Preflight/Transit
American Flight 299
JFK-PHX
Scheduled Departure: 6:00 PM
Scheduled Board: 5:30 PM

I shouldered both my backpack and duffle bag and made the reverse trip of two days ago by walking under the Airtrain and upper-roadway all the way to Terminal 8. After setting off the metal detector and putting my belt and watch back on I headed out to gate 4X. 4X isn’t really a gate. It is a door across from Gate 4 which means before boarding a flight you sit with the passengers who are leaving from Gate 4. Why it was built like this I don’t know but it was. Once at the gate, despite it being 5 minutes to scheduled boarding time, they’d already boarded all groups, all rows. This meant I was able to just stroll on board and grab a white bag of Bistro. Because of the early boarding time I was part of the last 30 to board:

Flying
Gate 4X
Seat 10A Main Cabin – Exit Row
757-200
Actual Board: 5:25 PM
Actual Depart: 6:02 PM – 2 Minutes Delayed
Take off 43 minutes after departure

While waiting to head back to coach I noticed the seats were the newer version seen on the MD-80’s, just without headrests. When I remarked on this to the f/a, she said that they’d put seats back in this aircraft, but only on this aircraft she assured me. Not so I said, you’re forgetting the A-300’s. To this she looked annoyed and told me she didn’t fly those. That put me in my place.

The plane filled up to about 85% capacity but luckily 10B was open allowing me a more enjoyable flight. Now we pushed back relatively on time but something happened between that and take off. There was a large line for take off so I leaned my head on the window. When I had fallen asleep I expected to be airborne when I awoke, only to find that 40 minutes later we were only just starting the takeoff roll. We weren’t de-iced as it was above freezing and not precipitating so the delay must have been large amounts of traffic. I didn’t realize lines got this long on Saturday evening’s. Now that we were finally off, I was treated to the sight of a deep blue sky with just the hint of fading sunrays in the extreme west. This was a final glorious sight to end my long trip.

Shortly thereafter I was handed a Dr. Pepper as well as a second Bistro Bag by the woman in 9B. She told me she’d rather eat what she’d bought at the airport. It was a win for all those involved as I got more turkey, cheddar and Dijonaise (mixed with Ruffles plain, carrots and brownie) and she got to feel happy. While noshing, I watched “Sleepers” on my laptop until it ran out of batteries. After that I felt sleep was in order yet no pillows had been placed anywhere in the cabin or in the bins that I saw. When I paged the f/a, she said that there were no pillows but she’d try on a blanket. She spent two minutes scouring the plane until she brought me one. She even delivered it with a smile. I hope she realized my thanks was real, the woman had actually seemed offended AA hadn’t given her pillows. She also truly made it her goal to find me that blanket, which is the level of service we all can expect from an airline.

And then once again I was awoken to sounds of “Flight attendants prepare for landing” and views of the Arizona State campus including my dorm delighted my eyes. We touched down and pulled up to the gate and once in the Jetway I felt that hot but not sticky yet sweet Arizona air. Home again at last after 11,716 miles crossing this great country.
Scheduled Arrival: 9:41 PM
Actual Arrival: 9:27 PM
Gate 6