll have to get the
cocktail waitress." Who came by halfway through my meal with
a bottle of MGD, $3.25.
Thought about going to Hennessey's and having a drink or
two in the "largest pint glass in the world," but I really
had had plenty to drink in the last day; furthermore, I
didn't feel much like gambling and so decided to go back
to the airport by bus (satisfying what urge to gamble that
I had). You know what's spooky? The men's room in the
downtown bus depot. The first time I've been marginally
uneasy for my safety in some years. Weird folks living in
there, right under the sign that says "no sleeping,"
standing between one and the door, asking for change.
Back at the airport before 3:30; the security checkpoint
wasn't open, but luckily the free McCarran wi-fi was.
UA1481 LAS LAX 0630 0738 32S 3A Ch9 Y
My Targus brick (just a few months old) crapped out, and
I spent some time trying to troubleshoot (no success); by
the time I gave up, they were boarding this flight, which
was announced as "very full" (as opposed to "full" or
"totally full"). This meant that I had an empty seat next
to me but not an empty row. A very uneventful flight, with
Channel 9 as my usual sleep aid.
Back to the PC, where I exchanged merger rumors with the
attractive black concierge and then tried - with no
success - to log in to FT. I think part of it was that FT
was slow, part that there was an issue with the wireless
(though I got 5 bars, the throughput was next to nothing,
and T-Mobile kept trying to intrude). Breakfast catering
was comparable to the RCC, except that the nasty patries
came in bulk, not individually wrapped. Worst-looking bagels
I think I've ever seen outside an aircraft.
UA 324 LAX IAD 0919 1709 320 3D Ch9 Y Empower Y
This took off from the far end of T6, with UA's presence
being gradually eroded by Delta and Virgin. It's a
depressing little area but convenient to the PC! There was
an enormous crowd of school children on the flight, who, as
they filed in, oohed and ahed about the front cabin seats;
I heard comments like "I hope I get a 2 by 2 seat and not
a 3 by 3 one." I thought to myself, someday, dear, if you
work (the system) hard. My seatmate was a grumpy guy who
spoke some 3 words to me, and that was 2 more words than
I caught him speaking to the FA (the word I heard was
"omelet"). Our purser was attractive and perky and pretty
attentive, about 40 or 45; for some reason, though, after
the meal service she sort of crashed out and spent the
rest of the time reading some women's magazine in the
jumpseat. Toward the end of the flight I pointed out to her
that something had happened in the lav (it was a hideous
mess, with stuff on the floor and paper towels sort of
half covering it, with more paper towels wadded up and
clogging the bin); she reacted with less than enthusiasm,
which is understandable, and less than action, which is not.
At mealtime the choices were "Swiss omelet" or fruit plate.
The former was filled with mushroom bits and some liquidy
white cheese, topped with a blob of weird but not too bad
marinara, sided with weird but bad bicolor potato hash (how
UA can get raw potatoes and soggy overcooked ones in the
same dish is a bit of a mystery), and a pair of lovely
rather spicy pork links. Fruit appetizer, of course, with
embryonic kiwifruit and decent other fruit. Croissant
(looked like run over by a truck; I lied above: I also heard
my seatmate say "croissant") or bagel, but later on the FA
said she'd found some cheese Danish cowering in the back of
the bag. I passed on the breads and on coffee, asking merely
for Courvoisier (the first came as a double, which exhausted
the supply up front; the second came as a single and had to
be fetched from the cart in back).
The movie was Martian Boy, which is said to have been nasty,
followed by Mr. Magorium, which is said to be worse, only it
wouldn't load properly, so they showed a couple episodes of
Chuck instead. Speaking of which, the announcement was made
that there would be Channel 9, only there wasn't. I inquired
about this, and the problem was fixed, temporarily, in short
order. Then it got unfixed again, and I was beginning to
steel myself to the idea of listening to the Warsaw Concerto
for the hundredth time this year, but then it got fixed yet
again. I said a short prayer that the avionics on the bird
were better than the consumer electronics.
Despite our tardy takeoff we landed about 15 early.
UA 947 IAD LAX 1750 2022 777 9A Ch9 Y Empower Y
I got to the airport unconscionably early, figuring I might
stand by for an earlier flight and thus get to experience
both the Crown Room and the PC at LAX; checked seatcounter
to see about 967; but it showed, among other things, A3 F0
X3, so I figured to stick with my widebody minicabin and
wonder how F could be 0 and A and X 3.
The WorldClub was crowded to begin with; after the KLM A330
rolled in it was cheek-by-jowl. Still pleasanter than any of
the RCCs, though. I'm still thinking of comping to status on
NW and getting a life membership, that's how big the
difference is.
There's no Courvoisier, so I went for Bourbon (Beam white);
a bartender-cum-res-agent poured me about 5 oz in a tumbler;
in fact he kept pouring until I said whoa, nellie. After
which I didn't feel particularly like booze, so I went to
the cooler and got me a St. Pauli Girl NA, which has the
distinction of being alcohol-frei and skunked at the same
time. Guy in the cubicle across from me was too loud to
ignore as he talked to some buddy on the phone; a lot of
stuff about "FAA regulations," "Northwest sux," and the
kicker, "hopefully, Delta will bring them up to their level"
- I felt almost spiteful enough to join in the conversation,
but I was a good boy.
Bear in mind that he had just come in from AMS on a 330
and had told whomever he was having a phone conversation
(loud) with that it was a 747. Hope it wasn't one of us.
Cookies: chocolate chip, peanut butter chip, and oatmeal
raisin, all fresh and soft. Other snacks looked nasty.
About 5 minutes before scheduled boarding of my flight
I trekked to A for the shuttle to D, which all happened
without incident; got there and it was still 5 minutes
before boarding.
I had reserved 9A, but Mr. Flimsy Chicken had given me 8A;
I approached Shop Steward Theresa with some trepidation,
saying, "this may be a silly request": she looked at me and
replied, "no request is silly." She tappitied a bit at the
console, and lo and behold, 9A popped up. I suspect that
9A got op-upped but am not sure. Anyhow, I was happy, as I
prefer not to recline into people. P.S. - on this aircraft
row 9 had full recline and was very comfortable indeed.
A couple minutes before door close some guy came in and sat
next to me. There ended up being 3 empties in the minicabin.
Took off nearly half late - the cabin announcement was that
this was to accommodate late bags "and stuff like that," but
those listening in knew that there was slightly more going,
as there was talk about a cross-bleed test or something (I'm
aeroignorant enough to have missed the exact terminology but
not so much that this news gave me any anxiety).
Other amusement on Ch9: the captain of OS49 and his
outrrrrrageous Austrrrrrian accent.
Bumpy ride up to 400, then smooth and quiet.
Warm crispy nuts, with a sizable representation of
macadamias! A pity the Merlot managed to be tasteless and
tainted at the same time, no mean feat. The second bottle
was somewhat better (not corked).
The choices were lasagne with meat sauce or Mediterranean
salmon. The FA took orders front to back and first and
second choice; she gave each row the "I will do my best to
accommodate your choice" spiel. Very by the book, without
warmth, but still fine. Everyone within earshot asked for
the lasagne, so I was confident I'd get fish, and so it was.
A largish slab of overcooked tasteless pink protein with a
hint of marine aroma; couscouscous (an old buddy of mine
used to grade quantities as cous for not enough, couscous
for enough, and couscouscous for a whole lot); spinach that
reminded me of what my friend Trevor might cough up if he
had been overindulging on muddy water and crabgrass (he's a
golden retriever); and a fairly decent tomato-olive sauce.
Salad (only a few wilted leaves) with Asian sesame ginger
dressing. Eli's chocolate cheesecake (not bad) for afters.
The best thing on the tray was the couscous, which was
surprisingly fluffy and tender. Then the olives. Then the
cheesecake, which I couldn't eat all of, because I didn't
have enough pills. Then we draw a discreet veil or napkin
over the scene.
A nice double Courvoisier. Speaking of which, the crew was
both pleasant and attentive and responded nicely to the
magic words please and thank you.
Nice landing; we landed a bit early, so I decided to trek
through the tunnel and check out the CRC. A fairly genial
set of gatekeepers welcomed me in despite my bearing a UA
boarding pass; the club isn't that interesting (its
architecture might have been chic when Encounter was built,
and the main room is really quite uninspired), but it does
pour Hardy's VS Cognac. The bartendress poured me a double,
so of course I got snockered and read FT.
At some point, one of the lounge ladies wandered around
the room picking up the phones to check for a dial tone.
As this is a T-Mobile house, I was using dialup, and guess
what. She apologized profusely, but I took that as sort of
my cue to pack up and visit the PC.
Which is uglier than the RCC, if that is possible. When I
got there some guy was irate about not being able to get
back home to Newark [!] and spent five minutes (after I
got in line; he'd apparently been at it for a while before)
whinging at the desk person, who was the only staffer there.
The PC has free (intermittent) wireless and free booze;
otherwise it is comparable to the RCC for catering and stuff
but more crowded and with a marginally worse physical plant,
if you can imagine that. After taking full advantage of the
wireless but not the booze, I tore myself away and went
back to gate 75B, where Zone 3 was boarding. When I
approached the agent from the normal people's line, he
chid me mildly because I hadn't used the red carpet.
UA1492 LAX LAS 2245 2358 32S 3A Ch9 Y
Got the row to myself on a fairly uncrowded flight. Slept
through it, except for when the squalling kid in the seat
behind me got too squally ("I wanna go potty" was the
frequent refrain). Channel 9 was of course my lullaby:
our captain (who suggested it during her preflight welcome)
was a woman with a youngish sultryish voice; after landing
the cockpit door stayed shut, so I didn't get to compare
impression with reality.
Hotfooted it to Fremont St. to do some peoplewatching;
decided to go to "the El Cortez" for the famous
Mr. Porterhouse (for its name of course) but saw the
Jackie burger on the menu and had that instead (for its
name of course). It was a decent but rather underseasoned
burger - half a pound, rare as ordered - on a cheap bun
sided with ratty lettuce, tasteless tomato, mild onion,
and pickle chips that had seen better days; also decent
but rather underseasoned shoestring fries and a little
paper cuplet of ossified mayo. Next time Mr. Porterhouse
for sure. Beer can be got, so I asked what was on draft.
"Miller, I think," my server said, but I'll have to get the
cocktail waitress." Who came by halfway through my meal with
a bottle of MGD, $3.25.
Thought about going to Hennessey's and having a drink or
two in the "largest pint glass in the world," but I really
had had plenty to drink in the last day; furthermore, I
didn't feel much like gambling and so decided to go back
to the airport by bus (satisfying what urge to gamble that
I had). You know what's spooky? The men's room in the
downtown bus depot. The first time I've been marginally
uneasy for my safety in some years. Weird folks living in
there, right under the sign that says "no sleeping,"
standing between one and the door, asking for change.
Back at the airport before 3:30; the security checkpoint
wasn't open, but luckily the free McCarran wi-fi was.
UA1481 LAS LAX 0630 0738 32S 3A Ch9 Y
My Targus brick (just a few months old) crapped out, and
I spent some time trying to troubleshoot (no success); by
the time I gave up, they were boarding this flight, which
was announced as "very full" (as opposed to "full" or
"totally full"). This meant that I had an empty seat next
to me but not an empty row. A very uneventful flight, with
Channel 9 as my usual sleep aid.
Back to the PC, where I exchanged merger rumors with the
attractive black concierge and then tried - with no
success - to log in to FT. I think part of it was that FT
was slow, part that there was an issue with the wireless
(though I got 5 bars, the throughput was next to nothing,
and T-Mobile kept trying to intrude). Breakfast catering
was comparable to the RCC, except that the nasty patries
came in bulk, not individually wrapped. Worst-looking bagels
I think I've ever seen outside an aircraft.
UA 324 LAX IAD 0919 1709 320 3D Ch9 Y Empower Y
This took off from the far end of T6, with UA's presence
being gradually eroded by Delta and Virgin. It's a
depressing little area but convenient to the PC! There was
an enormous crowd of school children on the flight, who, as
they filed in, oohed and ahed about the front cabin seats;
I heard comments like "I hope I get a 2 by 2 seat and not
a 3 by 3 one." I thought to myself, someday, dear, if you
work (the system) hard. My seatmate was a grumpy guy who
spoke some 3 words to me, and that was 2 more words than
I caught him speaking to the FA (the word I heard was
"omelet"). Our purser was attractive and perky and pretty
attentive, about 40 or 45; for some reason, though, after
the meal service she sort of crashed out and spent the
rest of the time reading some women's magazine in the
jumpseat. Toward the end of the flight I pointed out to her
that something had happened in the lav (it was a hideous
mess, with stuff on the floor and paper towels sort of
half covering it, with more paper towels wadded up and
clogging the bin); she reacted with less than enthusiasm,
which is understandable, and less than action, which is not.
At mealtime the choices were "Swiss omelet" or fruit plate.
The former was filled with mushroom bits and some liquidy
white cheese, topped with a blob of weird but not too bad
marinara, sided with weird but bad bicolor potato hash (how
UA can get raw potatoes and soggy overcooked ones in the
same dish is a bit of a mystery), and a pair of lovely
rather spicy pork links. Fruit appetizer, of course, with
embryonic kiwifruit and decent other fruit. Croissant
(looked like run over by a truck; I lied above: I also heard
my seatmate say "croissant") or bagel, but later on the FA
said she'd found some cheese Danish cowering in the back of
the bag. I passed on the breads and on coffee, asking merely
for Courvoisier (the first came as a double, which exhausted
the supply up front; the second came as a single and had to
be fetched from the cart in back).
The movie was Martian Boy, which is said to have been nasty,
followed by Mr. Magorium, which is said to be worse, only it
wouldn't load properly, so they showed a couple episodes of
Chuck instead. Speaking of which, the announcement was made
that there would be Channel 9, only there wasn't. I inquired
about this, and the problem was fixed, temporarily, in short
order. Then it got unfixed again, and I was beginning to
steel myself to the idea of listening to the Warsaw Concerto
for the hundredth time this year, but then it got fixed yet
again. I said a short prayer that the avionics on the bird
were better than the consumer electronics.
Despite our tardy takeoff we landed about 15 early.