It pays to get to the airport early…
Original Itinerary:
4/23 AA153 BOS 9:04a ORD 10:45a M80
CNX AA153 ORD 11:55a NRT 2:50p(+1) 777
After the storm last Friday that knocked down the radar at Logan, lots of flights to/from Boston have been cancelled. Considering this, with the added fact that my girlfriend (g’f) had to be at a meeting at 7, I got dropped off at Terminal 2 at around 6:30. Despite the early hour on a Sunday morning, the terminal was a madhouse with lines out the door.
The main line looked to have at least an hour wait, and there were about 15 people waiting in the First Class/Elite line, so, since I had no luggage, I made my way to the Admiral’s Club. Security was a madhouse that took ten minutes to get through, but I arrived at the relative solitude of the AA Club. I went straight to an agent to work this out. She said that due to the radar problems selected flights would be cancelled to certain destinations, mostly at the discretion of ATC. They’d give each airline only X number of flights an hour (“usually one, maybe two”) and the airline had to figure out what flights to send out. My original flight, AA153, was already showing cancelled (only the BOS-ORD segment).
Since I showed up early, she could reroute me on many earlier flights. Problems were that either everything was full to Tokyo or the flight to the connecting city would be full or (more likely) cancelled.
She finally was able to confirm me in F on AA1200 to ORD at 7:35a, connecting to my original AA153 to Tokyo. She said that AA1200 was pretty much the only AA flight to O’Hare this morning. (We even tried to route me on UA to ORD to connect to my original AA flight, until something on AA1200 “suddenly opened up”). The rest of the process went quickly as I already had my passport and contact information put in the computer last week at a city ticket office (CTO).
By now it was 7:15, so I rushed to the gate, stopping at a stand to buy an outdated USA Today on the way. The agents were trying to get this flight out as close to schedule as possible so it could get cleared by ATC. I was the last passenger to board.
4/23 AA1200 BOS 7:35a ORD 9:10a 738
The flight was filled in all cabins, with just one open seat left as I boarded, my 3F. I stowed by briefcase under my seat as I tried to find space for my rollaboard. The extremely friendly flight attendant offered to place it in the closet, and I was extremely grateful.
We pushed back from Gate B19 on time by my watch
and after sitting on the tarmac for a short time we took off at about 7:50a.
Right after take off I drifted to sleep from lack of it the last few nights. Last night I saw American Psycho with my g’f, and that alone made me unable to sleep last night. It was a well done movie, though. It kept my attention, but I wouldn’t be watching it again.
When I woke up the great flight attendant was collecting breakfast trays. She offered me breakfast when she took away my seatmate’s, but I turned it down requesting simply a cup of coffee and a glass of water (separate). She happily delivered both a moment later.
The 738 was outfitted with the new blue seats, which I find extremely comfortable. And on this plane, the headrests actually worked
! I pulled out my laptop and plugged it into the EmPower charger. I began to do a little work, but realizing that that was the last thing I wanted to do, I began typing this very trip report that you are currently reading.
Our 2-hour flight took us over Upstate New York, passing near Syracuse and Rochester, and over Michigan, passing near Lansing, and descending over Lake Michigan to O’Hare Airport in Chicago.
We arrived on time to Gate H11. I had a comfortable two hours until my Tokyo flight. I went to the Flagship Lounge as an int’l First Class passenger. The lounge isn’t all it is hyped up to be, but it is comfortable.
I’m relaxing here now waiting for my Tokyo flight.