On Purpose

It took me two full days to wrap up my last trip of the year and return to PDX after spending a week in New York. I had booked my trip as EWR to IAD to SFO to PDX just so I could fly the transcon in C class on a internationally configured 777. When I checked in with the RCC concierge at EWR, she looked at my three segment itinerary and asked with slight astonishment, "you booked this on purpose?"

I guess some people just don't comprehend the FlyerTalk mentality. My itinerary clearly made a lot of sense to me at the time. Given the full extent of my travels this year, I certainly wasn't desperate for extra miles but I no longer consider paying a higher fare to fly on a dilapidated 767-200 from JFK to be worth it. And besides, I figured that with the recent disappearance of semi-reasonable "A" fares on UA's "premium" transcon flights soon after the demise of National Airlines, my "employee class" days seemed to be over for good. That's why I decided that EWR would be my official embarkation point from now on.

Taking Care of Business

The concierge also could not fathom why I was checking in at 9:45AM for a 2:45PM flight. I patiently explained that I planned to attend a very important business meeting for a few hours and that I might possibly be running late. So if my flight is later delayed or cancelled, the fact that I have already checked in will make it easier for UA to reaccommodate me on alternative travel arrangements. I did not share the fact that this particular business meeting had been arranged at CO's Presidents Club. And as a matter of fact, this was actually my third business meeting at EWR this week.

As I finished the check-in process, I successfully negotiated with the RCC concierge to upgrade my flights using five 500 E-certs instead of an HK49. In doing so, however, she made sure that I fully understood the fact HK49s will expire if one does not eventually use them. Of course, I thanked her profusely for clearly elucidating this complicated topic for me.

After finishing my arrangements in the RCC, I managed to traverse CO's terminal A2 security, which is separate from the UA part of the terminal at A1. This meant that I didn't need to allow for as much time to get back to the UA gates and that I could enjoy the company of "Francesco", who was scheduled to be tending bar at that particular Presidents Club. While sipping a few of Francesco's excellent Bloody Marys, I learned that CO has cut back so much that they no longer provide the horseradish needed to give this drink the proper zing. So Fransesco brings his own horseradish from home! This is yet another example of how the wisdom and generosity of one employee can single handedly attempt to fight his company's rapid descent into mediocrity.

By about 2:00PM, I wrapped up my important business meeting and began to trundle over to the UA gates so I could board my flight to IAD. My business colleague helpfully suggested that I should check on my flights before leaving the Presidents Club but, of course, I knew better and off I went.

Upgrade Degrade

After I successfully traversed a TSA security checkpoint for the third time that day, I realized that I had never been issued a boarding pass for my flight from SFO to PDX so I dropped by the RCC to get one printed. It was at that point that I learned that my flight to IAD was canceled! UA had kindly rebooked me from EWR to ORD to PDX. In coach. Given the fact that the flights were quite full, this meant that I would need to endure very cramped non-Economy Plus middle seats on both segments, the first on a 737-300 and the second on a A319. As far as I was concerned, that simply was not going to happen. Unfortunately, it appeared that there was no upgrade availability in C or F on any of the flights available for the remainder of the day. I spent quite a bit of time helping the friendly concierge to devise an alternative plan and that's how I found myself booked on a flight from JFK departing the next morning. Although I had really thought I was done with JFK for good, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

I arranged for a shuttle to take me from EWR to JFK Thursday morning and then tried to figure out where I would be spending the night. I had stayed at the EWR Marriott over the weekend and have no intention of ever returning there. The distressed passenger rates at the EWR Hilton were so usurious that even the RCC concierge was astounded. So I ultimately asked her to book a room for me at the EWR Sheraton, figuring I could make use of the exec lounge and pick up a few SPG points in the process.

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[This message has been edited by LarryU (edited 12-16-2002).]

[This message has been edited by LarryU (edited 12-16-2002).]