I arrived at the boarding gate, K16, about as far from the lounges as possible, a few moments before boarding commenced. The agents called “First Class, Business Class, AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum, Gold, AAirpass, oneworld emerald, oneworld sapphire, and customers requiring extra time aboard” all at once, so there was a massive crowd of about fifty people jamming into the jetway.

But I played it cool and waited for the rush to clear, and just before the agent called general boarding, I walked down the jetway with almost no waiting at all .

There was an army of four flight attendants at the boarding door of the Triple Seven, and one was standing in front of the left aisle keeping the riff-raff from making the ceremonial left term . I presented my boarding pass to one of the flight attendants, she warmly greeted me, and led me down the aisle (after making the ceremonial left turn, of course ) to my seat, 3G.

The cabin was completely full, and I later discovered that C and Y were as well.

I had an icy Diet Coke and settled in (no alcohol for me on this flight). My seatmate and I began chatting, and we realized that we had much in common, too much possibly. He was also an EP with AA, from Chicago. He flies AA ORD-NRT biweekly. When asked why he didn’t fly the hometown airline, he responded that “they are just too difficult” . I discovered that he too was also staying at the Westin (“The best hotel in Tokyo!”) and he offered to split a cab with me (How’s that for a coincidence?). I told him that I’d think about it, but probably not.

We pushed back early and airborne at 1:10 on the dot. Captain said that flying time to Tokyo would be 11:55. Weather in Tokyo was a comfortable 57 degrees F .