JFK-LAX AA 767-200

Ok, board the plane, walk through First, too good for me, so I look, then move along out of the cabin where I am not wanted . LOL

Go to Business and do the load the junk into the overhead, what I need for the flight goes into the seat pocket. They have hangars in the seat pocket with seat numbers on them, I hang my beloved leather jacket, which has been thru alot the last 2 weeks, onto the hangar and immediately the crewmember comes and whisks it away.

Pre-flight drinks of orange juice, water, and ( I believe!?) champagne are served, I ask for a water and O/J, both of which are duly consumed.

Pre-flight setup, seatbelt fastened, check out the cabin, one kinda cute passenger near me,
the flight attendants, ahhhhhhhhh, but they are nice souls.

I had asked AA for 2 seats to myself. Oh no, it is full. It is all full. NOT!!

My new seatmate comes onboard and sits down. He does his pre-flight routine.

I say hello. That was pretty much it for the pleasantries.

The guy in front of me, right side, the bulkhead on the other side, and one other pair, the lucky passenger had 2 seats to themselves, lucky somethings, but not for me. Oh well.
If you have the 2 seats to yourself, all that legroom, it is sweet.

AA's legroom on Business is 60 inches, not sure of the centimetres for the Euro and CDN folks, sorry, but just know, it is great.

My seatmate, well, is a (slob), to put it nicely. smile He takes out a magazine and starts tearing out the add and sub forms inside and throws them on the floor. One of them is right above my feet. I am aghast. I look away. (schweinhund!) He is obnoxious throughout the flight and treats our sweet stew with contempt.

Pre-flight this and that's. Collect the glasses and the menus come out. Guy in Paris gets a new one. I snagged one more before leaving the aircraft. Someday I am going to have to see your menu collection. smile I am usually occupee raiding your beloved safety card box, and beloved it is!

I look out the window and see the beautiful Aer Lingus A330 that I stared at from the lounge in the after take off position climbing and doing the hard left turn to the Atlantic. Off to Ath Cliath(Dublin) with ya.

Then shock of all shocks, the ELAL 744 takes off, Star of David and all, goes soaring up toward the Holy Land, security checks now over with. Yes, I pick on ELAL and some people here on flyertalk don't like it(and they egg me on! fyi ugh) but I do like to see ELAL and there is a sense of Jewish pride. Lo(no), their service has a long way to go and no I am not going to debate this topic any further. Done with that. AND THE TAIL IS ALL LIT UP, DEAR...
Moving on, please, toda.

Push back and taxi, we look at the upcoming new AA terminal. I can't wait for this thing to open. The AA terminal now is a big piece of junk, said with respect, of course. It is old, drab, and a different world from the IAB.

The usual Air France, Lufthansa, and all at Terminal 1. That is a nice terminal and one that I would like to fly out of. Maybe on a buddy pass with the Delta guy on an AF codeshare sometime.

Safety video is shown, straight screen up front, no tv's on the 767, why I go out of my way to fly the 777. I wish that beloved AA would please put tvs on the 767s.

We taxi out past the IAB, which of course I can't see as I am on the right, it is on the left.
Right side pays off later, promise.

They give the all clear, ding dong, ding dong, and it is time to go home.

Rolling and lift off, flying over near the IAB, another ELAL, the late night KLM,
a China A340(new for me) at Terminal 3, and a whole bunch of Deltas, whatever :P~~~, some fellow AA birds, the hotels, and that lovely dump that I pray I will never see again,
and into the air.

When you take off from JFK you make a very hard left turn and clear the area. If it weren't for the such a harsh turn you could see Manhattan. Cast of Friends, Seinfeld, Law and Order, etc. You get the idea. Yes, I think of them as I see Manhattan. And now the Apprentice(oh I am hooked).

He does level out and I do get a view. If going to Europe the turn takes you out over the water. He heads south a bit and I get to see the skyline, the bridges, the Empire State Building, Trump's paradise(ya fired!), and down toward Newark(Noyak) New Jersey.

I believe we hit Philadelphia, or thereabouts, heading a little South, no map, then heads out West. What I would give for an inflight map, airshow. Love them!

I think all of the newer planes are getting them, so it is something to look forward to.

They come around for the first set of drinks and gingerale pretty much keeps me liquid for the flight. Our Flight attendant is nice. She is not the best, not the worst, but she is friendly
and she is trying. I would give her a B+.

A blessing of all blessings(maybe a curse to some, but good to one on here), without the map, I look out the window and see a large, and really large, beautiful city south of a large body of water. Drew Carey comes to mind ( I love him) and it is Cleveland. I don't need the map to recognize the city of rock and roll. Cavs and all. Shalom RR.

I am touched by the view and wave from afar. Then you have all the suburbs out to Elyria, Lorraine, Sandusky(Cedar, which I have never been to, btw!), but I never see Toleda.
Guess he heads south and pulls away plus there was some cloud activity. For shame.
I miss it, too. I miss the Uno (slam Uno!) games and those brownies. I hope that both are still waiting for me!? for when I next come. I also wave to the 'Duckpond' just a bit north in that blue state with the big M. I then say 'eh' to that other fun city nearby.
I miss our Uno games. I never play it here. I hit the Ohio border and I hear the Uno cards being shuffled. I can smell the brownies. I will get back, I promise.
There is a family in Tiffin that I need to go harrass. he he he (though they return the favor and sometimes then some,
:P~ )

With that it is a collage of cities, lights, and what we call America.

I get into some reading, do that WC break, oh wait, we are out of Europe, I go to the bathroom, there ya go. An airplane knows, has that sixth sense, when I get up and it starts shaking, it happens everytime. When I sit down, it stops. What to do!?

Dinner is served. I help her put the cloth on the table and we do the setup.

Like last time it is a cheese tortelini something and is quite good. The usual accompaniments. I don't care for the salads on airplanes. Have you heard of Ranch dressing, people? Try it sometime! Maybe it is a California thing? How could you put anything but Ranch dressing on a salad? Ok, I am not as bad as my sweet little bro who gets a gallon Ranch on the side, like the pesto and bbq sauce, but hey, a few tablespoons are great. They always have some kind of vinegar something. I thought they gave vinegar to Christ as he was on the cross or something like that. No thanks.

For dessert, cheesecake and ice cream. Let's try both. She gives me the cheesecake. It is to die for. Good food on an airplane other than Cathay, Singapore, Canadian, and Air France. hmmmmmmmmmm This could be nice. It was good guys, I mean really good.

I am glad that I tried both. The ice cream was awful and after 2 bites it went back. ick

After the meal service it was inflight movie time, or so I thought.

Going out to Miami the seat doesn't work. Now it is the video equipment.
My obnoxious seatmate said his volume was up and stayed up. Drove him crazy.(quiet smile here) he he he

Mine doesn't work either. I am mad when I have to forsake an episode of King of Queens. Maybe I will sue American. (people on the AA board on flyertalk write in and want compensation for the smallest things and we laugh hysterically, sorry)

It is annoying. I miss the movie, too. The crew came over, she tried it, said she would report it. They had one channel of some stupid song and that is all I had. Now if I had paid $7K and going to Europe in Business I'd be ticked. But I leave it and do reading.

The guy in front puts his seat all the way back and I mean all the way. An in my face type of thing. GRWL! The (yutz) next to me stretches out and poor me is trapped. I pay back with the reading light on and did my Business Traveller, British spelling.

Later I needed to get out and I wait, there is no way I can do this, both are sleeping. The gingerale takes its effect. Neighbor is awake and I make my move. I literally have to be a contortionist to get out. I could have just smacked the guy on the head, I really could. It would be rude, crude, and smude, but his seat is all the way back in my face, my 60 inches of legroom and personal space were gone. It sucks.

Why I would never pay for this thing up front. Not worth it. (suckers!)

I make my way out, not an easy feat and I get my relief. I want to do a walkabout through the cabin but too lazy. I need cards, too. Coach is not by any means full, as I had been told, one reason I had upgraded, cough, but it was heavy. So back to the torture chamber.

Caught a little bit of rest and enjoyed a city here, a city there. I am guessing we came in via Arizona, maybe it was Flagstaff to the North. Too small to be Phoenix, which they probably saw from the left.

I was uncomfortable with the seat in my face. Took away that up front joy.

The delight of every flight. The commandant(captiain) comes on and says we are starting our descent for LA. YEAH!!! We fly over Palm Springs, hello to Idlewyld, and he starts going down. We fly right over Ontario Airport-I have never even seen the new terminal,
and into LA. The joy of all joys when you can see downtown LA on a clear night and a gorgeous view. I am home. Glendale to the north and It was Sunday night. You guys were out having fun without me, and that is not allowed!
( I will bet that you went to one of my favorite places just to spite me...) Not kidding. I can see it. But I went to Europe and you didn't, so, nah nah. LOL

They bring our coats and finally the other yutz in front puts his seat up(schmuck!). I think I made an outloud sarcastic comment, gee, thanks, I can see my feet now. UGH

Now I can do my prep and stow things away, with my heavy leather coat on my lap.

I could barely get into the lower seat pocket before. Really disgusting. Guys, ok, put your seat back a little, but come on, do think of the person behind you. GRWL

I cheat and keep my seatbelt off and they don't even catch it so I can look back and see the City of Angels. Yes, we do compete with Paris for world title, I can promise.

We fly over the Forum where many Lakers' victories have taken place, also some defeats, sadly, the Race Track, the 405, the freeway we all love to curse, and then laughingly
we fly along the Westin, my new home for the evening, YEAH!
I go from the Best Western to the Westin in 2 nights, same company(Hotwire) and they cost about the same. Gotta love online auctions. This one I do. (the description pretty much gave it away, thank you)

A sprawl of Untieds, Widgets(Delta thingies), and we touch down, with that beautiful tower flashing. The Encounter and those sticks at the entrance to the airport change their glow, just for me. Welcome home. Reverse thrust and pounce. My beloved Cathay is at Bradley.
Pass tonight, maybe later it is for me.

A Qantas 744 is parked at one of the outer gates at the American terminal. Give me a trash bag and 15 minutes and I will raid the (bloody) thing. Perhaps another time, but I do sense Australia in the next year. (or Bali, we shall see) I think it will be one of them. I do miss Sydney, too much so. Plus, I need to go meet someone named Goldflyer. Let him buy me some drinks. ( I had to work you in here somehow, mate) Also Mad_Atta. Sounds fun.

We dock at a gate opposite the terminal named after our former mayor and we park, shut down, and done. I mentally express a gesture to that obnoxious guy I have had to sit next to for 5 hours. What a yutz. Sorry, no other way to describe him.

I grab my crap and say goodbye. Out of the jetway to this wonderful weather. Some guy stops dead in front of me and fixes his rolling carry on,then wheels it up. One of these days I swear I am just going to pounce right into them. Stand to the right, pass the left.
I guess when we can teach people to have their crap out at the security machine, then we can train the (animals) on this one. Enter the terminal and freedom at last!