Delta was ready

The wake-up call came at 5:15 (3:15 LA time) and we met Catman in the lobby at six. The video checkout at the Westin Riverwalk didn’t work so I checked out at the front desk. We all piled into the Buick and sailed off for the airport. We returned the car with no problem and took a crowded, standing-room-only shuttle to the United ticket counter. The First Class/Premier line wasn’t moving and we looked at the display on the wall: our flight was delayed by over four hours. Still in line, I called the 1K desk and spoke to an utterly useless agent who said everything was full on every airline and she couldn’t do anything for me. We headed to the gate to stand by for the Chicago flight that Catman was on but the line for the metal detector was snaking all the way back to the ticket counters!

We finally made it through and got to the Chicago flight but it was way oversold and they took seven volunteers to be bumped so we didn’t get on. Now the display for Denver was reading, “Return to ticket counter for rebooking.” There was no way I was going to go back through security so I called the 1K desk again. This time the agent told me we had already been rebooked on a Delta flight through Atlanta that left in 17 minutes. How nice. I wondered if they were going to mention that to us. Fortunately it was leaving from the very next gate so we went over. I whipped out my Delta Gold Medallion card that had just come in the mail thanks to my Centurion Card membership and explained the situation to the nice agent. He asked if we had e-tickets and I said yes so instead of making us go back over to United to get them printed out he did it himself! Then he upgraded us to Atlanta without any certs.

The flight to Atlanta on a Delta MD-88 in First Class was very average. The flight attendant was cordial and professional. Breakfast was a choice of French toast and tomato-cheddar scramble. We naturally took the eggs rather than the carbo bomb. They were OK but not up to the level of United’s sampler breakfasts. We snoozed and found ourselves in Atlanta. On the ground the stewardess read a list of about 30 connecting gates but not ours. The agent outside had the information though and we took the subway to Terminal A. I attempted to repeat the upgrade success with the agent in Atlanta but she said my upgrades couldn’t be used for a companion and anyway even if I made it Hunnybear wouldn’t make it because she didn’t have status. As it turned out only two Platinums got the upgrades. We got seats in a row without a window.

The 767 flight to LA was another very average flight but this time in economy. They served chicken or beef, which I passed on. Hunnybear had the beef, which was overdone but not so much so that she couldn’t eat it. Somebody couldn’t eat theirs though and it ended up on the floor in the aisle right next to my seat for about two hours until I finally pointed it out to the flight attendant. She was primarily here for our safety so she put on a plastic glove and picked up the largest hunk of it, leaving the rest. The movie was The Perfect Storm, a movie about a long storm that people are caught in while out in a boat. Hunnybear and I practiced video poker for the rest of the flight. We landed in LA 20 minutes early and took a cab home, almost three hours later than schedule. I don’t like flying economy.

The end.


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