US3158 DCA CLT 1040 1208 E75 2F

A sharp-eyed TSA kid tried to steer me to the other
concourse, but I was aiming to ask the club people for
assistance. Anyhow, aside from a nursing mother behind me
getting bag checked (so the conveyor was stopped) the
circus was a short and not too bad one. I swear the cancer
machine wasn't turned on, as it was a constant parade
through, no 10 second or even 3 second wait.

Irritating - I had this award F ticket, but there were no
F seats on the first leg when I booked; on the day, there
were 4, so I tried to get one from US, no go; as it was
a mixed itinerary, the ball was in UA's court. I tried UA,
also no go. I ended cancelling the whole itinerary an hour
before the first leg and rebooking all the same flights.

The usually fairly helpful agents at the US club were not
so, in fact rather obstructive, which I attribute to my
having the UA number on my ticket; but having achieved my
purpose, I asked for new boarding passes, which request was
complied with with not much grace. Feeling less welcome
than usual, and a bunch of time having been taken up by the
procedure, I vacated the premises. Five Guys seemed a
sensible way to spend my next minutes. I got an onion burger
with double jalapenos and A-1, and God help my seatmate.

The flight took off from the other concourse, as I said; the
bus filled up and went on its merry way - time between my
arriving at the shuttle stop and at my gate, 3 minutes.

My seatmate was an attractive woman a few years younger than
myself whose inflight reading was Fine Cooking magazine.
There was no spark; after all, I was eating a Mediocre
Cooking burger.

Off the (all or mostly new stuff) snack basket I chose
Nature's Kitchen raspberry fig bars, a heavy, healthy
choice - not bad for that, but you know what fig bars do for
one. And whole wheat ... !

US 560 CLT PHX 1300 1438 321 2B

The B club has the Frontera roasted tomato salsa, rather
than the Heinz that the other clubs offer. It's very salty
but with good roasted tomato and herb flavor; went well with
the Food Should Taste Good sweet-potato-corn chips. Also,
there are huge piles of Milano cookies for the grabbing.
And fresh fruit. I ate sufficiently.

The flight was delayed 40 min, then an hour. Maintenance
issue in Orlando, something like that. I stayed put in the
club; by the time I moseyed to the gate it was zone 4 time.
By some miracle there was still space in an overhead bin
not too far from my seat.

A very hard-working FA in the front cabin, Hispanic, and
it was amusing to note the captain (by all appearances an
Anglo) conversing with her in Spanish.

Lunch was chicken enchilada or "pasta duo" - some kind of
thick macaroni with pesto and alfredo sauces.

A starter of quite respectable hummus, sad squunched-looking
olives, and pita triangles of almost crunchy staleness.

The enchilada, rather light on the chicken and heavy on the
cheese, was not bad tasting but seasoned with tarragon,
which made it weird. It came with okay tasting rice that was
amazingly deficient in the texture department going from
mush to pebbles in no time flat and pretty good black beans.

An only slightly wilted salad with creamy Italian.

Black Opal Cabernet Shiraz - when I first saw Black Opal,
decades ago, it was real wine. It no longer is real wine.
Of course, it costs less in nominal dollars than it did
twenty? years ago, so who knows what the change in price
is in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The hard-working FA got some relief from the Y crew in
handing out dessert, a very respectable coconut carrot cake
with just a thin layer of cream cheese frosting, the way it
should be, instead of those huge thick blobs of artery-
clogging (not that that's a bad thing) goo.

During the flight I got a bit thirsty and asked for a Coke:
half a Coke, lots of ice; the other half arrived on request.
Later, another whole can came. Small triumphs.

The shuttle to the hotel is by request only. You call from
the hotels board at bag claim and shout through amazing
static, negotiating a time and place for pickup.