At PHL
The A330 pulled into PHL on scheduled… but then the chaos commenced. It seemed that every other long haul flight had pulled in at the same time, thus the queues were horrendous. As the time ticked on, we moved forward slowly. 60 minutes later we finally got seen to.
The INS agent was firm but friendly, digging deeper with each probe. Amazingly, they can’t fathom the concept of people visiting the USA for fun. Oh well.
A quick run to the belt, and the luggage was already offloaded. Rather than pay PHL a cent more, we headed to Customs where they were practicing their Eric Cartman impressions today (You WILL respect my authoritah!). This didn’t help, as it was 17:20 and our bird was pushing back in 25 minutes. We made it through, and through to recheck the luggage.
It was then a straight run for the plane, after clearing TSA. Of course the queue I was pushed into had the scanner break down. So after going into another queue, I was screened, and my friend and I rushed to the gate, where boarding had been pretty much completed, and the door pretty much closed behind me.
US Airways US753 PHL -> SEA
Boeing 757-200WL, Seat 14F
Booked Departure Time: 17:55 EDT, Booked Arrival Time: 20:53 WDT
In June, the first equipment change came out from a A321 to a B757 (with a slightly more advantageous arrival time)
The last time I was aboard on of these was an ORD-SEA-ORD leg on UA in E+. This of course being US Airways, no E+ seating, thus it was time to be squished all the way for the next 6 hours (and it didn’t help that the person in front of me reclined her seat after take off)
Of course, now everything is chargeable, it makes that journey slightly more hellish. And with no time to get anything, I was held captive to US Airways random demands for drinks and snacks.
Sigh.
The equipment that we were booked on today was a complete surprise of a Wingletted Boeing 757. Pam Ann would had been happy.
Although boarding was probably done in zones, by the time I got to the gate with my friend, boarding was mostly compete.
After boarding completed, the aircraft did a taxi around PHL as the runways reversed, and it was back off into the cloud.
Safety demo was done on the overhead CRT monitors.
The adverts played, then some movie was also put on. As I couldn’t be bothered to get the headphones out, I just typed for a bit.
Food run was done and we both went for the turkey sandwich option. At $7, overpriced, but I wasn’t in a position to argue. To be fair, it wasn’t that bad – the bread was drying slowly and the turkey lacked some moisture, but I’ve made worse at home. The crisps and cookie were passable and the coffee… at a buck a cup, it wasn’t that bad, but did lack some umph.
The flight itself wasn’t that bad, but deeply could covered, so for the first 4 hours, it was seatbelts on at all time. Quite a choppy ride for a lot of the journey.
Clear at last...
757 Cablin
The crew seemed to be pretty good for the first 3 hours, before disappearing off to hide fir a bite but they made regular walkthroughs the cabin.
Warning - beauty shots ahead
Obligatory winglet shot
Landing in Seattle was quick, and after a short taxi, the plane pulled into the gate. After the aircraft shut down (and the lights went off too), we deplaned.
On approch to SEA
Luggage delivery – was slow to put it blunt. The CLT service had arrived before us , so was occupying the belt for some time. I was half expecting the luggage still be in PHL, but then 2 suitcases and a very familiar rucksack spat out of the belt, and an almighty rumble from oversized luggage.
Everything arrived
A short trolly push to the link bridge, a queue for a taxi and about an hour after we touched down and got luggage and at the hotel – we had arrived.
Thanks fudge for that.
I was expecting worse, but at the end of the day, it was a pair of good flights, but with US immigration being more useless than normal. Nothing outstanding, yet nothing that was completely below the belt. The US Domestic leg was actually pretty good with the amount of walkthroughs the crew were doing.
Next up PHL-PHX, PHX-ORD or "$%!$?!$ TSA!!!"